... Berlin
2. Lady Day
3. Men Of Good Fortune
4. Caroline Says I
5. How Do You Think It Feels
6. Oh, Jim
7. Caroline Says II
8. Kids, The
9. Bed, The
10. Sad Song
I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone who has just bought Transformer because they like Perfect day or Walk ... Read review
Legendary rock artist Lou Reed recorded the album Berlin - a masterwork of love, jealousy, ... more
rage and loss - in 1973. A commercial failure upon its release, he never performed the album live until December 2006 when it was magnificently brought to life for five nights at St. Ann's Warehouse Brooklyn and brilliantly captured on film by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.Using the divided city of Berlin as a backdrop, the devastating yet beautiful story of Caroline and her lovers is told through the emotive and provocative words and performance of Lou Reed with contributions from such artists as Emmanuelle Seigner, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Legendary rock artist Lou Reed recorded the album Berlin-a masterwork of love, jealousy, ... more
rage and loss-in 1973. A commercial failure upon its release, he never performed the album live until December 2006 when it was magnificently brought to life for five nights at St. Ann's Warehouse Brooklyn and brilliantly captured on film by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.Using the divided city of Berlin as a backdrop, the devastating yet beautiful story of Caroline and her lovers is told through the emotive and provocative words and performance of Lou Reed with contributions from such artists as Emmanuelle Seigner, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
1. Berlin
2. Lady Day
3. Men Of Good Fortune
4. Caroline Says I
5. How Do You Think It Feels
6. Oh, Jim
7. Caroline Says II
8. Kids, The
9. Bed, The
10. Sad Song
I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone who has just bought Transformer because they like Perfect day or Walk on the Wild Side or anyone with just a passing interest in the ... .../>
Opening song Berlin sets the tone with its creepy opening bars and its sparse lyrics about how they met by the Berlin Wall and it was Paradise. Following song Lady Day is a little more anguished and may be a reference to Heroin in the title (also the nickname given to Billie Holiday as well known heroin addict) and starts the downfall straight away instead of dedicating the start of the album with soppy love songs to show how great this ... more
Tracklisting
1. Berlin 2. Lady Day 3. Men Of Good Fortune 4. Caroline Says I 5. How Do You Think It Feels 6. Oh, Jim 7. Caroline Says II 8. Kids, The 9. Bed, The 10. Sad Song
I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone who has just bought Transformer because they like Perfect day or Walk on the Wild Side or anyone with just a passing interest in the man. This is not an easy listen - its Lou Reeds concept album about the breakdown of a marriage between Jim & Caroline and the mental collapse that follows.
It was produced by Bob Ezrin - a legendary producer who has worked with everyone from Lou to Pink Floyd to Janes Addiction - and the album sounds like it was recorded in Reeds head.
Opening song Berlin sets the tone with its creepy opening bars and its sparse lyrics about how they met by the Berlin Wall and it was Paradise. Following song Lady Day is a little more anguished and may be a reference to Heroin in the title (also the nickname given to Billie Holiday as well known heroin addict) and starts the downfall straight away instead of dedicating the start of the album with soppy love songs to show how great this marriage was - that would be such a cliche.
Men of Good Fortune follows and here Reed suggests that those from a better background or luckier have a better chance of a better life whereas men from poor beginnings have to strive harder for happiness.
So far so grim - but then the album goes rapidly doomward with no hint of happiness or things improving - Caroline Says 1& 2 is about the abuse caroline suffers from those around her. Lyrics like "you can hit me all you want to, I dont love you anymore" and "shes not afriad to die, all of her friends call her Alaska, when she takes Speed they laugh and ask her, what is in her mind." Its from here that they the album tackles Carolines mental breakdown with How Do You Think It Feels - a song asking, from Carolines point of view, how the listener or Jim thinks it feels when "you've been up for 5 days because you're afraid of sleeping", "to always make love by proxy", "when do you think it stops" etc.
It is after Caroline Says 2 that the album becomes almost unbearable to listen to - The Kids is a song I have great difficulty listening to - it documents how Caroline is having her children taken away as "they" say she is not a good mother and then Lou goes on to detail in a matter-of-fact voice all of the things that led "them" to this conclusion. It ends with the sound of real children crying "mommy" - it is heartrending and very disturbing. I later found that the children were Bob Ezrins and he told them that their mother had died and recorded the results - which is horrible.
Following this is The Bed in which Jim looks around their former 'home' at the bed where they lay and made their children and where she eventually cut her wrists that "fateful night". Most people I think would have switched off at this point because if you listen to this album in one sitting - which I believe would have been Reeds intention - it is extremely depressing and can alter your mood.
There is a kind of light at the end of the tunnel in the final song Sad Song - it seems to hint at Caroline being in Heaven and being happy - the song features a choir and a rousing chorus. Listened to on its own it could be seen as grim but following what has gone before it is almost a party record.
I would urge anyone with an interest in Lou Reed or real music as art to give this album a listen - it is very harrowing but also a masterpiece.
