Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Friday Music: I like your old stuff better than ...

Glyn

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 22:07:43 +1300

My personal favourite is Nick Kent's NME 'interview' with Lou in 1974 (featured in his early 90s book The Dark Stuff). Entitled 'Lou Reed: the Wasted Years' it chronicles Kent's encounter with him on another 'nothing-to-do night' in NY.

'From a distance the character looked just like another sub-human dementoid...looking…

Mike O'Connell

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:27:04 +1300

It’s months since Princess Chelsea let bFM have a copy of her cover of the song to play, and then released it as a 7” vinyl single. Well, now there’s a video.

And it’s sensational:

No-one has mentioned it yet...it certainly is sensational video. It's also a very 'busy' video…

Joe Wylie

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 06:15:08 +1300

country music – a genre as wide and varied as pop, jazz or classical
He's not wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-TOVX7G3c

Danielle

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:17:04 +1300

I hope we're not going to be horrible to country music just because Karl du Fresne likes it. That would make me sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkVtMCu9TI

Martin Brown

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 21:35:02 +1300

The fact this Karl du Fresne is using a 2003 graphic theme on his…Blogspot… says rather a lot.

Russell Brown

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 20:53:18 +1300

I like how he can still cram in his usual grievances even when he likes something ...

Does this mean country music has finally overcome the sneering of New Zealand’s self-ordained cultural priesthood, who reflexively snigger at the very mention of the genre? As tempting as it might be, I…

Joe Wylie

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:30:25 +1300

you can pretty much guess what Karl du Fresne's preferred musical style is. Draw your own conclusion.
Ah so. Goes some way towards explaining the "y'see yesterday mah dawg died" tone that pervades his 'work'.

Kumara Republic

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 16:30:24 +1300

On closer inspection, you can pretty much guess what Karl du Fresne's preferred musical style is. Draw your own conclusion.

Sacha

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 09:33:49 +1300

mainly due to lack of a working flux capacitor

teeworthy

chris

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 01:48:31 +1300

It’s not exactly crazy to note that people often do prefer “the earlier, funnier movies”.

Certainly nothing crazy there, provided you’re not standing on a street corner randomly barking that line out to passersby. As I see it, for the most part things hinge on our first encounter (the first…

Matthew Littlewood

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 22:12:37 +1300

Also, Lou Reed's review of Kanye West's Yeezus was very readable- particularly the autobiographical touches to it. I found the record pretty hard to take myself- and I like some of Kanye's earlier stuff, particularly the first two albums- but Reed is undeniably perceptive about Yeezus's intent. I like…

Simon Sjorn

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:46:46 +1300

There seems to be some weird undercurrent to this discussion about The Fall. I don't really understand but for the official record let it be known: Lou Reed is great Mark e Smith is greater.

Simon Grigg

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:40:52 +1300

Still the Auckland Townhall was bulging at Lou’s two 70s shows if everyone who says they were there was. I was,

I was too, and I had an earlier encounter [this is crossposted from my FB page] in 1977:

I went with [Scavengers] Johnny Volume and Brendan Perry to the…

Mike O'Connell

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 15:53:15 +1300

I’ve only seen the Fall twice (back in the Early 90’s) and both shows were exceptional, however viewing footage of more recent show’s I’d have to say that Mr Smith may be spent as a live performer.

They certainly were back in the day. I was fortunate to catch a…

philipmatthews

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 13:56:14 +1300

One more: Paul Morley in the FT.

I think I'd prefer to read the NME story from 1979, written after ...

During a couple of days travelling around Berlin before a concert, he messed with my mind, shouted at me for being stupid, tried to assault me after the show,…

Hebe

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 13:41:53 +1300

Here’s the Economist take [on Lou Reed], by the way

That sentence is where my brain starts to melt. Lou Reed in The Economist obits.

Russell Brown

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 12:15:06 +1300

That is interesting Simon, no wonder VU sales were low! Some few people used to get airfreight NMEs–post office order or overseas funds

I think it must have been about 1979 when it all changed and the first album became quite widely available. Just in time for New Zealand punk…

Alec Morgan

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 11:01:39 +1300

That is interesting Simon, no wonder VU sales were low! Some few people used to get airfreight NMEs–post office order or overseas funds? Heh.

Still the Auckland Townhall was bulging at Lou’s two 70s shows if everyone who says they were there was. I was, and remember his TV interview…

Ian Dalziel

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 09:11:44 +1300

Happy daze...
where to post...
the Arthur Fonzarelli of Rock 'n' roll
Hi Greg, welcome...

