Reed, Lou – Lou Reed – 1972

[Roland Bru]

Lou’s first solo album never gets the credit it deserves. Mostly because album # 2 and 3 (Transformer and Berlin) are much more famous. While this makes sense to a certain extent, both Transformer and Berlin are in a way more dated than this, his debut album. Transformer has the decadent (Am I gay? Do I use drugs?) associations while Berlin is certainly one of the more depressing albums of the time, featuring children crying and the like.

Lou Reed, the album, contains solid songs, some rocking, some ballads, and is a nice transitional album between Velvet Underground and Lou Reed solo, containing as it does some leftovers from Velvet Underground days (Ride into the sun, Ocean, I love you, Walk and talk it) and some songs that would appear on future solo albums as well (Lisa says, Berlin).

Obviously, you either like his monotonous voice, generally sparse instrumentation and mostly cynical lyrics or you don’t. If you do, you should definitely consider listening to this album, as it contains some nice tracks. Especially the ballad I love you