Berlin

This one is completely and utterly new to me. Have not heard a single Lou Reed song. I don't even think I've actually heard a Velvet Underground song. This is probably the most "difficult" album so far (after 3 days). Some atonal melodies, some depressing subject matter. I, for one, love when a band or an artist is fronted by someone who kind of can't sing. Reed's vocals are the highlight here for me. I can hear how he influenced Bowie, and a handful of other artists. I can even hear a bit of Waters-era Pink Floyd in this. You can also see this being an early form of a rock opera or concept album. I can also hear how Reed influenced a lot of the punk scene. These songs maybe don't 'sound' like punk, but the lyrics are filled with anger, rage, shame, and malaise. I don't think Reed was in a good place when he produced this. The Caroline tracks really stand out to me, as does Oh, Jim and also The Bed. Interesting to end the album with Sad Song, probably the least sad song on the album, and the most heavily produced. I'll have to sit with this a while, but I could see myself coming back to it.

Love VU but Lou Reed's solo stuff is real hit or miss with me. Love the album before this, Transformer, with Bowie's production. I'm sure we'll get around to that one. This one is a little too bleak for me though. I found The Kids to be unbearable, skipped the fucking track when it got to the kid crying. He's recycling a fair amount old unused VU material in places. Like the prominent bass by none other than Cream's Jack Bruce, but that's about it.

WOW. I love velvet and have some of his solo stuff ( I even like metal machine music). Never heard this. Fucking masterpiece. Tragic and bleak. Full of emotion, tells a clear story and has amazing instrumentation/ production.

It was pretty unremarkable. Why someone would add the sounds of babies crying and pestering children to music is beyond me. There were a couple snippets of interesting composition (the discordant choir into the fluttering wind ensemble at the end of "The Bed" was quite enthralling in my opinion). But, overall, I feel Lou Reed's ambition outpaces his ability, especially as a vocalist.

Holy shit this album is sad. As a follow up to transformer I was expecting something along the same lines, but I can honestly say I was caught off guard and also extremely impressed. This album is the definition of “gauntly beauty”- I bet Tim Burton loves it. A really solid listen, but don’t listen to it if you’re depressed cause it won’t make things better

Casualidades que haya tocado White Light primero de Velvet, todavía sin el debut y ahora aparece primero Berlin antes de Transformer. Está dejando en un lugar extraño al pobre Lou Reed para quien no lo conoce mucho. Creo que este disco puede verse ya sea como una obra de arte de genio macabro o un pozo sin fondo de desesperanza y sonido estridente. No sorprenderé a nadie al decir que mi opinión está en el primer campo. Cuando la gente quizá esperaría otro disco hacia el rock glam después de Transformer este inicia totalmente barroco, con un sonido justamente como si fuera un cabaret de Berlin en los 20s y de ahí comienza musicalmente a saltar, con ese sonido característico en toda canción que se puede saber inmediatamente que, a pesar de ser unas caóticas, otras más romanticonas otras hacia rock, tienen ese sonido de Lou Reed. Puedo entender cierta parte de lo que algunos pudieran criticar en esa inflexión un poco repetitiva y cortada que tiene siempre al cantar y que se nota mucho en este disco pero debo decir que ahí de manera personal me agrada y nunca he tenido problema con ella. Líricamente ha quedado patente que me agradan los proyectos llenos de desolación y de historias trágicas (mira se enamoraron... ahora son drogadictos... ahora les quitaron a sus hijos.... ahhh ahora se suicido! AAAH vale madre que se vaya a la chingada otra persona se hubiera roto los dos brazos!) e incluso fuera de la historia literal tanto la prosa como rima de Lou Reed es como siempre inmejorable hacia lo que se puede interpretar de manera personal al ver el disco como la metáfora de un rompimiento y lo personal que pueden hacerse estas canciones. Un disco concepto que funciona de manera perfecta en su concepto y de manera separada. No tengo ningún punto malo personalmente, es musicalmente variado, atrevido e hipnótico y en su contenido temático perfectamente ejecutado. Como mencioné, puedo entender quizá algo de la crítica y por qué a alguien podría no gustarle (o incluso sentirse repelido de primera instancia y no terminar de escuchar el fondo real del disco), pero para mí es de esos discos que son prácticamente perfectos.

