Re-Lou Reed

Subject: Lou Reed

I worked with Lou for four years on tour in the mid eighties and continues a distant but friendly relationship with him for the rest of his life. Lou had very high expectations from everyone around him from performance to punctuality, but those expectations were placed upon himself as much or more then anyone else. He taught me a lot about myself and what I could accomplish if I was focused and persistent and demanded more of myself. He appreciated a job well done, with a curt thank you.

Lou and I bonded on tour late night playing pinball in hotel children's game rooms to the point that I carried $50 in quarters where ever we went. I was mandated to book hotels that had pinball machines. He was a master of the slanted table and each players turn could take 10 or 15 minutes while the other remained a spectator and we chatted about life. Lou introduced me to Laurie Anderson as the man who saved his life, as I was the rescuer at Torrance Hospital that came to pick up the pieces following a late night car accident, with Lou as one of four passengers on the 405. He had been asleep, woke up to a car careening across the road, twisting his ankle under the seat, slamming his chest and head into the front seat in spite of a seat belt. He was and in physical pain and an emotional wreck seeing the injuries to the other passengers as well. The next day he recorded his vocal duet with Sam Moore on "Soulman" for a movie soundtrack followed by a video shoot the following day for the movie song video. That afternoon we caught the Peoples Express flight back to Laguardia and I dropped Lou at his apartment on the upper westside. As I helped him out of the car, he said in his patented drone, "Thank You, I cannot believe the past 48 hours are over", as he shut the door and sauntered with a limp into the building as if nothing had happened."

Lou was a student of sound and had a huge collection of guitars, amps, and effects pedals. He was forever pulling out new pieces on tour in search of that sound, which when he found it within days was not what he was looking for completely and the hunt would continue. His "No Money Down" albums theme was that each song sounded sonically different as each used a different guitar amp pedal combination but the player, Lou Reed remained the same.

I continued to run into Lou over the years, NYC restaurants, and an occasional show I would attend, SIR on 25th St. Sometimes he was warm and embracing others cold and distant. We last spoke in the bathroom at SIR, he smiled as we exchange greetings and as he went out the door said, "See Ya on the Streets."

Many fans cite different songs of Lou's as their favorites , Sweet Jane, Waiting for the Man,I Love you Susan, Vicious, Street Hassle, Coney Island Baby among them.

To me Satellite of Love was the one, the arrangement and tempo kept changing, but the grit, power and the lyrics did it all for me, it describes Lou a satellite in space spewing out his love as he sees fit. My heart goes out to Laurie Anderson, in her Lou found an artistic soulmate that allowed each of them to follow their muse with support and on their own.

A true loss of an acerbic wit, social commentator, curmudgeon, who was proud of the title "godfather of punk" although loath to admit. I can still hear that piercing laugh and see the occasional smile from beneath the scowl. A very complex person to say the least, one of kind.

See ya on the streets Lou, maybe at the pinball arcade.

Bert Holman - Allman Brothers Band

_______________________________________

Subject: RE: Lou Reed

Lou Reed.

Bob, I co-Produced and played drums on Lou's "New York". I did some half assed engineering too. I met Lou (Prior to "New York") through Bob Quine. I played drums on a couple of his albums, Legendary Hearts & New Sensations,
did a bit or touring with him and, then I went off to be in a POP Band called Scritti Politti.

After the 18 month rush of Scritti Politti I came back home to NYC and Lou called me to ask if I would play drums on his next record that would become "New York". I told him that I would be happy to. I was all of 23 or 24 at that time and was looking to become a record producer. I never thought I would end up Producing "New York" with Lou. It was going to be another gig with someone I knew and felt comfortable with. He liked my playing because it was simple. I was NOT a prodigy. I was just a guy with a decent sense of what was needed from a drummer.

So, Lou starts asking me (the young guy) "Who should I get to produce this
record?" I blurted out the usual suspects of that that era, Bob Clearmountain, Scott Litt and so on but, no one was interested. NO ONE. The thing that is important here is that Lou had just been signed by Seymour Stein to SIRE / Warner Bros. And he essentially had, as usual in those days of WB, total artistic
control!

After several weeks of Lou searching for someone to produce, I (brass balled twenty something year old) suggested that I produce the record. He said "What the fuck do you know about recording guitars?... All you've done is "synth pop" crap. My response was "Lou, book ONE day in a studio and let's see what happens"

He did, and that ONE day at the legendary Media Sound on 57th street changed everything. I was so cocky, I didn't even hire an engineer... I would just do it myself! Long story short, we recorded and mixed the opening track of New York, "Romeo Had Juliette" in that single day.

