For the second all time best selling British Band of the 60s there's hardly much out there to buy. Dave Clark is a very frugal guy who really controls the copyrights to his band's songs to the point that the last official US release, The History Of The Dave Clark Five was licensed to Hollywood Records back around 1992 for a limited time and while 50 songs is quite a few, there's a few clunkers in there as well. Universal in the UK issued a single cd The Hits, which is just as hit and miss as the Hollywood overview. Frustrated at Clark's oddball song selection, I pretty much made a single mix CD and still wasn't that satisfied with the results. And so the story begins.
In the heydays of The British Invasion, The Beatles and DC5 duked it out for chart position and Ed Sullivan's buddies, appearing just about on a regular basis back in 64 and 65. But while the Beatles evolved and became more adventurous with their albums, the DC5 became obsolete relics in three years, the last top ten was a cover of You Got What It Takes. The DC5 were a singles act and they made some tough sounding singles in Glad All Over, Bits And Pieces and a 53 chart placing of I Knew It All The Time which somehow made it to a compilation Piccadilly Story on Castle in the early 2000s and how that escaped the claws of Clark's watchful eye is a feat upon itself. The DC5 had a excellent vocalist in the late great Mike Smith although upon hearing them doing a punked up Do You Love Me, it sounds like he screaming WHY DO YOU LOVE ME in the call and response of the the band members. Make no mistake, Clark had a eye and ear for the music hook and most DC5 songs clocked under 2 and a half minutes, I Like It Like That only a minute forty time of song. And Anyway You Want It showed that they can do garage punk as well. Even KISS covered that song in 1977 on Alive Two, the studio side that is.
For the most part, the DC5 wrote the majority of songs but the problem was Dave Clark was never a lyricist. Listening to Glad All Over their Epic debut has great singles (Glad All Over, Bits And Pieces, Do You Love Me) but the embarrassing good I Know You, has the middle eight that sounded like Clark took them off a bunch of grade school kids throwing insults at one another, but it also has the embarrassing bad Doo Dah which is a variation of you guessed it, the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoon show. And each DC5 album would be more of the same, about 10 to 12 songs clocking in and around 25 minutes at best with varying results. They could do a decent Beatles cop, Because, 19 Days, and failed latter day single Live In The Sky which echoes All You Need Is Love but by the late 60s, Dave Clark was redoing rock classics, in the 70s covering Tommy James' Draggin The Line (more bizzare than TJ's version but with the cheesiness of horns I ever heard. He took on Neil Young on a version of Southern Man, which isn't too bad given the dated guitar solo work. It helped that he still had Mike Smith shouting it out too. But it seems that Dave Clark really has no intention of putting this nor Draggin the Line out since neither song has appeared on any best of.
And that's the problem. Clark's tight reins on his back catalog may reveals that even though he might be a shrewd businessman that perhaps even he thinks that the lesser DC5 songs are not worth preserving. But you can license any of his best songs for a fee from his website or buy them on Itunes. Or take your chances trying to find vinyl copies that are not scratched up or 45s for that matter. Turns out that everybody that bought a DC5 record wore the grooves down to nothing. And honest the DC5 had rocking great songs, but some songs are absolute dated relics of the past. The silly Catch Us If You Can, You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby, which is basically the same arrangement of You Got What It Takes (although the beginning and end also borrows from The Beatles) and the Good Old Rock And Roll Medley that nobody bought.
It's really hard to put together a complete overview of Dave Clark Five albums since Dave Clark will probably take the damn masters to his grave when he dies off. Even the most recent Best of import is now out of print. So you're better off trying to locate The History Of The Dave Clark Five on CD at your local store and hope that the owner don't jack the price up to about 50 dollars. The single The Hits import, more scattershot and more disappointing in song selection. Unless you're hip to hear them do the Steam cover of Kiss Him Goodbye and of course.. the good old rock and roll medley. There are bootleg copies of their albums on CD and the sound varies from each and every one. To which Buyer Beware comes into play. But don't hold your breath on if and when Dave Clark decides to have them available again. He's done more to slit his own throat about having the legacy of the DC5 fade into 60's folklore. But he'll be happy to tell you that they had their own plane before the Beatles. The first and only time he's ever topped the fab four.
In 2019, Dave Clark finally issued a stand alone single best of CD (tho in the UK it was a 2 CD set). For a bare bones introduction it is probably all the DC5 you could ever want, with their hits (Glad All Over, Bits And Pieces, Try Too Hard) and misses (Universal Love) but at 38 minutes it's a small history lesson about how the DC5 challenged the Beatles and for a small time in 64-65 managed to hang with them before The Beatles started changing their music, whereas The DC5 stayed the same and their music never did evolve like The Beatles or Rolling Stones . If nothing else, Mike Smith was Dave Clark's voice and sound. But I also think session drummer Bobby Graham might have more to do with the drum sound rather than Mr. Clark. Mike Smith's passed away in 2008.
Grades:
History Of The Dave Clark Five (Hollywood 1994) B+
The Hits (EMI 2007) C+
All The Hits (BMG 2019) B+
PS
While the DC5 may have been the closest rivals to The Beatles, an essay sheds more light on Dave Clark, the boss rather than the rock and roller. Bobby Graham, the long time UK session drummer seemed to be the one that played drums rather than Clark himself. Perhaps the MVP of the band was Mike Smith and maybe set the boss off. While Clark has issued a few of the catalog on I Tunes and has varied the history of the band, this essay makes the first time I have ever heard of Ron Ryan, who was instrumental of the hits like Because or Anyway You Want It. You can't deny the fact that from 64-66, the DC5 had very good singles but the albums were basically 10 songs, two or three good song and the rest filler. Which explains Doo Dah on Bits And Pieces. Sgt Pepper pretty much shut the DC5 down since Clark didn't have a clue on how to counter this, but choose instead some R n B covers and old rock songs medley that went nowhere, and made the DC5 more bubblegum pop than blazing rockers. Clark was a true visionary in scoring a deal where 10 years from signing he'd get his masters back to do what he wanted and that's what he did: put out 50 songs of hits and misses and buried the rest in his backyard. He also had the most dedicated members in his band, sticking with him as salaried employees till the end. There was a PBS special that aired the other day about the life and times of the DC5 but from what I have heard, it could have been an infocommercial promoting Dave Clark himself. Which is fine but without Mike Smith, Lenny Davidson, Mike Huxley and Dennis Payton, Clark is nothing. The music proves it. http://asithappens.hubpages.com/hub/CuriousStoryofDC5
Dave Clark; control freak: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-bronson/the-dave-clark-five-dave-_b_5091519.html
Another opinion: http://www.richieunterberger.com/wordpress/the-dave-clark-five-pbs-special-and-beyond/
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
The Producers
One of the strangest things I see on the internet or at the local thrift shop is that The Producer's first album you can find for a dollar, but try to find the One Way 2 on 1 CD and it will set you back about 30 dollars. For an investment firm, my advice is if you do find The Producers' One Way CD cheap and in good shape, chances are you can get your investment back times 10.