I was expecting this to be much more dirge-like than it was. The subject matter and story is unrelentingly bleak, and I expected there to be no way I could enjoy hearing it set to music. But Lou's voice is the perfect vessel for the unsettling journey, in equal turns sneering, snide, vulnerable and broken. And musically, there's a lot to enjoy here. Orchestral arrangements! Wild drums! That soaring guitar solo in How Do You Think It Feels! Caroline Says I is actually a catchy-number. Others (Berlin, Lady Day) feel like show-tunes in their instrumentation and delivery. Producer and arranger Bob Ezrin would go on to work on Pink Floyd's The Wall, which this feels a lot like a precursor to (especially the wonderful Sad Song's Comfortably Numb-ish strings). Overall I enjoyed this album a lot, dark and devastating as it was.

A heartbreaking album, this. There aren't many albums like this for me, ones that I both love and fear. This is one of those albums I listen to and am grateful for my Lady's mantle to hide in while listening. This album is basically the chronicle of a couple falling in love over drugs and falling apart through the abuse of said drugs, the abuse of each other, prostitution, the disintegration of their family, and eventually suicide by one partner, while the surviving partner, though sad, sees the suicide as a necessary escape and relief. oh oh oh oh oh oh oh what a feeling!

After the first listen, I thought that the album was interesting, but not one that I am likely to ever revisit. But as I listened again today, I became very captured by it all. I can now see spending much more time with this one.

Sometimes you hear and album that makes you say, "Holy cow, I need to recalibrate my rating scale." This, folks. This is what a 5-star album sounds like. From simple piano melodies to wailing electric guitar over sax and horns, the story packs a heavy emotional punch. I'm overwhelmed.

Lou Reed isn't one to placate the listener's imagination. As the Bowie sprinkled, roughed up glam of Transformer became the de-facto go-to album, one would assume that he would gain more momentum by ploughing the same field and reaping more plentiful results. That's not how he worked. He made Berlin instead. Centering on the doomed couple Jim and Caroline, peaking at the harrowing and heartbreaking one-two punch of The Kids and The Bed, this uncompromising study of hopeless love is Lou at his most unforgiving and yet most empathetic. To hell with this not being what anyone wanting to hear in 1973, it is still gripping, unsettling and unrelenting almost fifty years on. Oh, what a feeling.

5.0 + Lou Reed set out to create a novel-like album and to me this reads like "Thérèse Raquin" by Emile Zola. He offers us an unflinching look at the insanity of drug addiction - we hear children crying out for "mommy" ("The Kids"), delve into messy sexual liaisons ("Oh, Jim"), feel the humiliation ("How Do You Think It Feels") and witness the violence ("Caroline Says II"). Listening to this record, I can almost inhale the stench of these NYC hovels and see the grime on the counters and walls.

When Spotify finished this album, it jumped to Nick Drake, which I thought was appropriate, because it has the same feeling of sadness and down-and-outness. Nick is more whimsical and poetic while Lou is gritty, blunt and degrading. The arrangements and muddy production add to the feeling of gloom. Kudos for even attempting something like this.

Can see cultural value, will not listen again

My stereotype of a Lou Reed solo album is that they’re often long, meandering concept albums and are usually depressing. Berlin fits that bill pretty well. It’s ambitious, yet downtrodden and I quite like this line from the allmusic.com review: “…while Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and Ezrin approached Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick.” I don’t think it’s a bad record, but it’s not the most cohesive and instrumentally, it’s a little bloated, suffering from the idea that “the more instruments we put on a song, the better.” Anyway, here’s my list of the top 5 Lou Reed songs with song titles that consist of a woman’s name followed by the word “says”: 1. Stephanie Says 2. Candy Says 3. Lisa Says 4. Caroline Says I 5. Caroline Says II …in fact, I’m really mad about “Caroline Says II”. It’s a reworking of “Stephanie Says” and, subject matter aside, its stilted, ornate structure takes a damn near perfect song and makes it clunky. Really disappointing, but because “Stephanie Says” wasn’t officially released until the 80’s on the “VU” album, I realize people went years without knowing it existed and that is a shame, because, frankly, it’s better than “Caroline Says II”.

big fan of Sad Song. the rest was just ok for me.

Saaaaaad song

Je suis sincèrement désolé Lou Reed mais je me suis levé du mauvais pied et tu vas prendre pour tous tes petits camarades à qui j'ai mis 3 alors que je n'étais pas franchement emballé. Maintenant écoute-moi bien petite merde, ce que tu fais est nul à chier, tu n'as pas une once de talent. Que cette critique te serve de leçon mais serve aussi d'exemple à tous ceux qui oseraient s'aventurer dans un style proche du tien.

