Tag Archives: Lou Reed

Celebrity/musician deaths

RIP: Lou Reed 1942 – 2013

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Like most, I am pretty heartbroken, shocked, and saddened by learning about the sudden passing of one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time… Lou Reed. I  have loved the music of Lou Reed for many years. Everything he did from the Velvet Underground & Nico, his solo career, Metal Machine Music, and yes, even his “Lulu” album with Metallica was all inspirational stuff to me. Loved him or hate him… Lou Reed was a musical genius.

Lou was a man who wasn’t afraid to do what he wanted to do musically… not giving a shit what the public thinks. That’s one reason why I respected him so much. Lou was also proof that you don’t need to be a good singer to play rock n’ roll music. That’s another reason I respected Lou. Most importantly, I respected Lou because of the genius songwriter that he really was. He wrote too many incredible songs.

Lou was also a very honest man. He wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted to the media and the press. Proof of that… he praised Kanye West’s newest album and gave it a positive review so that was pretty ballsy of Lou to do.

Another ballsy thing Lou did was that he collaborated on an album with Metallica… an album titled “Lulu” which is an album full of songs based on a play in Germany. The album got mostly negative reviews by music fans but no matter what you think of the album… Lou Reed was very proud of the album, “Lulu”. He didn’t care what the public thought. Lou just did what he wanted to do in the music industry. “Lulu” is now his final album before his death. Many of you would think it would be pretty weird that this would be his final album but I’m 100% sure Lou would have wanted this to be his final album. Metallica made Lou’s dream come true that the band accepted to collaborate with him so you should at least respect that.

Lou was one of the rock n’ roll greats. He was a great inspiration to my own guitar playing and songwriting.

In the song below, “Junior Dad” from his album Lulu… the song is about somebody’s dead father. Well, Lou Reed was a pretty much like a father to us musicians and rock n’ roll lovers. Lou was a rock n’ roll pioneer so I guess you can absolutely call him the father of rock n’ roll. I’m posting Lou’s song “Junior Dad” in dedication to him.

RIP Lou… and thanks for the great music over the years. My condolences go out to his wife Laurie Anderson and their families.

Kev
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“Junior Dad”
Would you come to me
If I was half drowning
An arm above the last wave

Would you come to me
Would you pull me up
Would the effort really hurt you
Is it unfair to ask you
To help pull me up

The window broke the silence of the matches
The smoke effortlessly floating

Pull me up
Would you be my lord and savior
Pull me up by my hair
Now would you kiss me, on my lips

Burning fever burning on my forehead
The brain that once was listening now
Shoots out its tiresome message

Won’t you pull me up
Scalding, my dead father
Has the motor and he’s driving towards
An island of lost souls

Sunny, a monkey then to monkey
I will teach you meanness, fear and blindness
No social redeeming kindness
Or — oh, state of grace

Would you pull me up
Would you drop the mental bullet
Would you pull me by the arm up
Would you still kiss my lips
Hiccup, the dream is over
Get the coffee, turn the lights on
Say hello to junior dad
The greatest disappointment
Age withered him and changed him
Into junior dad
Psychic savagery

The greatest disappointment
The greatest disappointment
Age withered him and changed him
Into junior dad

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Lou Reed responds to negative feedback as well…

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Brilliant response to negative critics about “Lulu”, Lou Reed himself said:

“I wouldn’t care what a critic said about anything, including a hamburger joint. There is no species of people I have less respect for.”

Read more, here.

There, take that, Lou Reed haters. 😀

Kev

 

music

Cool Video: Metallica responds to negative feedback of “Lulu” briefly…

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In this video by ArtisanNews, they did an interview with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich to discuss, “Lulu”. They respond to the negative feedback that the album have been getting by the longtime Metallica fans. Their response? They said this album shouldn’t be judged by normal Metallica standards. I think they mean, they don’t want fans looking at this record as a strictly Metallica album which people are confused on. I agree, this is not a Metallica album. It’s a Lou Reed album with Metallica being the backup band like I said before.