They were from Atlanta and started out as a Beatles type tribute band but eventually their music was more Cheap Trick than the fab four. CBS signed them up, assigned them to Portrait, and put their S/T out in those 5.99 new band introductory price. It's not bad but there's not much variation to the songs and despite the minor hit What She Does To Me and album cut staple What's He Got. the rest sound too similar. Cheap Trick did it better.
The second album You Make The Heat,spawned the number 48 hit single She Sheila and a more varied style of music, a little more toward arena rock but still holding the power pop ways of most bands of that era. Despite the top 50 single, the album didn't chart and CBS said bye bye to The Producers.
Kyle Henderson quit the band after You Make The Heart, got born again, played Christian Music and now is back playing more of a blues and R&B type of music, and is now based the Madison area. Wayne McNutt (Famous) sometimes moonlights as a taxi driver and session player, but from time to time The Producers have known to get together off and on and play some live dates.
In 2000, One Way issued both Portrait albums as a highly prized 2 and 1 CD and issued the 1989 MCA recorded but never released Coelacanth with Tim Smith replacing Henderson. For latter day power pop, not bad but not exactly memorable either. Soon after One Way records went out of business, and even though the Portrait albums came from Sony Music, no other record label has gone ahead and reissued them. Until somebody gets the word over to Real Gone or Wounded Bird, the CD set will be a high priced acquisition for CD collectors. Better to have a working turntable and the cheaper record to play it on.
Grades:
The Producers (Portrait 1980) B-
You Make The Heat (Portrait 1981) B
Run For Your Life (Marathon 1985) C+
Coelacanth (MCA 1989/One Way 2001) C+
Producers/You Make The Heat (One Way 2000) B+ (Up a grade for historical value)
They were from Atlanta and started out as a Beatles type tribute band but eventually their music was more Cheap Trick than the fab four. CBS signed them up, assigned them to Portrait, and put their S/T out in those 5.99 new band introductory price. It's not bad but there's not much variation to the songs and despite the minor hit What She Does To Me and album cut staple What's He Got. the rest sound too similar. Cheap Trick did it better.
The second album You Make The Heat,spawned the number 48 hit single She Sheila and a more varied style of music, a little more toward arena rock but still holding the power pop ways of most bands of that era. Despite the top 50 single, the album didn't chart and CBS said bye bye to The Producers.
Kyle Henderson quit the band after You Make The Heart, got born again, played Christian Music and now is back playing more of a blues and R&B type of music, and is now based the Madison area. Wayne McNutt (Famous) sometimes moonlights as a taxi driver and session player, but from time to time The Producers have known to get together off and on and play some live dates.
In 2000, One Way issued both Portrait albums as a highly prized 2 and 1 CD and issued the 1989 MCA recorded but never released Coelacanth with Tim Smith replacing Henderson. For latter day power pop, not bad but not exactly memorable either. Soon after One Way records went out of business, and even though the Portrait albums came from Sony Music, no other record label has gone ahead and reissued them. Until somebody gets the word over to Real Gone or Wounded Bird, the CD set will be a high priced acquisition for CD collectors. Better to have a working turntable and the cheaper record to play it on.
Grades:
The Producers (Portrait 1980) B-
You Make The Heat (Portrait 1981) B
Run For Your Life (Marathon 1985) C+
Coelacanth (MCA 1989/One Way 2001) C+
Producers/You Make The Heat (One Way 2000) B+ (Up a grade for historical value)
Monday, November 25, 2013
Frank Marino
For my money, Frank Marino was the best rock guitar player that came from the 70s and made some classic and trippy rock and roll for 20th Century and later Columbia Records to which Frank considered that to be one of the darkest periods of his music career. I first heard Frank on California Jam 2, to which they showed him doing an edited version of Johnny B Goode but left off the electric reflections of war segment. Frank never cared for that either and what you didn't hear on the LP was his final song a version of the Mickey Mouse Club Theme. An outsider even in rock and roll.
The comparisons to Jimi Hendrix has been a touchy subject to Frank and even though he cites him as a influence, his other influence was Johnny Cipolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The first album Maxoom is Frank's tribute to Jimi Hendrix and it shows by his guitar playing and song delivery. The next album Child Of The Novelty, Frank begin to distanced himself from the Hendrix myth as he begin to sing about a New Rock And Roll. His band Mahogany Rush had wild man James Ayoub on drums and Paul Harwood on bass and they complimented his guitar player quite well. The next album Strange Universe got a bit more heavier Land Of 1000 Nights, Frank has said was written from the after effects of a bad acid trip. I love it as well as failed hit single Satisfy Your Soul. Although the record was underpromoted by 20th Century, Frank took his act over to Columbia for the classic years. And years of distain.
Mahogany Rush IV sometimes I think is their best studio album. There's more confidence in Frank's vocals but his guitar work was nothing short of awesome. Frank was migrating toward a jazzier and progressive rock sound on Dragonfly or The Answer but Little Sexy Annie is pure rock fun. The World Anthem continued more into Prog rock with Requiem For A Sinner and the title track but like Little Sexy Annie, Hey Little Lover is back to rock but a bit more complex on the beat.
As the ad proclaimed it takes other bands to make a 2 record set whereas it takes Frank to make one album, basically it was Columbia not springing for the full two record set so Live! was kept to a one LP set. But this was the live record that I played all the time in my Senior year and got my best friend hooked on Frank as well. Beginning with plenty of fireworks, Frank leads off with a killer start of The Answer and Dragonfly before bringing on the blues with a killer I'm A King Bee and showstoppers A New Rock And Roll and more stripped down Johnny B Goode from the Cal Jam 2 version. The medley of Talkin About A Feeling/Who Do You Love/War/New World Anthem is so over the top at the end one has to hear it to believe it. And then the usual Jimi Hendrix tribute with Purple Haze. This is the legend of Frank Marino from start to finish.