Seems like a heroin riddled, disjointed, autobiographical confession set to music.

Serious stuff, but also beautiful. This is a challenging and rewarding record.

What a depressing mess. Luckily, depressing messes are my favorite albums.

- A really hard record. Rough in a good way, sad, haunting, beautiful, Lou makes you work for this one. So rewarding if you have the stomach and heart for it. -

Probably the best bummer of an album ever made.

Melancholy drips On music bold, beautiful, And rocking weirdness

I love Lou Reed. I live in Berlin. There is only one thing for me to do here.

Underrated

Nice.

Overall: 9/10 I must be crazy or something cause I actually much prefered this over Transformer! It seems more cohesive and I feel like the songs fit his voice better for the most part. I had a stupid grin on my face for most of the album and there's a couple songs that are definitely gonna be overplayed over the next few weeks. I'm a little sad I got both Lou Reed albums so early, but thankfully I still have some Velvet Underground coming up! Fav Song: Caroline Says I Least Fav Song: Berlin

Wow. Outside of the VU Lou Reed has always been very hit and miss for me, but this was great. Beautiful, delicate, dark, foreboding, and engaging, Lou's limited vocals really compliment the music on this one. The strong narrative and subject matter might not be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly isn't boring.

Vivid lyrics. Storytelling, some of it sad. And some fun cool tempo/key changes - I wish I could remember which song.

Nothing to say. Great album.

In Berlin, by the wall, you were five foot ten inches tall. Sounding like German cabaret music with lyrics from an addled mind this should be awful. Instead, it’s one of the greatest musical works in the modern era with its tales of suffering and joy. It needs six stars

... wonderfully terrifyingly cathartic sad

A harrowing nosedive into the bowels of hell

Lou Reed is a very complex person, and this album is a perfect example of that complexity. Its not like the other stuff of its time, but you can hear how he influenced pretty much everything in this. 5/5

Starts out as a glam opus before belying any pretense of glamour at all. The arrangements in the first songs are truly gorgeous, with the guitar solo on "How Do You Think It Feels" stopping me in my tracks, while the lyrics start clawing away at the darkness underneath. Of course, all is laid bare by "Caroline Says II", and things only get more devastating somehow by the time we get to "The Kids" and "The Bed". We get a plot resolution but maybe not a moral one, as the narrator intones the "sad sad song" ad nauseum at the end; of course, the irony being that compared to what we've just heard that sad song isn't that sad at all. Meticulously constructed, truly harrowing, but a true head rush.

A perfectly different follow-up to 'Transformer' and as enjoyable as an album with this subject matter can be.

Hard to make something as simple yet powerful

I didn't expect this album to be a downer. Anyways, I've always liked Lou Reeds softer songs better, and there are a lot of great guitar and piano ballads here. This may be favorite Lou Reed project I've heard so far. Definitely going to need to give this a few more listens.

Lyrical. Emotive. Genius.

helvíti gott.

Dark and beautiful. Rough and delicate. What an album.

This was one of my favourite albums as a child. I was in awe of the storytelling. The music was haunting and even the sound effects contributed to such a poignant narrative. The crying children on the kids got me every time. As a concept album, I think it’s complete and not overly long. Deceptively simple but just beautiful in a sometimes sad and horrific way. There is not one weak song here and even though some songs are rewrites or rehashes of older material, they make a cohesive whole. Heartbreaking but a true classic.

lou reed should have lived for ever oh yeah! this is groovy!

A dour piece of greatly arranged and lyrical commercial suicide. I love it.

This is the album that made me stumble upon the 1001 album book! What a powerful album.

I'm usually pretty ambivalent when it comes to Lou Reed, but this record was a very pleasant surprise. The orchestration here gave a very proto-Spiritualized vive, which I'm all in on. Immediately my favorite Lou Reed project I've heard.

New to this album. The Bed was haunting.

10/10 definitely a bit different from his other work, but still so great

Every so often you come across an album where you just can't believe it wasn't on your radar before. Rock operas/concept albums always fit that bill for me - I love albums to have a narrative focus. This one is inventive while also being tuneful. It creates a soundscape that alternates between grooving and being ethereally expansive. Great album!

How much fiction was poured into this story? What to do with this moving tragedy? Do you think Irvine Welsh was inspired by Lou while writing Trainspotting? Do you think Lou knew the power of his work and its influence on upcoming generations?

