Lou Reed - Rock 'N' Roll Animal [12", LP]

Today is a sad day. News just broke that LOU REED died, at the age of 71.

Having become a massive David Bowie fan when i was a teenager, i first got to know Reed from the stuff that Bowie did for him (producing Transformer together with Mick Ronson, for example) and the songs that Bowie covered (most notably White Light/White Heat during his Ziggy Stardust period). So out of curiosity i started to listen to the man's work. First Transformer, then i discovered Berlin, and then the whole Velvet Underground catalogue. Amazing stuff! I still rank many Velvet Undergound songs as some of the best pop/rock songs ever written, and Lou Reed was the writer of nearly all of them. His solo work rarely reaches the same level as the Velvets did, to my opinion at least, but still i love albums like Berlin and New York. Also Transformer, The Blue Mask, Magic And Loss and the phenomenal Songs For Drella (with John Cale) are albums that mean a lot to me. So does this particular album, ROCK 'N' ROLL ANIMAL. It's a live album from 1974 and the songs are mostly from his Velvet Underground period. It only has five songs on it, but these are definitely the best live versions i've ever heard of every single one of them, and the total length of the album is still over 40 minutes. Especially the guitar work is excellent. Some live albums are true classics. This is one of those.
Funny detail: the musicians on this album would later join Alice Cooper when he had parted ways with his old band members and went on to release Welcome To My Nightmare. Producer Bob Ezrin introduced them.
As for myself, i've seen Lou Reed perform live twice. First during his Magic And Loss tour in 1992, and a year later with the Velvet Underground during their MCMXCIII reunion tour. And as of today, it's clear that there will definitely be no further chance. Truly sad.

I own two different editions of this great album. The picture above is from an original pressing from 1974. Below, it's a reissue from 2012, when Music On Vinyl released it as a special Record Store Day release, remastered and on 180 grams vinyl. Even sounds better than it ever did before.

 

Label: RCA / Music On Vinyl
Cat.nr.: APL1-0472 / MOVLP 529
Year of release: 1974 / 2012

SIDE A:
01. Intro/Sweet Jane
02. Heroin

SIDE B:
01. White Light/White Heat
02. Lady Day
03. Rock 'n' Roll