Lou Reed [Magic And Loss]
I once talked to a friend about this album, and he said that he found it so depressing, i can understand that, at first glance it's all about cancer, suffering, death, loss, regret, hopelessness etc, but when you really get into the mind of Lou Reed, there's another side to the coin, and i find it's more about irony, humour, acceptance, nostalgia, strength, and ultimately magic, it's a concept album about two dear friends of Reed that died of cancer, surely the album should be called 'Loss And Magic', the loss comes first, and then the magic afterwards, but maybe there's a deeper reason to put magic ahead of loss!, it's a dry almost monologue of an album, if you know the style of Reed, you'll know what i mean, it's an album that has slowly but surely got me nodding in the affirmative, not a great album, and i don't own anything else by him.
Lou Reed is now 70, born in Brooklyn in America, he recorded this album in 1991, the front cover shows a photo of Reed [by Louis Jammes], looks infra-red on the plants, and washed out, with lettering in red around the edges.
More than usual, i enjoyed so many of the songs, i can laugh at 'Harry's Circumcision', and feel Reed's confusion with 'Magician', but my favourite track is Dreamin', it's a swirl of synthesizer organ, with gentle electric guitar, i love the way Reed rocks back and forth between singing and talking,
Here's Lou Reed singing Dreamin' on YouTube.