Better than "Transformer." Sweeps from cabaret act to soaring orchestral movements without dropping the ball.

Standout- "Lady Day," "Men of Good Fortune,""Oh Jim," "Caroline Says I & II," Lyrics/Vocals- 4/5 Instrumentals- 5/5 Vibes- 5/5 Overall- 5/5 I love Lou Reed, so I went into this with high expectations and was not disappointed. Lou Reed's voice may not be for everyone, but it's distinct. This album felt fun, and a lot of the production value really shined in this album. Lou Reed was a very talented musician, and I say that even without my previously mentioned biases.

In terms of being a concept album that gives you its story from start to finish, backs that up with great instrumentation, and keeps you rather compelled once it really kicks in, then… yeah. We’ve got a great album here. It’s not perfect; even though I think Lou’s voice still ended up being the perfect tone by the end of the album, I don’t think the sort of monotony works at the start, when Jim hasn’t gone completely drug-addicted and insane. It also doesn’t really spell out the idea that there’s a story going on here until about track 6, at least for a presumed “casual” listen like I was doing. If you want to go all in on the concept album, then start with a curtain opening or something; give the listener a very audible clue that this is an overarching story and each song has a part to play in it. I think just because I got so enthralled by it, I have to give it a 5 out of respect for absolutely nailing what it went for, but it's not a very replayable album: if we were going out of 10, I'd probably give it an 8.5/10. I'd recommend the album to anyone, as long as you tell them there's a story first.

YUHHHHHH berlin- happy birthdayyy. piano. me when its paradise. 7. lady day- i like that weird piano part its like a villain song. 7 or 8. men of good fortune- he gets me. 6 caroline says I- sorry i was playing red ball 4. 7 how do you think it feels- i like the horns. foxy? like fnaf? 7 or 8 oh jim- theyre shooting me up with pills?? huh. the fade out is interesting. 8 caroline says II- omg just like stephanie... i really love the (womens name) says series. my favorite. 8 or 9. i the kids- ronette my dear dont ever disappear. sorry. 7 or 8. i like the kid crying the bed- damn she slit her wrists? and all he said was oh oh oh. 8 for suicide. the little choir is nice. sad song- flute. im ascending to heaven. the guitar is funny. its not very sad. he gets me. favorite track was caroline says II

Wow! That was something else! I really didn't want to keep listening breeches the end was inevitable, compelling, and tremendously sad.

Precioso. Bastante triste. Pero precioso.

it was hard not to love this for me. i found it's experimental in a familiar way so it ends up with a very unique sound. elements which struck me as "oh, interesting" are ones that grow on you quickly as he blends the familiar with the new very well. there were bits i disliked, such as the crying in The Kids, but they all make sense thematically so i cannot fault them. in general i really liked this album and it was a big surprise it grew on me so much as when i first listened, i didn't expect such a result

Lou Reed annoys me but I liked this album. The stories remind me of a Nelson Algren novel who also wrote Walk on the Wild Side

beautiful and devastating; they were right to take her children away, though, at least until she cleaned up

Going in I did not expect much. I'm really not familiar with Lou Reed's work. Also not to familiar with VU except for the two albums I listened to on this list from which I liked one and disliked the other. This is straight up a masterpiece. This is going on my regular rotation

Great album the songs Caroline Says 1&2 were great and Lou Reed is a legend

I ❤️ Lou

Full of emotion and great instrumentals; love the bass and its tone and not surprised to find out it’s Jack Bruce playing!

Highlight of this album is obviously Reed’s lyrics, but the instrumentation creates a really great and chilling atmosphere on a lot of the tracks Favourite tracks: Berlin, Lady Day, Men of Good Fortune, Caroline Says II, The Kids, The Bed

No sé quantes escoltes al llarg dels anys m'ha costat poder 'disfrutar' (una manera de dir) de 'Berlin'. Moltes, sens dubte. Depressiu, dur, complicat, opressiu. Més mèrit encara que aparegués després d'un disc tan rotund com 'Transformer'. Hom no li pot posar en dubte a Lou Reed la seva valentia al llarg de la seva carrera. Ni la seva genialitat artística

Easy rating

This album is nothing but bangers Favorite track: How Do You Think It Feels

This album was really heavy, but also really good. I don't really have the experience to really understand a lot of it, it'll be interesting to come back to when I'm older. The music and lyrics are both memorable, they create a gloomy and uncertain atmosphere together. The music gets better as the album goes on. BT: - Men of Good Fortune - How Do You Think It Feels - Oh Jim - The Kids - The Bed

Precioso. Bastante triste. Pero precioso.