This track is, of course, from Greg's Trust Only This Face CD from 1995.
(which we had lotsa fun putting together the booklet/case for – cut and paste)
I always loved that Lou/'Fonz' panel -…

JacksonP

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 08:09:18 +1300

Seems the Noisey website is the only place so far showing the debut video for the Broods' Bridges.

I like it.

greg malcolm

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 07:21:04 +1300

can't work out where to post.. so will it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhkXkWwCr4o&feature=c4-overview&list=UUFWwp13oyJZ0dleMdAgiPnQ

Conrad Heine

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 00:55:10 +1300

The Mail rant is plain bizarre, but so original that an actual fan may have been involved in some way, with the compulsory editorial outrage added to the mix (although the blame for migrants seems to have been skipped). And I salute the picture researcher. What wouldn't I have given…

Caleb D'Anvers

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 00:39:19 +1300

Our very own Matthew Bannister has some interesting things to say about the influence of the Velvets (and the influence of Warhol on them) in his White Boys, White Noise. He wrote a really good piece in Popular Music a few years as well, which touched on the question of how…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 23:16:03 +1300

Lou Reed’s muse radically expanded what it was possible to talk about in a pop song, and what a pop song could be.

There’s a story told by Bob Dylan about how he was driving along in the car with the radio on in 1964 when he heard – for…

Sacha

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:05:01 +1300

Melvyn Bragg

another under-rated genius

Matthew Littlewood

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:55:38 +1300

I tweeted this earlier in the week, but for those who missed it, the South Bank Show’s 1986 Velvet Underground doco is a fascinating timecapsule in itself. Not only in its matter-of-fact presentation-I love Melvyn Bragg’s almost professorial intro- but also what it focused on. I mean, it barely mentions…

Matthew Littlewood

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:47:19 +1300

I’m sorry , but the first Velvet Underground record is possibly my favourite album of all time. Come back when you can write a song better than ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’, ‘Waiting for the Man’ or ‘Heroin’. Lou Reed’s muse radically expanded what it was possible to talk about in…

Sacha

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 21:37:33 +1300

his predilection for – of all things – Uncle's hamburgers

please tell me he visited the K Rd branch. those guys were awesome entertainment

Danielle

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:22:15 +1300

It's not exactly crazy to note that people often do prefer "the earlier, funnier movies".

chris

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 18:20:14 +1300

To be fair, I don’t think brain was fully engaged when that opening was typed;

What a drag it is getting old, if you happen to play rock music

Either due to lack of research of lack of understanding of the subject matter, it seemed to reveal more about the…

Grant McDougall

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:17:40 +1300

Russell, get Paul Rose to tell you his story about when Lou played Auckland in 1984 and his predilection for – of all things – Uncle's hamburgers, it's really funny.

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:11:36 +1300

Duncan Greive has expanded and updated his Metro profile of Lorde for Australian music website Faster Louder. So if you never got around to reading the Metro version, now's your chance.

Danielle

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:49:57 +1300

That Jean Knight rework isn't TOO hugely different from the original, which just goes to show that Stax was pretty much The Greatest Label in the World Ever Amen. I don't wear band tees often anymore but I'll still break out the Stax label shirt every now and then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwJH6SepXCQ

Ken Double

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:49:32 +1300

Christgau actually wrote his own farewell to Lou in Spin.

Danielle

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:40:16 +1300

It’s a bit prog.

Oh goodness, you had me worried there. I thought we were going to have a million time signatures and lots of "virtuosity". But it's... huh. I think it might be all right. A bit bombastic though.

Nik, I too bought Magic & Loss when it came out…

Kyle Matthews

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:51:22 +1300

And there’s a cool video …

Hullo Dunedin Sound! Where you been hiding...

Great stuff.

Tim Michie

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:50:18 +1300

Reading around the wikis and obits Neil Gaimen interviewing Lou Reed (via boingboing via Wil Wheaton) is a gem and reflects nicely with what some of us have been saying upthread.

Nik Dirga

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:15:39 +1300

I'll agree with the "music matters most when you hear it young" meme, and that's why I actually find my favourite Lou Reed albums are the "New York"/"Songs for Drella"/"Magic and Loss" trifecta of the late '80s/early '90s when I first discovered Lou. Have always loved the Velvet Underground who…

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:41:16 +1300

Neil Finn has released a new song, "Dive Bomber". It's not your typical Neil Finn/Crowded House tune, and even fans are having "WTF" reactions. It's a bit prog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks_-25Fgh5U

Hebe

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:40:31 +1300

Music was a form of time travel then and a kind of ticket to worlds we didn’t know about.