Tales Of The Unexpected (1979) continues the Hendrix love with Sister Change and All Along The Watchtower before going into Norwegian Wood and the jazz/prog rock of Tales Of The Unexpected. The inclusion of live versions of new songs Down Down Down, Door Of Illusion, Woman and Bottom Of The Barrel kinda deflated the momentum of the first side and pales to the Live album. Reviews were mixed but it's really not that bad. A subpar Frank Marino could outrock Ted Nugent on his best any night (with the exception of Ted's S/T Epic album) but for some reason the buying public that bought the Live album got off the bus on Tales
What's Next (1980) was a more return to form but again radio only played Roadhouse Blues, the Doors cover and Rock Me Baby to which Frank's version was more Robin Trower than BB King or Jimi. In fact, What's Next was Marino moving away from the sound of Hendrix to a more signature sound and it's very heavy sounding on You Got Livin and the 8 minute Loved By You. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame/Mona medley is throwaway. The biggest selling album for Columbia has never seen CD release in the US (Black Rose issued a poorly mastered CD).
With that Frank retired the Mahogany Rush name and made perhaps his more heaviest albums with The Power Of Rock And Roll and Juggernaut. Both sold well but Columbia never promoted them very well. The former album's powerful title track should have made it to rock radio. Other fine rockers include Ain't Dead Yet and the jazz fusion that is Go Strange. Juggernaut, his final CBS platter contained his only hit single Strange Dreams to which I never heard on KRNA nor KKRQ but have on XM radio. Juggernaut had the searing title track, the crash and bash Free and Stories Of A Hero which actually harkens back to World Anthem. It sold enough but by then Frank, tired of dealing with a corporate label clueless how to market him walked away.
When he disappeared from the rock and roll world, I kind of forgotten him till I pulled out Live or Strange Universe and the CBS albums that he did. Full Circle, while rocking, was venturing toward new age, a honest effort but it didn't do much for me. In 1993 Frank retired from music only to be brought back by the fans who continued to support his back catalog and of course it may have something to do with Razor and Tie cherry picking some cuts into a best of Dragonfly, a big mess since it includes nothing from the 20th Century albums and ends up putting the wrong songs off Power Of Rock And Roll. Buyer Beware. Sony Music issued in the states Live and Tales only, the rest are import only. However, the 20th Century albums have been reissued a few times on CD and although Maxoom still remains Frank's I Love Jimi album, the rest does show a more conventional and blues hard rock sound that I still think they have all have their moments. However, Frank in a interview has mentioned that the original tapes of what he did at Tempo Studios in Canada got taped over by other bands which is a bummer, although I'm sure Sony Music still has the masters of the finished albums on CD somewhere. But still Frank remains his own man and not owned by the labels whatsoever, when he plays live, he says he plays it for fun and when it's not fun he doesn't go on tour. But when he does play, he still plays with the rude tenacity that blew Ted Nugent off the stage in 1978.
In a perfect world, The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame would have Frank Marino in there. And still, to me, Frank remains the best unheard guitarist that classic rock radio has forgotten. Which is as bad as having Jann Wanner being head of the RnRHOF dictating who gets in. Up his ass if he can deal with real rock and roll.
The Frank Marino Anthology (Incomplete)
Maxoom 1972 (20th Century/Just A Minute) B-
Child Of The Novelty (20th Century/Just A Minute 1974) B+
Strange Universe (20th Century/Just A Minute 1975) A-
Mahogany Rush IV (Columbia/Pilot 1976) A-
World Anthem (Columbia 1977) B+
Live (Columbia/Silver Cloud 1978) A
Tales Of The Unexpected (Columbia 1979) B+
What's Next (Columbia 1980) B+
The Power Of Rock And Roll (Columbia 1981) B+
Juggernaut (Columbia 1982) A-
Dragonfly-The Best Of Frank Marino/Mahogany Rush (Razor And Tie 1996) B-
The comparisons to Jimi Hendrix has been a touchy subject to Frank and even though he cites him as a influence, his other influence was Johnny Cipolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The first album Maxoom is Frank's tribute to Jimi Hendrix and it shows by his guitar playing and song delivery. The next album Child Of The Novelty, Frank begin to distanced himself from the Hendrix myth as he begin to sing about a New Rock And Roll. His band Mahogany Rush had wild man James Ayoub on drums and Paul Harwood on bass and they complimented his guitar player quite well. The next album Strange Universe got a bit more heavier Land Of 1000 Nights, Frank has said was written from the after effects of a bad acid trip. I love it as well as failed hit single Satisfy Your Soul. Although the record was underpromoted by 20th Century, Frank took his act over to Columbia for the classic years. And years of distain.
Mahogany Rush IV sometimes I think is their best studio album. There's more confidence in Frank's vocals but his guitar work was nothing short of awesome. Frank was migrating toward a jazzier and progressive rock sound on Dragonfly or The Answer but Little Sexy Annie is pure rock fun. The World Anthem continued more into Prog rock with Requiem For A Sinner and the title track but like Little Sexy Annie, Hey Little Lover is back to rock but a bit more complex on the beat.
As the ad proclaimed it takes other bands to make a 2 record set whereas it takes Frank to make one album, basically it was Columbia not springing for the full two record set so Live! was kept to a one LP set. But this was the live record that I played all the time in my Senior year and got my best friend hooked on Frank as well. Beginning with plenty of fireworks, Frank leads off with a killer start of The Answer and Dragonfly before bringing on the blues with a killer I'm A King Bee and showstoppers A New Rock And Roll and more stripped down Johnny B Goode from the Cal Jam 2 version. The medley of Talkin About A Feeling/Who Do You Love/War/New World Anthem is so over the top at the end one has to hear it to believe it. And then the usual Jimi Hendrix tribute with Purple Haze. This is the legend of Frank Marino from start to finish.
Tales Of The Unexpected (1979) continues the Hendrix love with Sister Change and All Along The Watchtower before going into Norwegian Wood and the jazz/prog rock of Tales Of The Unexpected. The inclusion of live versions of new songs Down Down Down, Door Of Illusion, Woman and Bottom Of The Barrel kinda deflated the momentum of the first side and pales to the Live album. Reviews were mixed but it's really not that bad. A subpar Frank Marino could outrock Ted Nugent on his best any night (with the exception of Ted's S/T Epic album) but for some reason the buying public that bought the Live album got off the bus on Tales
What's Next (1980) was a more return to form but again radio only played Roadhouse Blues, the Doors cover and Rock Me Baby to which Frank's version was more Robin Trower than BB King or Jimi. In fact, What's Next was Marino moving away from the sound of Hendrix to a more signature sound and it's very heavy sounding on You Got Livin and the 8 minute Loved By You. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame/Mona medley is throwaway. The biggest selling album for Columbia has never seen CD release in the US (Black Rose issued a poorly mastered CD).
