RE: (TV) OT: Lou Reed - The Raven

["Jim Kauffman" <jkauff@earthlink.net>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tv-owner@obbard.com [mailto:tv-owner@obbard.com]On Behalf Of eric
> gregory
> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 10:21 AM
> To: tv@obbard.com
> Subject: RE: (TV) OT: Lou Reed - The Raven
>
>
> i really shouldn't even enter this fray, but i defy you to offer
> 10 other rock & roll writers who've written as powerfully &
> transcendently at reed at his best (i can come up with maybe
> 5)...granted, this all boils down or up to opinion...& i'm not
> denying that lou's made some stinkers (i'd still rather listen to
> a shit lou reed record than a "good" pavement record or
> whomever...again, opinions).
> the VU records alone rank him as a major player & throw in "blue
> mask", "new york", "rock & roll animal" & choice songs off just
> about every solo lp....i'm humbled.

Well, you couldn't have found a bigger Lou fan than I was after White
Light/White Heat and the 3-day LaCave shows (excepting David Bowie, Lester
Bangs, Pete Laughner, and Jane Scott).

There's no question he's an incredible talent, and every few years he proves
it--Berlin, Street Hassle, Take No Prisoners, New York, Songs for Drella. If
I weren't a fan, I wouldn't be so angry about the shoddy crap he coasts by
on year in and year out.Lester Bangs spent the last several years of his
career ranting about it.

And the worst thing is, he's PROUD of the crap! Two books of lyrics with
some of the lamest, forced rhymes and phrases ever committed to print (some
of them sounded better in the context of the songs). The man badly needs an
editor, but he hates editors (and critics)--that's why he fired Cale back in
the days.

Not that he owes me anything. He's given me plenty of incredible experiences
over the years. But I hate to see it happen, just as Saul Bellow hated to
see Lou's hero Delmore Schwartz piss away his talent (Humboldt's Gift).


-Jim
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