Well put. Some of us went and found the worlds once we knew they existed. I found Transformer via a soldier with a big British bike in the Kiwi Gothick suburbs…

Hebe

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:27:30 +1300

Yeah all that was crap; the itch to edit made my finger twitch. The last three paragraphs was the good part.

Jason Kemp

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:24:16 +1300

Transformer came out when I was in high school in the '70's. Courtesy of classmates older siblings we listened to Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, The Guess Who, Wishbone Ash, David Bowie, Elton John and Lou Reed. Back then music seemed to be very much dominated by the big acts and…

Chip Matthews

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:23:35 +1300

If you do check out and enjoy that Noah Slee track, head along to soundcloud.com/noahslee where you can check the rest of this EP released earlier this year. Mighty fine stuff.

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:10:14 +1300

This guy (discounting the self-puff) seems to have got close to capturing Lou in the last quarter century

FFS, so Stein walked up to Reed – a complete stranger – at a party. He wasn't feeling terribly chatty, and forstalled the conversation brusquely but not (IMO) in a manner that…

Alan Perrott

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:02:55 +1300

is that from the youtube clip?

throw this is the subject line.

DAKOTAS SOUNDHOG EDIT The Spider And The Fly 1968

Kumara Republic

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:01:47 +1300

502. That’s an error.

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds. That’s all we know.

I’ve never seen YouTube crash so hard before.

STOP PRESS: Luckily they've fixed it pretty quickly.

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:52:04 +1300

...a trove of emphemera
Russell
is this like ambergris
something coughed up
from the past?

remembergris a result of
memorabiliousness perhaps?

;- D

Hebe

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:42:02 +1300

Laurie Anderson’s piece from the heart is touching; doing the form with his hands as he was dying.

Whenever I’ve read more recent Lou Reed pieces (not much because the music was always the thing with me) I had the sense he would wearily put on his Lou Reed armour…

AndrewLong

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:41:50 +1300

Don't forget about Russolo and his art of noises from 1913: http://www.hydramag.com/2010/08/27/luigi-russolo-how-the-art-of-noise-revolutionized-20th-century-music/

Robert Fox

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:39:33 +1300

Ok against my better judgment i just took a minute to read that Du Frense blog piece and now understand your perversion. The guy is a 24 carat plonker.

RaggedJoe

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:36:09 +1300

Psychedelic Pill is as good as if not better than anything Neil Young has done for years, (in some cases not a high bar I admit) and he rocked the recent concert in Auckland, good energy for 67!

A world without Lou..not so good...at least I can still play Rock…

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:26:45 +1300

Punks raged against the status quo, but there was nothing in the music of the Beatles to suggest they were remotely interested in bringing down the “system”. The most they did was mock it in a good-natured manner [...]

I could gather plenty of documentary evidence that a non-trivial number…

Rich Lock

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:25:35 +1300

Having not bothered with any Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails since around 1995, I gave the album he/they released earlier this year a listen on the internets, and was very pleasantly surprised. For those that like that sort of thing.

Robert Fox

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:23:53 +1300

Jim Welch

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:22:50 +1300

I have sent away for a large supply of needles.

Lou would undoubtedly approve.....

Paul Campbell

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:21:41 +1300

Laurie Anderson's short but sweetly heart-breaking obit for her husband.

Yes that's the obit I was pointing to above – the image that accompanied the original was great:
http://www.easthamptonstar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/400xY/loureed.jpg
The editor, a friend, of the small town paper that appeared in is struggling to keep his paper's website alive at…

Alan Perrott

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:21:24 +1300

excellent, some summertime picnics might be in order?

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:14:16 +1300

Thanks, Alan. It is a wind-up machine but quite portable, in a natty box. I have sent away for a large supply of needles.

Dave Chowdhury

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:10:27 +1300

I'd like to think Lou would have given Mr de Fresne and other detractors a riposte similar to the one quoted in The Guardian yesterday, from an interview shortly before he died:

"I am what I am, it is what it is. And," he added, "fuck you."

Alan Perrott

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:07:46 +1300

mate, that sounds like good times to me. I hope you've got a good stash of needles though. they don't last very long at all and soon become nails that scratch more than play.
saying that though, is a 50s model powered?
I've only ever tudooed about with hand-cranked 20s/…

Russell Brown

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:05:55 +1300

Life is indeed too short to read the curmudgeonly outpourings from the meat and two veg world view of the likes of Du Fresne and pretty much anyone who writes for the Daily Mail, no matter how unintentionally hilarious they are.

