While it was 50 years ago that the Velvet Underground and
Nico released their eponymous LP, it was 40 years ago when Lou Reed was truly
unleashing the VU on the world through a series of concerts more intent on the
VU than on his most recent LPs, Coney Island Baby and Rock and Roll Heart. "Sweet
Jane," "I'm Waiting for the Man," "Heroin," "Sister Ray," "Lisa Says" and "White
Heat/White Light" were all featured on the setlist for the year, alongside "Walk
on the Wild Side," "Satellite of Love," "Berlin," "Vicious" and "How Do You Think it
Feels?" Reed knew that that these were the songs that would become iconic for
the era; his more recent tunes the stuff of a 35 year old too old to (write) rock 'n' roll, too young to die. Both 1976 LPs are sufficient efforts, but Reed, after the
ridiculous release of Metal Machine Music, had lost his way, and it was only
through the live events that his legacy was sealed. While Rock 'n' Roll Animal so
brilliantly captured Reed's new interpretations of the VU, it was the touring
in the late 70s that incorporated the 60s Reed with the Transformer years.
It's rare for performance to be more vital to an artist’s
career than his studio LPs, but mid-70s Reed, as was his bent, turned the corporate
music world on its head. The concert line up consisted of Lou Reed, vocals, guitar;
Marty Fogel, sax; Michael Fonfara, keyboards; Jeffrey Ross guitar; Michael
Suchorsky - drums; and Bruce Yaw, bass. This was not the RnR Animal virtuoso
combo, but an equally stellar version with more grit.
Having first created a stunningly beautiful and perfectly
flawed oeuvre with the Velvet Underground, in the 1970s Lou Reed had embarked on
his solo career. Following a widely overlooked first album that consisted of
reworked versions of unreleased Velvet Underground outtakes and leftovers, Reed
had his first taste of solo success with his 1972's Transformer,
produced, like most of the 70s, by David Bowie, and containing his biggest
hit, "Walk On The Wild Side." The dark and depressing Berlin album
followed, which although now acknowledged as a classic, was initially met with
extremely unfavorable reactions and virtually crushed the career momentum that
had started with Transformer.
Reed, in his iconoclastic way, fully embraced the moment, so to speak,
deteriorating into alcohol and drug addiction and recreating himself as the
"Rock 'n' Roll Animal," a caricature of what many perceived him to
be. His self-deprecation and resentment fueled his performances during this
time and the band he assembled helped to revamp his music, taking it to the
level of arena rock. Rather than capitalizing on
success, Part 3, Reed issued the ultimate middle finger to his record
company by releasing Metal Machine Music, a double album of feedback,
noise, and distortion guaranteed to kill all career momentum. It worked and
Reed was released from his contract with RCA, while being picked up by Arista, who would release Coney Island Baby and Rock and Roll Heart.
Reed would never re-accomplish what was created in the VU or Transformer
years, instead, he would take what was iconic and transform it for posterity through live performance. Only the Grateful Dead did that more successfully.
