A LIFE IN MUSIC

MOJO PROUDLY PRESENTS 15 CLASSIC LOU REED TRACKS TAKEN FROM THE RCA & ARISTA ALBUM COLLECTION

1 LISA SAYS Written by Lou Reed.

Two years after his departure from The Velvet Underground Lou Reed returned with his first solo outing. Recorded at Morgan Studios in London, the self-titled effort saw him use a number of UK session musicians, drummer Clem Cattini and Yes pair Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe among them. Musically, he returned to a cache of hitherto unreleased songs he’d written for the Velvets, this reading of Lisa Says among them – resplendent with its curious bridge.

Available on: Lou Reed (RCA VICTOR LSP 4701)

2 ANDYÕS CHEST Written by Lou Reed.

If Lou’s solo debut sounded a tad uncertain, his second offering, Transformer, brought his songwriting into sharp focus. Aided and abetted by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, Reed found his ambition being openly encouraged. The result was a career-defining effort, propelled by the irresistible Walk On The Wild Side. Andy’s Chest – a bittersweet tribute to his old mentor Warhol was another nod to his VU past.

Available on: Transformer (RCA VICTOR AFL1 4801)

3 HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS Written by Lou Reed.

Rather than taking the easy option of building on the success of Transformer ( UK Top 20; US Top 30), Reed delivered Berlin, a complex rock opera centred around a doomed couple, Caroline and Jim. Harrowing themes of drug use, domestic abuse and suicide were matched by Bob Ezrin’s dramatic production, How Do You Think It Feels juxtaposing Reed’s lyrical nonchalance with the music’s heavy-duty feel.

Available on: Berlin (RCA VICTOR APL1-0207)

4 WHITE LIGHT/ WHITE HEAT Written by Lou Reed.

Ezrin used guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter on Berlin. They’d soon become the heart of Alice Cooper’s band. But before that they headed to New York for Lou’s show at Howard Stein’s Academy of Music for what became the Rock’n’Roll Animal live set. Once again Reed drew on his VU music, the art-rock originals getting a glam-stomp makeover, as this take of White Light/White Heat underlines.

Available on: Rock’n’Roll Animal (RCA VICTOR APL1-0472)

9 REAL GOOD TIME TOGETHER Written by Lou Reed.

If Coney Island Baby and Rock And Roll Heart had a certain nostalgic quality, then Street Hassle (with its 11-minute title track) was packed with bleak self-analysis. Its brooding quality was emphasised by the fact that it was one of rock’s first binaural releases, unsettling the listener in the process. Reed’s take on this Velvets tune ripples with an evident sense of ennui, his detached vocal at odds with the tune’s main refrain.

Available on: Street Hassle (ARISTA AB 4169)

10 I WANT TO BOOGIE WITH YOU Written by Lou Reed-Michael Fonfara.

The critics loved Street Hassle, but its successor, The Bells, was less lauded. Once again, Lester Bangs defended Lou in Rolling Stone, calling it one of Reed’s finest. Bangs praised its brave marriage of jazz fusion textures and street rock smarts (as exemplified on this sly, languorous track). If the production has dated, certain tunes have not – the title track and this seductive cut among them.

Available on: The Bells (ARISTA AB 4229)

11 TEACH THE GIFTED CHILDREN Written by Lou Reed.

To those who viewed Reed as the high priest of punk-orientated nihilism, his first album of the ’80s was something of a shock. In fact, the personal lyricism permeating Growing Up In Public seemed to reflect his marriage to Sylvia Morales, while the music was equally upbeat. Meanwhile, the languid Teach The Gifted Children sounded like a song of reconciliation and redemption.

Available on: Growing Up In Public (ARISTA AL 9522)

12 THE GUN Written by Lou Reed.

One of Reed’s finest albums, The Blue Mask contained further musings of his newfound domestic happiness (particularly the closing Heavenly Arms). However, The Gun – as its title suggests, a rumination on firearms and one of Lou’s most overlooked tunes – is the standout track here, the semi-spoken word section where Reed intones, “I’ll put a hole in your face/If you even breathe a word,” providing a chilling sense of genuine menace.