I confess, my delight in du Fresne's utterances on…

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 11:04:41 +1300

You want musical regression? I have just weeded out my CD collection and donated boxes to a local school fair. In their place goes a 1950s HMV portable gramophone and a collection of 1930s/40s jazz on 78s (another charity fair acquisition). Wound up the gramophone for the first time last…

Jim Welch

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:56:12 +1300

And this piece in Salon is quite good.

Alan Perrott

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:55:37 +1300

plus one on the Swans, and how's about Richard Hawley? sure, there's a couple of plodders on his last album, but when he sets his fingers and tonsils to it he's still nigh untouchable.

Russell Brown

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:55:25 +1300

Also are the Fall the only band in the world who’s fans look forward with enthusiasm to their latest release? Smith’s borderline insanity, prodigious output and policy of regenerating his band more often than Dr Who keeps Fall anoraks constantly craving new material.

When they played here last year, a…

Jim Welch

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:48:42 +1300

Nice.

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:47:16 +1300

Laurie Anderson's short but sweetly heart-breaking obit for her husband.

Ken Double

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:45:25 +1300

Every time Paul McCartney puts out a new album – which is surprisingly often – some of my dearest friends will gamely insist that Maccas’s back on form. He’s not. It’s just another lot of annoying sing-song melodies.

Thank God, yes. I believe Paulie's technocratic tinkering has finally found its…

Jim Welch

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:41:15 +1300

RIP Lou, you irascible old bastard. I love all the Velvets stuff and much of his 70s solo stuff. New York, released when he was ancient (like, 47 or something!) has some really great songs, too.

Why even mention Karl du Fresne's ignorant rant? Really, is there a less relevant…

philipmatthews

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:35:26 +1300

I think SWANS is an example of a band who are better than they used to be — how many bands have made better new stuff after a reunion, that actually develops on what they did in the interim (Angels of Light) as well as adapting the old? And I…

Alan Perrott

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:29:43 +1300

yeah, the snark has been interesting and I'm sure Reed, being a contrary bastard, wouldn't have given a shit. but aren't there some joyless, self-satisfied asshats around? I guess there's an element of Slater's look at me factor involved.

and I go along with how you've summed him up, but…

Robert Fox

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:28:53 +1300

Hebe

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:25:35 +1300

Greg Jackson has woken long enough to broadcast from his couch:

"Lou was a reporter; a chronicler of his times. He was the Dickens of smack."

Kumara Republic

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:20:19 +1300

And on the home front, Colonel Karl du Fresne returned to his favourite theme – the depravity of all popular music since 1965 – with a withering commentary on the Velvet Underground:
That, or he invokes the limo liberal/bourgeois bohemian card. In fairness, the Stones probably should know when to…

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:15:50 +1300

The odd thing is that all of the above still know how to bring it when they take the stage. They're better, wiser musicians. But we're not there to hear their new songs.

Part of this might have to do with the human brain. As we get older, we lose…

philipmatthews

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:09:27 +1300

That stuff about Rachel at Dangerous Minds, including comments, is fantastic. A couple of other good Lou obits:

Luc Sante in the New Yorker:

The least you could say about Reed is that he was complicated. He was lyrical and crass, empathetic and narcissistic, feminine and masculine, a gawky adolescent…

James Butler

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:07:31 +1300

It’s pretty much the opposite of literature

And visual arts, and in fact most other forms of music. "True" pop is supposedly more ephemeral, but it's full of seasoned pro writers, producers, session players churning out hits. And classical music, whoa. Even Mozart was showing some signs of promise when…

Paul Campbell

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:06:48 +1300

And it's back – Lou Reed tai-chi master may not be the one you remember ....

Craig Ranapia

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:00:24 +1300

We should all aspire to the Daily Mail trampling on our graves.

I’m pretty sure basically everyone who knew Ralph Miliband might beg to differ.

It’s not like Lou stopped after that. Christ, he put out Lou Reed, Transformer and Berlin inside 24 months. You could have built a legend…

Paul Campbell

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:54:30 +1300

And then there's this http://www.easthamptonstar.com/Obituaries/20131031/Lou-Reed Laurie Anderson's personal obit in the local paper (currently being slashdotted, you may have to wait a while)

Damian Christie

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:47:58 +1300

Interesting to read the Reed obits both good and bad. I decided to unfriend a certain grumpy old music reviewer (oh okay, Gary Steel) because he couldn't help but write a snarky "never liked him/he had a lot of shit albums you know" update. He did the same thing when…

Public Address

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:47:58 +1300

Discussion from blog post.