He called me the next morning and said "I sound like Lou Reed again for the
first time in years... Let's do this". What we did that day ("Romeo Had Juliette") IS the first cut on "New York". He did not want to change a single thing about it. No remix, no overdubs, nothing.

Although I was a child and fan of technology, I knew that this record would best be served by using NO modern appliances. No drum machines, no automation assisted mixing, nothing. My main inspiration was the recently release Leonard Cohen record, "I'm Your Man". It was my first time hearing ANY Leonard Cohen but, what struck me was the level of the vocal. It was LOUD. soaring above the music. Yes, the underpinning "score" of "I'm You Man" was synthetic but, The song, The Lyrics were the thing.

Having been "just the young drummer" on two previous Lou records, I suffered through and producers and engineers trying to get Lou to "sing". Observing the relentless desire of those producers and engineers to DELIVER a new Lou Reed hit. Lou was not a singer per se. He was a Pre-Punk Punk. Spoken, half sung words and "sort of" melodies were his strength. Raw, in your face story telling was the conceptual lynch pin of New York.

I suggested that we take it one step further and have no piano, organ or any other kind of keyboards on the record. I'm not sure how long it was from his initially contacting me to play on "his next record" to actually starting in the studio but, the whole thing took Six weeks. The funny thing about that time was that while we were recording New York, I was having my first major radio and sales success with a record I had produced a year earlier, Information Society. So, from that moment on, my fate was sealed. I would never be "That Producer" with that "Go To" Sound. I didn't get many gigs from the "Big Time" Success of Information Society but, I did get lots of work and respect from Lou's New York.
Lou Believed in me. Lou gave me one of the biggest breaks I ever had and will always be grateful.

Rest in peace Lou.

Cheers - Fred Maher

_______________________________________

Subject: Re: Lou Reed

Hi Bob

I played with Lou on his last two European tours as violinist, guitarist and backing vocalist. Once I heard the news I spoke with my friend who had been playing with him for some time and who actually got me the "audition" with him and recounted how strange the process was getting the gig.

Lou needed a guitar player and my friend was in great confidence with him. He told me I could audition for the spot but that I should really bring my violin. I didn't want to as I hadn't been practicing much at the time, but he insisted. So after some cajoling I brought the violin with the guitar to the audition at Lou's studio which was just a couple blocks from my apartment. I had to learn 3 songs: Dirty Blvd, Halloween Parade and another I can't remember. It didn't matter anyway because the only song we played was Sweet Jane. The guitar audition was pretty easy considering Sweet Jane is 4 chords (not 3), but he got really excited about the violin. I was completely terrified and totally in awe. When I left I felt better than if I had won the lottery. Lou Reed just hired me!! To play!!! I would take that gig over the lottery any day.

The audition was so stress free that I thought there had to be a catch. I didn't play very hard or show off any. The second gig on the tour was at the Hop Farm festival in England. We played after Patti Smith and before The Stooges. There were 25,000 people there. I'd never seen anything like it from a stage. And during the song, Ecstasy, he walked over to me and said "play a solo". I was on violin at the time and I just took off. Hard. He came over again and said "play fast". So I did. Then he yelled "play fast!" so I fucking did. I believe that was the audition.

I think what's interesting is that Lou took a chance on me. A lot of people spend a lot of time hoping the industry will take notice, and at some point you need someone to take a chance on you. Put themselves on the line and believe enough in you to give you a shot. It's rare. And Lou did that for me. I'll be forever grateful.

It's a terrible day.

Thanks for the newsletters Bob. I read them on the way to work in the morning.

And thanks Lou. Thanks.

Tony Diodore

_______________________________________

Subject: rock an roll animal

The rock n roll animal is gone, but his songs live on through his recordings. I was happy to read that Rock n Roll Animal was an album you liked. I take personal pride in having been the principal leader of the band, co-lead guitarist and live performance arranger for songs like "Heroin". The band managed to take Lou to his first gold record and create a greater awareness of his prodigious talents to a wider audience than before. Lou was not an easy man to know, and as a consequence, I never got to really know him except in band matters and through his incredible songs. The songs from BERLIN are particularly genius. I miss those days of the Rock n Roll Animal band, on the road with Lou, and later, with Alice Cooper.

Dick Wagner


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25




--
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com --