Available on: The Blue Mask (RCA AFK1-4221)

PRIOR TO HIS DEATH ON OCTOBER 27, 2013, LOU REED supervised the remastering and restoration of some of his most formative work. It is that work that makes up The RCA & Arista Album Collection. Due for release on October 7, this vast box set enshrines his legacy in a unique manner, presenting his career in chronological order and underlining the inimitable qualities that pervade his most influential solo work. This bespoke MOJO compilation brings you 15 tracks that are also presented in the order which they were released. The aim is to provide you with a distinctive view of a master storyteller who continually redefined the possibilities within rock’n’roll during a fecund 14-year period. Welcome, then, to MOJO’s ultimate celebration of Lou Reed. Join us as we celebrate A Life In Music…

5 KILL YOUR SONS Written by Lou Reed.

The first Lou Reed solo studio album to be recorded in New York, Sally Can’t Dance was also the first of his albums not to feature any material from his Velvets days. That said, it’s easy to hear the wry Kill Your Sons as a track that he might easily have penned back in 1968. The album became Reed’s highest charting effort to date, denting the US Top 10. He would react to that very fact in a typically avuncular fashion…

Available on: Sally Can’t Dance (RCA VICTOR CPL-0611)

6 METAL MACHINE MUSIC PT1 Written by Lou Reed.

“As a statement, it’s great; as a giant FUCK YOU it shows integrity,” wrote Lester Bangs on the subject of Metal Machine Music. A double LP with four tracks of drone-inspired, squally guitar noise, it’s said Reed demanded it be released on RCA’s classical Red Seal label. Seen as commercial suicide, it still divides opinion, many viewing it as the precursor to the NYC noise scene that emerged a decade later.

Available on: Metal Machine Music (RCA VICTOR CPL2-1101)

7 SHE’S MY BEST FRIEND Written by Lou Reed.

While Lou had cut this track with The Velvet Underground back in 1969, that version wouldn’t surface until the release of the VU compilation in 1985. Revisiting the track for Coney Island Baby, his sixth album, Reed replaced the original’s psychedelic drive with a sense of rock classicism. Kiss acolyte Bob Kulick’s guitar adds a sense of heft to echo the work of Wagner and Hunter two years earlier. Available on: Coney Island Baby (RCA VICTOR APL1-0915)

8 FOLLOW THE LEADER Written by Lou Reed.

Switching labels from RCA to Arista, Lou absorbed the influences of the burgeoning NYC club scene for this upbeat album. Rock And Roll Heart also seemed to find Lou trying to relocate a certain sense of innocence. He again returned to his past, reworking a tune written for VU but adding a street groove powered by sax player Marty Fogel and the busy percussion of Michael Suchorsky.

Available on: Rock And Roll Heart (ARISTA AL 4100)

13 MAKE UP MIND Written by Lou Reed.

The musical shift and emotional power of The Blue Mask meant that its successor, Legendary Hearts, was somewhat overlooked. Continuing his musical relationship with guitarist Robert Quine and bassist Fernando Saunders, Reed delivered a further effort where the sparse sound underlined moments of self-doubt (as on Bottoming Out) as well as heartfelt observation (Betrayed). Indeed, on this tune despair appears to lurk just below the surface.

Available on: Legendary Hearts (RCA AFL1-4568)

14 FLY INTO THE SUN Written by Lou Reed.

“I would not run from the holocaust/I would not run from the bomb,” begins Reed on this tune from his thirteenth solo album. It may not be the cheeriest of opening couplets, but critics hailed New Sensations as one of his most accessible albums to date, Rolling Stone describing it as “joyfully human”. In that respect, Fly Into The Sun is the sound of a 42-year-old unflinching at the prospect of meeting his maker.

Available on: New Sensations (RCA AFL1-4998)

15 I REMEMBER YOU Written by Lou Reed.

With his final album for RCA, it was as if Reed was sizing up his peers – both Bowie and Iggy Pop had flirted with the mainstream – and a raft of artists clogging up MTV’s playlist. As a result, 1986’s Mistrial is as close as he ever came to a blue-collar rock record where he allowed himself to chuckle at contempory culture (as on The Original Wrapper). Meanwhile, I Remember You was a big rock tune permeated by a sense of nostalgia.

Available on: Mistrial (RCA AFL1-7190)