James also agreed to do this project because he said he wanted to try something new and different by not being the leading man or a front man for a change. It was an opportunity for James to put his songwriting duties aside and let someone else do the work. James has been the leading frontman for years and he wanted to step back from it for a little bit. That is also why he didn’t sing much on the record and was just considered a backup singer.

I also agree with them that it was an obvious collaboration. When they jammed together at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame show, people should have seen that collaboration coming anyway.

I loved the “Lulu” album, and I’ll be getting it for my Ipod soon.

Kev

music

Another Lou/’Tallica rant, about Lou’s vocals…

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I don’t mean to write about this project again, but there’s something else I need to say to get off my chest. That’s the big problem with this “Lulu” album, that it’s mostly Lou’s spoken-word vocals that is getting trashed on. I think I just figured out what’s wrong here. I think it’s because that a lot of people aren’t really into this “Spoken word” genre. Ever listen to spoken word music? You mostly hear spoken word music with folk music, jazz, blues, etc. but you never hear “Spoken word” music with rock n’ roll or metal.

Gil Scot-Heron was a spoken word artist. Utah Phillips is another. You can add Henry Rollins to the list.There are plenty more.

People complain that’s Lou’s vocals all over the music ruins the album, and I ask, how? His lyrics maybe full of rage and anger, but he wanted to do that as to how Lulu felt through the plays. She was a prostitute who went through so much trouble, and Lou’s rants with the songs was his way of showing it. As long as people are complaining about his vocals, Lou certainly did a great job grabbing people’s attention. It was about emotion.

I understand the Lulu record, 100%. Not everyone hates the record, however, there are some that love it just as much as I do, that’s because they get it, and they are smart.

I don’t see how people don’t like the album. I honestly feel people didn’t even listen to the whole thing carefully. It also annoys me that people seems to have the same opinions on everything when I don’t have to be like that.

Lou’s the best storyteller, as long as he got everyone talking good or bad, the Lulu story still got a lot of attention that it deserved.

Kev

music

About Lou/’Tallica’s “Junior Dad”…

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While a lot of people are giving “Lulu” negative reviews, one thing that everyone agrees with that most think “Junio Dad”, was the best song on there. I agree as well. “Junior Dad” is the best song on “Lulu”. The song really showed a lot of emotion and intensity.

However, there are some people that enjoy “Junior Dad”, but they complain that the song is way too long. The song is almost 20 minutes long. In the song’s defense, when musicians go off playing a song as long as possible, they improvise it. When they feel that “emotion” while playing a song, sometimes they can’t help themselves but keep the music going. They are playing through their minds and letting the fingers do the talking. Songs progress.

If you think Junior Dad is long, why don’t you try listening to Iron Butterfly’s, “In a Gadda Vida”, that song is way over 20 minutes. What about Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”. Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Phish, and most rock bands have written songs that are over 20 minutes.

The way I look at long songs, they don’t bother me. I listen to music like a piece of art, I don’t care about the song length. That’s the way bands play music sometimes, they stop playing when they feel like it.

While I did like the whole album, “Lulu”, “Junior Dad” is my favorite one on there too. I’m looking forward to see how well this album sells in the Billboard 200. It may become a no. 1 record. A lot of you will think this album is not going to sell well at all, but I disagree. I am predicting it’s going to be a hit. It might be a no. 1 record for a couple of weeks at least. While Metallica fans and metalheads may not enjoy this album, keep in mind that Lou himself has a large following of fans of his own. I’m betting my money this album will do well.

Enjoy “Junior Dad” below, feel free to grab a box of tissues if you need to wipe your eyes with, ’cause you might need it when you listen to this track.

Kev

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Thought: More on this Lou/’Tallica project…

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Ya know, I completely understand that people are entitled to their own opinions with music. You either like it or you don’t, that’s all good with me. The same goes for Lou Reed. If people are not into his music, that’s all cool. What’s bothering me is that people have been disrespecting him as a person and disrespecting his music legacy. When I defend Lou Reed on the internet, I’m not trying to force people to like him. That’s not that what I’m doing.