With that Frank retired the Mahogany Rush name and made perhaps his more heaviest albums with The Power Of Rock And Roll and Juggernaut. Both sold well but Columbia never promoted them very well. The former album's powerful title track should have made it to rock radio. Other fine rockers include Ain't Dead Yet and the jazz fusion that is Go Strange. Juggernaut, his final CBS platter contained his only hit single Strange Dreams to which I never heard on KRNA nor KKRQ but have on XM radio. Juggernaut had the searing title track, the crash and bash Free and Stories Of A Hero which actually harkens back to World Anthem. It sold enough but by then Frank, tired of dealing with a corporate label clueless how to market him walked away.
When he disappeared from the rock and roll world, I kind of forgotten him till I pulled out Live or Strange Universe and the CBS albums that he did. Full Circle, while rocking, was venturing toward new age, a honest effort but it didn't do much for me. In 1993 Frank retired from music only to be brought back by the fans who continued to support his back catalog and of course it may have something to do with Razor and Tie cherry picking some cuts into a best of Dragonfly, a big mess since it includes nothing from the 20th Century albums and ends up putting the wrong songs off Power Of Rock And Roll. Buyer Beware. Sony Music issued in the states Live and Tales only, the rest are import only. However, the 20th Century albums have been reissued a few times on CD and although Maxoom still remains Frank's I Love Jimi album, the rest does show a more conventional and blues hard rock sound that I still think they have all have their moments. However, Frank in a interview has mentioned that the original tapes of what he did at Tempo Studios in Canada got taped over by other bands which is a bummer, although I'm sure Sony Music still has the masters of the finished albums on CD somewhere. But still Frank remains his own man and not owned by the labels whatsoever, when he plays live, he says he plays it for fun and when it's not fun he doesn't go on tour. But when he does play, he still plays with the rude tenacity that blew Ted Nugent off the stage in 1978.
In a perfect world, The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame would have Frank Marino in there. And still, to me, Frank remains the best unheard guitarist that classic rock radio has forgotten. Which is as bad as having Jann Wanner being head of the RnRHOF dictating who gets in. Up his ass if he can deal with real rock and roll.
The Frank Marino Anthology (Incomplete)
Maxoom 1972 (20th Century/Just A Minute) B-
Child Of The Novelty (20th Century/Just A Minute 1974) B+
Strange Universe (20th Century/Just A Minute 1975) A-
Mahogany Rush IV (Columbia/Pilot 1976) A-
World Anthem (Columbia 1977) B+
Live (Columbia/Silver Cloud 1978) A
Tales Of The Unexpected (Columbia 1979) B+
What's Next (Columbia 1980) B+
The Power Of Rock And Roll (Columbia 1981) B+
Juggernaut (Columbia 1982) A-
Dragonfly-The Best Of Frank Marino/Mahogany Rush (Razor And Tie 1996) B-
Sunday, November 24, 2013
The Velvet Underground
Perhaps the most influential alternative rock band that ever came out, The Velvet Underground couldn't sell 100 copies of their first album but Brian Eno said whoever bought them formed a band. If there was any other band that was like the Velvets that would have been The Fugs in terms of turning three chords into much more sinister. With John Cale in the band being polar opposites with Lou Reed their first two albums are an exercise in melody and mayhem and chaos. But with Andy Warhol playing a role with oddball movies, a light show and dancers to boot, there were the first true alternative band.
But after losing Andy Warhol and later John Cale, they turned to be more of a garage rock bar band and after the meltdown that was White Light/White Heat, Lou Reed booted Cale out of the band (at the urging of Steve Sesnick who singlehandedly killed the Velvets when he did the divide and conquer rule to Doug Yule after Loaded was finished) and opted for a more laid back but mellow but still a garage rock sound. Sad to say MGM didn't know what to do with them and after completing what would be released as VU a decade and half later, moved over to Atlantic for their most accessible album to date Loaded, a phase coined by Reed as an album Loaded with hits and he's right, all 10 songs would have sounded good on either AM or underground FM. Atlantic, demoted them to Cotillion for Loaded and used Bridgit Polk's cassette recording of the Max's Kansas City Show as a final offering.
Doug Yule ended up taking over for the import only and mostly unheard Squeeze, which isn't a bad album but it's not a true Velvet Underground either, none of the original members play on it and despite no notes and a basic album cover, the big story was that Ian Paice played drums on some of the songs. Hard to imagine the Deep Purple drummer being a part of Velvet Underground. But no US label would touch it and it came out on Polydor UK.
Back to the beginning, The Velvet Underground with Nico starts out somewhat mellow a calm before the storm with Sunday Morning but even then Lou Reed warns you to look out and then the next song becomes Waiting For The Man, made famous by John Cale's crazed barrel house piano playing. Nico does three songs, the mellow Femme Fitale, the failed single All Tomorrow Parties and I'll Be Your Mirror but she would be gone soon after although The Velvets did play on some of her Chelsea Girls album that came out later on. Buoyed by Maureen Tucker's primitive drumming, Run Run Run is another horror story done in by plenty of Reed's feedback and free form lead guitar. There She Goes Again could have been a good single had Verve put it out but it has been covered a few times over by the likes of REM and The Beat Farmers. But side 2 leads off with Heroin, which Reed tells it from a junkie's view and John Cale's viola and Tucker's drumming leads up to a big falling apart toward the end of the song. To end the album with Black Angel's Death Song to which Cale hisses after Reed spits out the verse and the strange European Son ends things on a chaotic note, not exactly a good thing but this record probably says more about how Reed and Cale would operate on their own solo recordings.