Advantages: Fantastic piece of work Disadvantages: Massively underrated
was ever given. A superb album that just envokes such a Britishness about it. "Sunday Morning", hangovers, papers & carwashing, the hit single "Our House" . "Primrose Hill", an old man sits in his lonely home watching children play in the park.
There is a tinge of sadness, and bitterness in the album. The songs are darker, more thoughtful. The title track "The Rise & Fall", "Tiptoes" (about a suicide jumper), "Blue Skinned Beast" (unrecognised soldier killed in action), the aforementioned "Primrose Hill". The other single "Tomorrow's Just Another Day".
There are however the lighter moments such as "New Delhi", this album is no "Berlin" by LouReed!!
In many ways, this album reminds me of the album which for me encapsulated everything that was great about Brit Pop. Namely, Blur's excellent "Modern Life is Rubbish". An album which seemed ...
Advantages: music for the soul Disadvantages: none
Thistlethwaite, after hearing him play on Waiting on Egypt, a Nikki Sudden album. The Red and the Black performed nine concerts in London during which time Thistlethwaite introduced Scott to drummer Kevin Wilkinson, who joined The Red and the Black. During 1982, Scott made a number of recordings, both solo and with Thistlethwaite and Wilkinson. These recording sessions, both of Scott's solo work and the group performances would later be divided between The Waterboys' first and second albums. In 1983, even though Scott's record label, Ensign Records, expected his first album to be a solo effort, Scott decided to start a new band. He chose The Waterboys as its name from a line in the LouReed song "The Kids" on the album Berlin.
The eponymous first album, and the band itself, was compared to U2 for the cinematic and anthem like sweep of their music ...
Advantages: Good songs, full sound Disadvantages: can be a little overproduced
difficult to work out were exactly their musical influences lie since their music is a fantastically bold mixture of so many styles. When we find out that Scott himself is a big fan of Patti Smith (their first ever single was a tribute to Smith, 'A Girl Called Johnny'), Dylan and Bowie things become somewhat clearer, certainly the punky attitude of Smith pervades all the songs, lyrically Scott has shown thoughtfulness and purpose that might seem Dylaneque in its pretensions if not in its execution and for sheer showmanship and fullness of sound as exemplified on this album it is clear that The Waterboys owe a debt to the more serious 70's glam rock bands including David Bowie. A further clue is provided by the name of the band that is from a LouReed song off the album 'Berlin'.
A Pagan Place is a collection of big, bold, epic songs. The band ...
Personnel: Lou Reed (vocals, acoustic guitar); Gene Martynec (acoustic guitar, synthesizer); Dick Wagner (electric guitar, background vocals); Steve Hunter (electric guitar); Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); Randy Brecker (trumpet); Jon Pierson (bass trombone); Bob Ezrin (piano, mellotron, background vocals); Allan Macmillan, Blue Weaver (piano); Steve Winwood (organ, harmonium); Tony Levin, Jack Bruce (bass); B.J. Wilson, Aynsley Dunbar (drums); Dennis Ferrante, Steve Hyden, Elizabeth March (background vocals). Recorded at Morgan Studios, London, England. Includes liner notes by Michael Hill. After the success of his glam-rockish TRANSFORMER, the expectation was that Lou Reed would plow deeper into commercial territory. As usual, Reed delighted in confounding expectations. BERLIN is a song cycle that uses the decadence of its namesake and some Brecht/Weill-esque orchestrations to tell a story of two psychically damaged people and their doomed relationship. (Aided by Berlin producer Bob Ezrin, Pink Floyd would attempt a similar feat several years later on THE WALL). Far from the rock star poses of TRANSFORMER, BERLIN is lyrically and musically frank and blunt. The arrangements move from sophisticated, arch orchestation to naked-sounding acoustic sparseness, but the words are uniformly unflinching in their depiction of violence, addiction and desperation. Not for the faint of heart, BERLIN is a harrowing journey through the aforementioned tribulations, and one of Reed's most unusual, demanding, but ultimately rewarding albums.
Album Reviews
NME (9/18/93, p.19) - Ranked #33 among The Greatest Albums Of The '70s. NME (8/12/00, p.29) - Ranked #28 in The NME "Top 30 Heartbreak Albums" - "...Heartbreak. Heroin. Dubonnet on ice. Reed poured all this badness into this bitter and twisted masterpiece..." Q (5/92, p.103) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...a melancholy masterpiece...places Reed's dry narrative in sophisticated settings..." The Wire (6/00, p.37) - "...Fascinating....Detailing a couple's breakup, a woman's breakdown and her eventual suicide.....succeeding despite itself..."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Berlin
2.
Lady Day
3.
Men Of Good Fortune
4.
Caroline Says
5.
How Do You Think It Feels
6.
Oh Jim
7.
Caroline Says
8.
Kids
9.
Bed
10.
Sad Song
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
16/05/2005
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