I know that Lou Reed isn't everyone's cup of tea. For all of his musical and vocal deficiencies, I admire him for his poetry and honesty. I first heard this as an outtake on a blues video compilation and really liked it. Old Blind Lemon Jefferson song. Hope that you enjoy it. Its so christmasy.
9 comments:
Lou Reed-----"HONESTY??"
You gotta be joking!
He is the original con man artist rip off poseur.
I like the sound he gets, but it is anything but honest.
Better come up with another description.
He did start working with Antony and the Johnsons early on, so he has great taste and ears....but I would never describe him as honest.
John Prine is honest.
Lots of others, too.
But not 'Louis' (that is what John Cale* used to call him.)
* Not to be confused with JJ Cale or John Cage
NYST
Even out here in the hinterlands, I am very familiar with Cale, having caught him several times in my artsy college days. Love his version of walking the dog on Mercenaries.
I stand by honest with Reed. Bukowski honest, Honest as in any artist with marginal pipes and tools who doesn't give a shit and puts the shit out there warts and all because he or she feels an imperative. And Reed has an efficiency to his prose that I think was cutting edge in its time and remains relevant. But I know he's not everyone's bag.
You want con man poser, read positively fourth street or any of the raft of dylan biographies and see how bad he clawed his way to the top. Lied about everything, invented his history and had a pretty ugly desire to ascend.
Frank Lloyd Wright was a similar con man. Lied to get his first job at the Larkin Soap Co. and appropriated all this work by Louis Sullivan. Bastard to his women.
Yet who can not acknowledge that they were both brilliant artists? In the same way that Tiger Woods can be such a master of the niblick and maybe such a total shit as a human being.
thanks for finally enabling comments on this, i really dug it, the band backing him was incredible also...
i really could have done without the simultaneous digs at Dylan, and Frank for that matter, both towering geniuses of the 20th century; who cares if they weren't perfect as human beings?
I hid your name, anonymous one, to spare you from public rebuke and censure. How dare I challenge the towering geniuses of the twentieth century?
It's called objectivity. You apply the same standard to all individual's behavior, irrespective if they are a personal hero or not.
You sound like a Giant fan making excuses for Barry Bonds. Before you get wept away in your love for your idols, read a bit about the subject. Dylan was the embodiment of Guthrie poseur initially, and was totally craven about his desire for fame. Wright for all of his genius was a total shit.
But the reality is you didn't even bother to read my comment which, excused Lou if in fact Stan's assertions are correct, on the strength of his artistry. We do much the same for Picasso or even maybe Eliot Spitzer.
Humans tend to be a pretty forgiving bunch but we don't have to be myopic asskissers.
i put Bob right up there with Shakespeare; if that makes me a myopic a-kisser, so be it...cheers and blessings...
You're hopeless...Go ahead and drink your kool aid from a leopard skinned pillbox hat.
i call it sticking up for the guy, maybe because i had the privilege of meeting him a couple times; he wouldn't even let me schlep a heavy box of books out to his car for him, insisted on doing it himself, and was really nice when i gave him a friend's cd to listen to; you know if you dig deep enough you'll find dirt on anyone, but when you weigh it against the incredible legacy he's left the world, does it matter? so he was a Guthrie clone-imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so they say; for that matter, he was also a blues and a country music jukebox, so he assimilated all the right influences...mais que sais je? i'm just a hopeless myopic asskissing koolaid drinker...happy chrismas, war is over...
Retract my critique.....that take kicks ass.....I worked for Cale for a while and I guess his asides got under my skin....
that is a great interpretation and what a motherfucking bank...is that Will Calhoun?
Anyway, sorry for jumpin when I shoulda been listenin, but I was actually deeply engrossed with some Sonny Boy Williamson when I read the post....and let's face it....that would be like trying to compare Pynchon to SHAKESPEARE, or something along those lines....happy holidays to yehs, too.
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