What I’m trying to do are two things: 1) Trying to get people to learn about Lou’s musical past and respect his legacy 2) Try to ask people to give “Lulu” a second chance.

It’s pretty obvious that most metalheads and Metallica fans don’t know anything about Lou Reed. I’ve seen people write some of the nastiest shit about Lou in facebook, it’s just crazy.

Here, I’ll post some examples of what people have been writing about Lou in facebook (I’ll leave their first & last names out of ’em of course, these are REAL comments posted in facebook that are aimed at Lou Reed)…they were taken from various fan pages…

–“Thats because it sucks. I don’t care how OPEN Lars wants us to be or how liberating it was for him to play this crap. Never could stand any Lou Reed song. I don’t have a clue how people like him ever got famous in the first place. Even if I was stoned, was a hippie in the 60’s I still would think he sucked!”

–“Lou Reed sucks, and ‘Tallica made a huge mistake working with him. I understand being a fan…but he’s crap. Pure crap. His vocals are like having a ten-penny nail bashed into my ears”

–“This will be remembered for a long time as one of the most wasteful examples of the Earth’s resources. Lou Reed’s vocals are so disgraceful. My ass passing diarrhoea makes more musical like sounding noises that Lou Reeds voice box. FUCKING TERRIBLE music”

-“Are any of you people actually musicians? Because this is pure shit, and some of your opinions don’t reflect that. Lou Reed’s vocals are just horrible, and always have been. Being 69 years old and an “avant garde” artist are no excuse for this….whatever the hell it is. @ Jose Luis Zurita- I’m 25 and I guarantee you I’ve forgotten more about music history than you know. Anyone with decent taste in music is shitting all over this right now, hoping Lou goes back to the old folks’ crazy home, and hoping Metallica got all this experimental bullshit out of their systems before they sit down to write/record their follow-up to Death Magnetic.”

-“This sucks, it doesn’t even sounds like music. Lou your voice has nothing to do with music as well! T H I S S U C K S!”

You get the idea??? People just disrespected the man, not realizing who he really is. A rock n’ roll legend, an American icon, a genius and a true master at rock n’ roll. This is just proof that people don’t know their music history that well.

Kev

music

Brock calls Lou Reed & Metallica’s “Lulu”, an absolute masterpiece, wow, what an incredible mind blowing album!!!!

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Yes, the title of this topic is no joke. I’m 100% serious on it. Lou Reed & Metallica just uploaded the “Lulu” album in it’s entirety on their website, just the day after they uploaded 30 second clips of each song. Weird, right? Well I actually sat here and listened through the whole thing from start to finish.

After all these people slamming this album, calling it “shit”, saying this collaboration shouldn’t happen, and blah blah blah. I mean, really? Did they listen to the same record I did? Most people bashing this album, have no intelligent argument to back it up with. I’m sure most of them, just listened to it for a little bit, then they stop, go in facebook and bash it, just for something to bash at, and join the bandwagon with their followers.

The thing that people don’t understand about this album, “Lulu”, well, it’s a concept album, a rock musical opera. Kind of like what the Who did with “Tommy/Quadrophenia” and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, like I explained before. It’s all experimental music. Ever listen to Iron Butterfly and ELO? Those two bands did the experimental thing back in their time too with their records.

The kids that bash this album are mostly Metallica fans, expecting this album “Lulu” to be a pop record. For example, people expect, “Lulu” to be full of hits and radio singles that Metallica is well known for. Well, if you’re expecting this record to be full of catchy songs, where you can sing along with and bang your head to, well you’re probably not gonna like this album. This album was never meant to be for pop radio singles that you were hoping for.

The thing about Lou Reed, that he is a bit older than most of us. So he doesn’t look at today’s music like we all do. He’s an old school kind of guy and I can kind of see that in this record. When I listened to this album, it is all Lou Reed. Everything. Metallica is just a backing band, that’s it. James Hetfield only provided backing vocals for the choruses and stuff.