The noise fest that is White Light/White Heat is that, all noise, amps cranked up to ten and did I mention more noise. The title track becoming yet another failed hit single, the trainwreck ending to which Cale sounds like the bass is strangling him and side 2 is I Heard Her Call My Name and the 19 minute Sister Ray which will drive the old ladies out of the building if they heard it. I give it points for effort but I didn't like The Gift or Lady Godiva's Operation much, nor the 2 minute throwaway Here She Comes Now. http://bigread.mojo4music.com/2013/11/velvet-underground/
The third album is polar opposite, mostly nice and mellow and only the 8 minute throwaway Murder Mystery to which Lou And Sterling speaking gibberish first and then Maureen and Doug doing what I'm guessing is the chorus line doesn't get much playing time but it leaves you back to the first side to almost perfect pairing of Candy Says leading to What Goes On, then Some Kinda Love and Pale Blue Eyes and then Jesus. Take away Murder Mystery and this could have been their classic album.
But then that would be saved for Loaded and there's not a bad track anywhere. Another failed single Who Loves The Sun b/w the 7 minute Oh Sweet Nuthin' but this is where you get to hear the original Sweet Jane and a revisit of Rock And Roll (the original was on the 4th album). My other faves are Head Held High and Train Around The Bend. Even the lesser known songs (Lonesome Cowboy Bill and I found A Reason) have a bit of heart to them as well. But sad to say, Maureen Tucker doesn't play drums on it at all, she was pregnant at the time and bowed out so Doug Yule and brother Bill took over most of the drumming as well as Adrian Barber.
The original Live At Max's Kansas City was upgraded to a 2 CD set and is much better overview should you find it. Robert Quine recorded a bunch of live Velvets and some of the highlights came out on the 1969 Live on Mercury. With the 10 minute Ocean and the 9 minute What Goes On, you really get the feeling that you had to be there to see it and the recording is rougher than the Max's Kansas City but till the 1993 reunion live album that was all we had to go on.
The albums didn't sell and Polygram only had the Velvet Underground And Nico in print but in 1984, they reissued much of the 4th album that MGM rejected and it's a worthy listen and the songs were so good, Lou Reed would use them for his early solo albums. Leading off with I Can't Stand It and the other side with Foggy Notion, The Velvets never rocked harder. A couple of 1967 sessions with John Cale doesn't leave him out. VU, the album sold well enough that Another View was issued a year later, and basically a bottom barrel scraping adventure although we do get to hear the original We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together and a feisty Guess I'm Falling In Love, an instrumental that the original vocal on the tape were too damaged to use.
For years, there would not be a Velvet Underground reuinon of sorts till 1991 although John Cale and Lou Reed buried the hatchet to do a 1990 tribute to Andy Warhol, Songs From Drella. Three years later the Velvets did reunite to do a European tour and Sire issued both a one cd and two cd set of the shows and it's a mixed bag for either version although you're better off with the 2 CD set. But it wouldn't last and the band imploded, and Sterling Morrison passed away in 1995.
Mark Prindle thinks their overrated and he could have a point but if you take them at their music and not get caught up in the media praise, the Velvet Underground was still a very good bar band, and they were if you had to chance to see them in the late 60s after Doug Yule joined up, with John Cale they were more of a cabaret band with a chance to shock with the S & M imagery of Venus In Furs or documenting a sick party like Sister Ray. Andy Warhol may have "produced" the first album but the dirty work recording was from the late Tom Wilson (Bob Dylan, Animals), and everybody from Sterling on down to Maureen played a vital role in the music, Tucker being the inspiration to Meg White although Tucker was by far the better drummer. Even though Doug Yule was a big part of the VU, he was all but forgotten when the original band got back together in 1993 and when they became part of the rock and roll hall of fame in 1996.
There are plenty of best ofs out there And The Velvet Underground Gold pretty much gets rid of the filler of the albums that were released on Verve/MGM/Polydor but nothing from the Atlantic albums. A 1989 best of does feature two cuts from Loaded (Rock And Roll and Sweet Jane of course) but for me the Gold set was the better buy. Still the original albums speak for themselves and if you really want to know how Alternative Rock started, The Velvet Underground and Nico is that album. Last year, Universal put out a limited edition of the Scepter Sessions which was the basis of the first album and it's rougher and cruder but worth a listen. You'll never hear Squeeze anyway and you're better off for it but in the end, The Velvet Underground carved out a territory that no other band dared go to, celebrating drugs, drag queens and adultery but could pin a nice little love song, or a tribute to the radio and even a song about Jesus. But still uncompromising but still rock and roll rebellion, no band ever sounded like that before them. But they sure had a lot of imitators after that as well. The perfect compliment.
Albums:
The Velvet Underground Scepter Sessions Acetate (1966 reissued 2012 Polydor) B+
The Velvet Underground And Nico (Verve 1966) A
White Light/White Heat (Verve 1968) B+
The Velvet Underground (MGM 1969) A
Loaded (Cotillion 1970) A
Live At Max's Kansas City (Cotillion 1971) B
Squeeze (Polydor UK 1973) B-
1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury 1974) B+
VU (Verve 1985) A
Another View (Verve 1986) B
Best Of (Words And Music By Lou Reed) (Verve 1989) A-
Velvet Underground Gold (Polydor) A-
Live 1993 (Sire 1993) B
Final VU (Captain Trip 2001) B
But after losing Andy Warhol and later John Cale, they turned to be more of a garage rock bar band and after the meltdown that was White Light/White Heat, Lou Reed booted Cale out of the band (at the urging of Steve Sesnick who singlehandedly killed the Velvets when he did the divide and conquer rule to Doug Yule after Loaded was finished) and opted for a more laid back but mellow but still a garage rock sound. Sad to say MGM didn't know what to do with them and after completing what would be released as VU a decade and half later, moved over to Atlantic for their most accessible album to date Loaded, a phase coined by Reed as an album Loaded with hits and he's right, all 10 songs would have sounded good on either AM or underground FM. Atlantic, demoted them to Cotillion for Loaded and used Bridgit Polk's cassette recording of the Max's Kansas City Show as a final offering.
Doug Yule ended up taking over for the import only and mostly unheard Squeeze, which isn't a bad album but it's not a true Velvet Underground either, none of the original members play on it and despite no notes and a basic album cover, the big story was that Ian Paice played drums on some of the songs. Hard to imagine the Deep Purple drummer being a part of Velvet Underground. But no US label would touch it and it came out on Polydor UK.
Back to the beginning, The Velvet Underground with Nico starts out somewhat mellow a calm before the storm with Sunday Morning but even then Lou Reed warns you to look out and then the next song becomes Waiting For The Man, made famous by John Cale's crazed barrel house piano playing. Nico does three songs, the mellow Femme Fitale, the failed single All Tomorrow Parties and I'll Be Your Mirror but she would be gone soon after although The Velvets did play on some of her Chelsea Girls album that came out later on. Buoyed by Maureen Tucker's primitive drumming, Run Run Run is another horror story done in by plenty of Reed's feedback and free form lead guitar. There She Goes Again could have been a good single had Verve put it out but it has been covered a few times over by the likes of REM and The Beat Farmers. But side 2 leads off with Heroin, which Reed tells it from a junkie's view and John Cale's viola and Tucker's drumming leads up to a big falling apart toward the end of the song. To end the album with Black Angel's Death Song to which Cale hisses after Reed spits out the verse and the strange European Son ends things on a chaotic note, not exactly a good thing but this record probably says more about how Reed and Cale would operate on their own solo recordings.
The noise fest that is White Light/White Heat is that, all noise, amps cranked up to ten and did I mention more noise. The title track becoming yet another failed hit single, the trainwreck ending to which Cale sounds like the bass is strangling him and side 2 is I Heard Her Call My Name and the 19 minute Sister Ray which will drive the old ladies out of the building if they heard it. I give it points for effort but I didn't like The Gift or Lady Godiva's Operation much, nor the 2 minute throwaway Here She Comes Now. http://bigread.mojo4music.com/2013/11/velvet-underground/
The third album is polar opposite, mostly nice and mellow and only the 8 minute throwaway Murder Mystery to which Lou And Sterling speaking gibberish first and then Maureen and Doug doing what I'm guessing is the chorus line doesn't get much playing time but it leaves you back to the first side to almost perfect pairing of Candy Says leading to What Goes On, then Some Kinda Love and Pale Blue Eyes and then Jesus. Take away Murder Mystery and this could have been their classic album.
But then that would be saved for Loaded and there's not a bad track anywhere. Another failed single Who Loves The Sun b/w the 7 minute Oh Sweet Nuthin' but this is where you get to hear the original Sweet Jane and a revisit of Rock And Roll (the original was on the 4th album). My other faves are Head Held High and Train Around The Bend. Even the lesser known songs (Lonesome Cowboy Bill and I found A Reason) have a bit of heart to them as well. But sad to say, Maureen Tucker doesn't play drums on it at all, she was pregnant at the time and bowed out so Doug Yule and brother Bill took over most of the drumming as well as Adrian Barber.
The original Live At Max's Kansas City was upgraded to a 2 CD set and is much better overview should you find it. Robert Quine recorded a bunch of live Velvets and some of the highlights came out on the 1969 Live on Mercury. With the 10 minute Ocean and the 9 minute What Goes On, you really get the feeling that you had to be there to see it and the recording is rougher than the Max's Kansas City but till the 1993 reunion live album that was all we had to go on.
The albums didn't sell and Polygram only had the Velvet Underground And Nico in print but in 1984, they reissued much of the 4th album that MGM rejected and it's a worthy listen and the songs were so good, Lou Reed would use them for his early solo albums. Leading off with I Can't Stand It and the other side with Foggy Notion, The Velvets never rocked harder. A couple of 1967 sessions with John Cale doesn't leave him out. VU, the album sold well enough that Another View was issued a year later, and basically a bottom barrel scraping adventure although we do get to hear the original We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together and a feisty Guess I'm Falling In Love, an instrumental that the original vocal on the tape were too damaged to use.
For years, there would not be a Velvet Underground reuinon of sorts till 1991 although John Cale and Lou Reed buried the hatchet to do a 1990 tribute to Andy Warhol, Songs From Drella. Three years later the Velvets did reunite to do a European tour and Sire issued both a one cd and two cd set of the shows and it's a mixed bag for either version although you're better off with the 2 CD set. But it wouldn't last and the band imploded, and Sterling Morrison passed away in 1995.
Mark Prindle thinks their overrated and he could have a point but if you take them at their music and not get caught up in the media praise, the Velvet Underground was still a very good bar band, and they were if you had to chance to see them in the late 60s after Doug Yule joined up, with John Cale they were more of a cabaret band with a chance to shock with the S & M imagery of Venus In Furs or documenting a sick party like Sister Ray. Andy Warhol may have "produced" the first album but the dirty work recording was from the late Tom Wilson (Bob Dylan, Animals), and everybody from Sterling on down to Maureen played a vital role in the music, Tucker being the inspiration to Meg White although Tucker was by far the better drummer. Even though Doug Yule was a big part of the VU, he was all but forgotten when the original band got back together in 1993 and when they became part of the rock and roll hall of fame in 1996.
There are plenty of best ofs out there And The Velvet Underground Gold pretty much gets rid of the filler of the albums that were released on Verve/MGM/Polydor but nothing from the Atlantic albums. A 1989 best of does feature two cuts from Loaded (Rock And Roll and Sweet Jane of course) but for me the Gold set was the better buy. Still the original albums speak for themselves and if you really want to know how Alternative Rock started, The Velvet Underground and Nico is that album. Last year, Universal put out a limited edition of the Scepter Sessions which was the basis of the first album and it's rougher and cruder but worth a listen. You'll never hear Squeeze anyway and you're better off for it but in the end, The Velvet Underground carved out a territory that no other band dared go to, celebrating drugs, drag queens and adultery but could pin a nice little love song, or a tribute to the radio and even a song about Jesus. But still uncompromising but still rock and roll rebellion, no band ever sounded like that before them. But they sure had a lot of imitators after that as well. The perfect compliment.
Albums:
The Velvet Underground Scepter Sessions Acetate (1966 reissued 2012 Polydor) B+
The Velvet Underground And Nico (Verve 1966) A
White Light/White Heat (Verve 1968) B+
The Velvet Underground (MGM 1969) A
Loaded (Cotillion 1970) A
Live At Max's Kansas City (Cotillion 1971) B
Squeeze (Polydor UK 1973) B-
1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury 1974) B+
VU (Verve 1985) A
Another View (Verve 1986) B
Best Of (Words And Music By Lou Reed) (Verve 1989) A-
Velvet Underground Gold (Polydor) A-
Live 1993 (Sire 1993) B
Final VU (Captain Trip 2001) B
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Spooky Tooth-That Was Only Yesterday
Let's face it, the 60s and the 70s was my era, even though I continue to review things in the 80s onward and thought that the 90s has their share of great bands as well. But as time progresses on, some of the bands that I used to listen to on the FM side of the dial have not dated properly. Some have not stand the test of time.