Lou’s songwriting style in this record is kind of similar to his older stuff he did with the Velvet Underground and solo records. Yes, there’s a bit of similarities to “Walk on the Wildside” and “Sweet Jane” to some of the songs on the album, if you know what I mean by that. Lou just plays an organ throughout most of it. There are some songs where it’s just him and his organ alone with no band back up, then the band will kick in later.

Lou is the narrator, he’s doing the spoken word thing for a good reason. He talks over throughout most of the songs because he’s telling a story, about a woman named Lulu who had a troubled life. Mostly about hate, greed, suicide, and love. The lyrics are going to be very dark and controversial, but if they weren’t, then people wouldn’t even listen to these songs.

Some people like to pick which songs are the best and they pick out the best riffs from Metallica, but that’s not what this album was made for. This album is like a book or a movie. It wants you to know the story about Lulu. Just my 2cents, have you ever gone camping and you sit around a campfire with a group of family & friends, and you have a storyteller telling you campfire stories? Well, that’s kind of what’s going on here. Except it’s Lou Reed reading you a story.

There’s a lot of emotion and sadness in Lou Reed’s singing, especially in the song, “Junior Dad” which was the most powerful track on the whole record. The whole album is great but “Junior Dad”, really hit me hard, and a song never did that to me before. It maybe a long 20 minute song, but the song is very emotional. I can see why the song made Metallica cry in the studio after listening to it. It almost makes you feel sorry for Lulu even though she is just a fictional character. Of all the terrible things she went through. The songs on the album will describe the things she went through.

I think this was the best thing that Lou Reed & Metallica has ever done. So far, this is the best album of 2011. You get way too much crap mainstream music like all this pop & rap garbage you hear in the top 40 everyday, but finally real music is being made with Lou Reed & Metallica. It definitely felt like the 60’s  & 70’s all over again with this “Lulu”, album. This album was a true work of art. I’m definitely buying this album when it comes out.

This Lulu story by Frank Wedekind is something else, and people deserve to learn about it. Despite the negative feedback on this album, the story is already grabbing people’s attention whether they like it or not. Lou/’Tallica will probably go on tour for this record soon and I can definitely see Lou/’Tallica not playing their hits, and playing this “Lulu” album in it’s entirety on their tour. Seeing them playing these songs live would be an emotional experience.

To those that are giving this album negative feedback, give this album another listen and stick through the whole thing. Give it time, it’ll grow on you, and soon you’ll realize that this album is a masterpiece. I loved it. I really did.

Kev

music

Lou/’Tallica posts 30 second clip of each song on their album, “Lulu”…

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Lou/’Tallica uploaded 30 second clips of each track on, “Lulu”, you can listen to them, here.

I think I’m starting to figure out why most people are bashing this project. It isn’t Metallica they are hating on, it’s Lou Reed people are bashing. I’m finding that most people enjoy the music of Metallica on “Lulu”, but it’s Lou Reed’s singing that a lot of people aren’t liking.

Let me tell you why…all these Metallica fans who are bashing Lou Reed are mostly young kids that are strictly metal fans. They aren’t really into any other genres outside of metal. I am thinking they don’t really listen to regular rock n’ roll much. Lou Reed has been in the music industry for at least 40 years, he had a longer career than Metallica. I’m willing to bet, Metallica fans don’t even know much about Lou Reed’s music career. Kids of today’s generation are having a hard time understanding Lou Reed.

I’ve been a Lou Reed fan for years, I love both of them, Lou and Metallica. I love the “Velvet Underground” stuff and Lou’s solo album, “Transformer”.

Does the metal world deserve an introduction to Lou Reed? Hell yes, absolutely.

The songs I’m hearing on “Lulu”, Metallica still has that old school speed metal sound, especially the song, “Mistress Dread” which reminds me of, “And Justice For All”. People trashing Lou’s vocals, they just don’t understand that Lou had the same singing style for years. Lou still sings the same way. Lou may not sing as good as James Hetfield, yes, but the passion is there in Lou’s singing, and the way he sings is very poetic sounding.