I used to be a Cactus fan back in the 70s, they had the guys from Vanilla Fudge and Jim McCartney from The Detroit Wheels and the screaming Rusty Day of Amboy Dukes. But upon buying the reissues from Wounded Bird, I came to find that the first Cactus album isn't that great and the Rhino Best of, I donated it back to charity after hearing it. The Fudge, loved their singles and their best of but their actual albums didn't do much for me anymore. And the 1983 comeback album Mystery, bad beyond belief. At least with Bloodrock I do enjoy their first two albums including the morbid D.O.A. I've been searching for years for the Capitol best of Bloodrock And Roll, which came out as a reissue in the early 90s but then again I come to find I could live without that. But I do keep my eyes open.
And then there's Spooky Tooth, a band that may have been A&M's answer to Vanilla Fudge. Led by Mike Harrison and Gary Wright, later of Dreamweaver fame, they made a few albums for A&M and Island (although Island issued their albums in the UK). In Arizona on vacation I found their so called classic Spooky Two in the cutouts fairly cheap and decided to buy it on a cross state tour of Arizona only to get to stuck in a runaway lane miles from nowhere and somehow somebody helped me out of that situation and the song I got stuck in the lane was Better By You, Better Than Me. I came to find the album a farce and ended up on the trip back, donating it back to Goodwill and maybe thinking I may have misjudged them.
So in Quincy, FYE had a used copy of their best of, That Was Only Yesterday, which is Spooky Two with the best song left off the thing (I Got Enough Heartaches, a excellent song covered by Three Dog Night) and cherry picks three off their first Tobacco Road, Four from The Last Puff and an except from the Ceremony and one off the Mick Jones version of band with perhaps one of the best titles in rock history with You Broke My Jaw So I Busted Your Jaw to which Island in the US issued that album.
Rarely has a greatest hits package has disappointed me in a way that whoever compiled this best of had their head up their ass. How could you leave off I Got Enough Heartache but in the process added the rest of Spooky Two? That's deducts a half grade right off the bat. The three sections from Tobacco Road, including title track and a oddball cover of Janis Ian's Society's Child are so damn pompous and over the top it sounds like they're going for a Vanilla Fudge sound, with bombast to boot. Sunshine Help Me is passable.
Perhaps the best song or nadir is Evil Woman, the 9 minute FM favorite from Spooky Two. It's interesting to hear both Harrison and Wright trade off vocals, and whoever decided to sing the higher notes must have been wearing very tight jeans in the process. It's one of the songs that when the younger generation hears, wonders what the big fuss was all about. Better By You was later covered by Judas Priest. When they tone down the rhetoric, they actually sounded like Humble Pie around the As Safe As Yesterday to which Greg Ridley would later join. In all fairness, Spooky Two is basically all you need if you want to know the hoopla of this band.
The scattershot song selection kills this best of. Their second best known is a slowed down and druggy I Am The Walrus but also covers a Joe Cocker song (Something To Say) and up and coming Elton John (Son Of Your Father) that perhaps The Last Puff album might be worth a listen to, since Cocker himself provides some backing vocals and three members of the Grease band play on this. Luther Grovsenor would leave and change his name to Ariel Bender as he replaced Mick Ralphs in Mott The Hoople. Gary Wright would replace Mike Harrison for the 1973 Busted Your Jaw, to which only featured one song and the followup LP Witness, with Mick Kellie returning on drums no songs. And then the band would break up, with Wright going on a solo career, Mick Jones played in Leslie West Band before starting up Foreigner, Kellie, the drummer would play on later albums by Johnny Thunders and become part of The Only Ones with Peter Parrett.
For a overview, That Was Only Yesterday isn't worth your time or effort since it borrows too much from the second album. Buy Spooky Two instead. And shortchanges the rest of the catalog of this band. And leaves you scratching your head of what the fuss was all about.
Grade C
I used to be a Cactus fan back in the 70s, they had the guys from Vanilla Fudge and Jim McCartney from The Detroit Wheels and the screaming Rusty Day of Amboy Dukes. But upon buying the reissues from Wounded Bird, I came to find that the first Cactus album isn't that great and the Rhino Best of, I donated it back to charity after hearing it. The Fudge, loved their singles and their best of but their actual albums didn't do much for me anymore. And the 1983 comeback album Mystery, bad beyond belief. At least with Bloodrock I do enjoy their first two albums including the morbid D.O.A. I've been searching for years for the Capitol best of Bloodrock And Roll, which came out as a reissue in the early 90s but then again I come to find I could live without that. But I do keep my eyes open.
And then there's Spooky Tooth, a band that may have been A&M's answer to Vanilla Fudge. Led by Mike Harrison and Gary Wright, later of Dreamweaver fame, they made a few albums for A&M and Island (although Island issued their albums in the UK). In Arizona on vacation I found their so called classic Spooky Two in the cutouts fairly cheap and decided to buy it on a cross state tour of Arizona only to get to stuck in a runaway lane miles from nowhere and somehow somebody helped me out of that situation and the song I got stuck in the lane was Better By You, Better Than Me. I came to find the album a farce and ended up on the trip back, donating it back to Goodwill and maybe thinking I may have misjudged them.
So in Quincy, FYE had a used copy of their best of, That Was Only Yesterday, which is Spooky Two with the best song left off the thing (I Got Enough Heartaches, a excellent song covered by Three Dog Night) and cherry picks three off their first Tobacco Road, Four from The Last Puff and an except from the Ceremony and one off the Mick Jones version of band with perhaps one of the best titles in rock history with You Broke My Jaw So I Busted Your Jaw to which Island in the US issued that album.
Rarely has a greatest hits package has disappointed me in a way that whoever compiled this best of had their head up their ass. How could you leave off I Got Enough Heartache but in the process added the rest of Spooky Two? That's deducts a half grade right off the bat. The three sections from Tobacco Road, including title track and a oddball cover of Janis Ian's Society's Child are so damn pompous and over the top it sounds like they're going for a Vanilla Fudge sound, with bombast to boot. Sunshine Help Me is passable.
Perhaps the best song or nadir is Evil Woman, the 9 minute FM favorite from Spooky Two. It's interesting to hear both Harrison and Wright trade off vocals, and whoever decided to sing the higher notes must have been wearing very tight jeans in the process. It's one of the songs that when the younger generation hears, wonders what the big fuss was all about. Better By You was later covered by Judas Priest. When they tone down the rhetoric, they actually sounded like Humble Pie around the As Safe As Yesterday to which Greg Ridley would later join. In all fairness, Spooky Two is basically all you need if you want to know the hoopla of this band.