Just give it time, when “Lulu” comes out Nov. 1st, I know a lot of people are going to buy the album, just out of curiosity. So it’ll probably sell well. I’d be surprised if it becomes a no. 1 record. When people buy the album, they’ll want to look into Lou Reed’s past, they’ll start to listen to the Velvet Underground and his solo music, maybe, the fans will have a change of heart with Lou and say to themselves, “Man, Lou Reed is actually a genius”. That’s what I’m hoping.

Lou’s songs on “Lulu” is really deep and serious stuff. The stories have always been controversial and scared people for years. Frank Wedekind’s work is really incredible stuff. Wedekind’s work deserves to get known in the U.S.

Kev

 

movies, music

Netflix Pick (DVD): Pandora’s Box

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Last night, I actually watched the 1929 German silent film, “Pandora’s Box” in which the Lou Reed/Metallica project, “Lulu” was adapted from. I don’t watch silent films too much. I only watched this one out of curiosity of the Lou/’Tallica project. What did I think of the film?

I actually loved it a lot. It told a pretty powerful story. I actually watched through the whole movie and it was a little over 2 hours long.

It’s just tells the story of a young woman named, Lulu, who is a pretty sexual woman and will seduce anyone she lays her eyes on. She was hired to be part of a trapeze act to perform on stage in front of a big crowd. Then she realizes she is surrounded by violent people and criminals. She was sold to a brothel later on in the film.

After seeing this movie, I now understood why Lou/’Tallica is doing this project. Remember, how in the song, “The View”, Lou was talking about suicide and all that stuff? Well all that was part of the Lulu story. There was a part in the movie where Lulu’s husband tried to force her to take a gun and shoot herself, and I began to think that the song “The View” was about that one scene.

The story of Lulu was very powerful stuff. I’m glad I watched the film. I think the United States should do a remake of it. It’s only a matter of time that Hollywood will do a remake of it depending how well this Lou/’Tallica “Lulu” album sells on the Billboard. This Lulu story deserves to get told world wide.

There’s something special about this Lulu character. I think everyone else should watch it too. Rent it from Netflix, get it from Itunes, or order the DVD online. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the film yourself. You may not be into silent films, especially films from a different country, but this story is wonderful. Before bashing Lou and Metallica for this project, you should look into it more. When you look into it more, you’ll start to understand it.

The reason everyone is hating Metallica for this project is because they are still hung up on this, “speed metal”. Metallica is not going to do speed metal forever, it’s about letting go of their past and moving on to other things.

On top of that, this isn’t the first time that Metallica did a theatrical like album, remember, “And Justice For All”? That whole album was based on, “Johnny Got His Gun”. Their song, “For Whom The Bell Tolls” was inspired from the Ernest Hemmingway novel with the same title of the song. Like I said before, most of Metallica’s songs are very theatrical, almost like a musical. That’s why they are appropriate for this project.

I think this Lulu character will become very popular in the United States after their album is released. I think what Lou and Metallica is doing is very good. Metallica don’t do projects randomly, they do things for a good reason.

Check out, “Pandora’s Box”. You’ll be at the edge of your seat throughout the film. It’s tells an interesting story.

Kev

movies, music

Pandora’s Box – the 1929 silent film about Lulu is in Netflix for DVD rental…

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Just for the hell of it, I just logged in my Netflix, “Pandora’s Box“, the silent film about Lulu and they had it available for Netflix DVD rental. So I put it in my que and put it on top of the list, so I should be getting it soon after I send back the DVD I have now. Looking forward to seeing it.

This is the project that the Lou Reed & Metallica album is based on. I’m looking forward to seeing the film. After I see the film, I’ll start to understand why they are doing an album on the Lulu story.

It really is sad that the public is bashing this Lou Reed & Metallica thing. I think it’s a very special project. The Who did the theatrical/musical thing too with “Quadrophenia” and “Tommy”. The Lou/’Tallica project is kind of similar to what the Who have done.

People should respect Lou Reed as a musician ’cause he had quite a legendary history with his career. Anybody that bashes the man, has no true love for music.

Kev