The scattershot song selection kills this best of. Their second best known is a slowed down and druggy I Am The Walrus but also covers a Joe Cocker song (Something To Say) and up and coming Elton John (Son Of Your Father) that perhaps The Last Puff album might be worth a listen to, since Cocker himself provides some backing vocals and three members of the Grease band play on this. Luther Grovsenor would leave and change his name to Ariel Bender as he replaced Mick Ralphs in Mott The Hoople. Gary Wright would replace Mike Harrison for the 1973 Busted Your Jaw, to which only featured one song and the followup LP Witness, with Mick Kellie returning on drums no songs. And then the band would break up, with Wright going on a solo career, Mick Jones played in Leslie West Band before starting up Foreigner, Kellie, the drummer would play on later albums by Johnny Thunders and become part of The Only Ones with Peter Parrett.
For a overview, That Was Only Yesterday isn't worth your time or effort since it borrows too much from the second album. Buy Spooky Two instead. And shortchanges the rest of the catalog of this band. And leaves you scratching your head of what the fuss was all about.
Grade C
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Forgotten Classics Of The 90s-Handsome
The 1990s had their share of great albums that nobody heard. One of the great mysteries of this is the failure of Handsome's first and only album to generate any airplay or sales while crap nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn topped the charts.
On paper this album should have been a seller. Peter Mengede was part of the classic Helmet lineup, Tom Capone played in Quicksand and Pete Hines played in Cro Mags. Boasting a loud production from Terry Date (Soundgarden), Handsome runs through 12 loud songs that recall Helmet. In fact this album was better than the After Taste that Helmet did put out. Needles did get some minor airplay but sadly the rest didn't.
With the album failing to do much, the band broke up. However, there's still enough love of the band that the folks at ShopRadioCast is reissuing the album in vinyl next month with a bonus 7 inch single of two unreleased tracks. Basically it's easy to say that Handsome didn't extort none of the dubious crap features of a Limp Bizkit or a Mudvayne, they rocked a bit harder without the rap overtones or screamo of Korn, or the cheese factor of Fred Durst. In fact Durst would kill for a hook like Left Of Heaven or Going To Panic. Fans of Helmet would enjoy this album.
http://www.shopradiocast.com/products/Handsome-%252d-Handsome-LP-%252b-7%22.html
On paper this album should have been a seller. Peter Mengede was part of the classic Helmet lineup, Tom Capone played in Quicksand and Pete Hines played in Cro Mags. Boasting a loud production from Terry Date (Soundgarden), Handsome runs through 12 loud songs that recall Helmet. In fact this album was better than the After Taste that Helmet did put out. Needles did get some minor airplay but sadly the rest didn't.
With the album failing to do much, the band broke up. However, there's still enough love of the band that the folks at ShopRadioCast is reissuing the album in vinyl next month with a bonus 7 inch single of two unreleased tracks. Basically it's easy to say that Handsome didn't extort none of the dubious crap features of a Limp Bizkit or a Mudvayne, they rocked a bit harder without the rap overtones or screamo of Korn, or the cheese factor of Fred Durst. In fact Durst would kill for a hook like Left Of Heaven or Going To Panic. Fans of Helmet would enjoy this album.
http://www.shopradiocast.com/products/Handsome-%252d-Handsome-LP-%252b-7%22.html
Monday, October 28, 2013
Lou Reed Memorial
Like it or not, Lou Reed followed his own path and made albums that were difficult and hard to get into or get. But in his 40 years as a solo artists it has been one great ride. Not everything worked mind you but regardless, it was unique. He let the music do the talking more or less.
Albums: (incomplete)
Lou Reed (RCA-1972) B+
Transformer (RCA 1973) B-
Rock And Roll Animal (RCA 1973) A-
Berlin (RCA 1973) B+
Lou Reed Live (RCA 1974) B
Sally Can't Dance (RCA 1974) B+
Metal Machine Music (RCA 1975) C
Coney Island Baby (RCA 1976) B+
Rock And Roll Heart (Arista 1977) C+
Walk On The Wild Side-Best Of Lou Reed (RCA 1977) B+
Street Hassle (Arista 1978) B+
Take No Prisoners (Arista 1978) C+
The Bells (Arista 1979) C+
Growing Up In Public (Arista 1980) B+
The Blue Mask (RCA 1982) A-
Legendary Hearts (RCA 1983) B+
New Sensations (RCA 1984) A
Mistrial (RCA 1986) B
New York (Sire 1989) A-
Songs For Drella (Sire 1990) A-
Magic And Loss (Sire 1992) B-
Set The Twilight Reeling (Warner Bros 1996) A-
Perfect Day (Reprise 1998) B+
Ecstasy (Reprise 2000) B+
The Raven (Sire/Warner Bros 2002) B
Animal Serenade (Sire 2004) B
Metal Machine Music Live At Berlin (Avant Garde 2007) C
Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007) B
Berlin Live At St Ann's Warehouse (Matador 2008) B
Lulu (Vertigo/Warner Brothers 2011) B-
Albums: (incomplete)
Lou Reed (RCA-1972) B+
Transformer (RCA 1973) B-
Rock And Roll Animal (RCA 1973) A-
Berlin (RCA 1973) B+
Lou Reed Live (RCA 1974) B
Sally Can't Dance (RCA 1974) B+
Metal Machine Music (RCA 1975) C
Coney Island Baby (RCA 1976) B+
Rock And Roll Heart (Arista 1977) C+
Walk On The Wild Side-Best Of Lou Reed (RCA 1977) B+
Street Hassle (Arista 1978) B+
Take No Prisoners (Arista 1978) C+
The Bells (Arista 1979) C+
Growing Up In Public (Arista 1980) B+
The Blue Mask (RCA 1982) A-
Legendary Hearts (RCA 1983) B+
New Sensations (RCA 1984) A
Mistrial (RCA 1986) B
New York (Sire 1989) A-
Songs For Drella (Sire 1990) A-
Magic And Loss (Sire 1992) B-
Set The Twilight Reeling (Warner Bros 1996) A-
Perfect Day (Reprise 1998) B+
Ecstasy (Reprise 2000) B+
The Raven (Sire/Warner Bros 2002) B
Animal Serenade (Sire 2004) B
Metal Machine Music Live At Berlin (Avant Garde 2007) C
Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007) B
Berlin Live At St Ann's Warehouse (Matador 2008) B
Lulu (Vertigo/Warner Brothers 2011) B-
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