Louuuuuuuuuuuu

from all the 13 albums so far, I thought Rumours would be fav for a long time! But this one way better than I thought. I knew some of Lou Reeds work before (VU&N, WL/WH, Transformer) and even if it doesn't get close to some if them I loved this album soooooooooo much. Maybe it's because I'm already a Lou Reed fanboy like Bowie but his solo work of what I heard is NOT worse than VU. 9/10 (5/5)

Pretty depressing, but in a good way. I was never really a fan of Lou Reed's solo albums before, having felt that his best work was as part of the Velvet Underground. When I first heard this album, many decades ago, I didn't really like it as it was a bit sparse and sad. Listening to it again, it just keeps getting better and when I got to the end I felt a powerful urge to listen to it again from the start. So I listened to it again, from the beginning to the end and it was even better the second time.

Album 50 of 1001 Lou Reed - Berlin Favorite Track : Men of Good Fortune Rating : 4 / 5 Such a sad album but so enjoyable at the same time. It also includes of my favorite recordings of all time - Men of Good Fortune with Jack Bruce on bass. This one wasn't new to me but I'm still hearing new stuff each time I listen.

Well that was bleak! The age old story, boy meets girl, they fall on love and have children, boy abuses girl horribly, she leaves, he has her children taken away, she commits suicide, he pretends to be sad but makes it all about himself. Including the sounds of genuine children's crying. It's really very good. It's also really uncomfortable. Not least because it doesn't feel like it's stopped happening in the 50 years since. I think I like Lou Reed more than I did at the start of this process.

This was very impressive. After listening to 2 albums from Velvet Underground, I had clear expectations for this one when I received it, but it was a surprise to note that the album goes in a completely different direction, and it's great. This was the first concept album that made me care about the characters. Of course, I've listened to some good concept albums (I received, I think, 4 or 5 on this list), but this one made me think about the characters and listen to the album like a fiction book or something like that.

This is astonishing. Such a harrowing story, told really well from start to finish, and one of those rare albums where it really peaks at the end. I don't quite know how it's so captivating, the guy can't sing particularly well, the music is pretty stripped back and relatively simplistic, but it captures the mood amazingly well and allows the lyrics to shine though. It's really hard work emotionally - it tells the story of a marriage breaking down because of infidelity, the husband abusing the wife, and the wife eventually killing herself. The most upbeat it gets (both musically and emotionally) is right at the end - talking about how the abusive now widower is freed to move on with his life by his wife's suicide - not exactly a happy ending but weirdly a little uplifting. Too many of the albums we've had have been way too easy to ignore or lose interest in, this one absolutely doesn't do that. 5/5.

Brilliant, although Reed is not the most empathize person

Good album, i like lou reed a lot. Is probably his saddest album and stays difficult to really understand. Sad song is the last song but also the best song. Got compared with the feelies, with recommanded album crazy rithms. They sound more like the Velvet Underground. It s also a good album.

actually loved this one

Lou Reed's Berlin was critically panned and reviled upon its release. The album takes its cue from the track 'Berlin' on Lou Reed's first solo album and expands the story of the couple the song portrays. What follows is a shocking and tragic story of addiction, prostitution, abuse, suicide, and ultimately ambivalence. Mirroring his own disintegrating relationship, Berlin plunges to the depths of despair and anguish and leaves us struggling to find meaning in the pieces left behind. Musically, it is austere, full of a feeling of impending doom, and leaves us with the song 'Sad Song' sung in a major key further disorienting the listener. It is oppressive and brilliant, and I'm not quite sure how to feel about it yet.

Precioso. Bastante triste. Pero precioso.

Undeniably depressing subject matter. The kids crying at the end of “The Kids” was very disturbing. Nonetheless, it’s great art even if it’s not super pleasant art. There’s not really a bad track on there, musically, though for the sake of my personal happiness I’ll be avoiding listening to “The Kids” and “The Bed” ever again, even though I think “The Bed” is an exquisitely written track. Favourites were “How Do You Think It Feels”, “Oh Jim”, “Caroline Says II”, “Men of Good Fortune”, and, despite my desire to avoid hearing it again in the future, “The Bed”. Least favourites probably “The Kids” and “Caroline Says I”. Struggled between 4 and 5 stars for the rating on this one … but I think the artistry merits a 5 in the end. Maybe like a 4.75 on a more detailed scale…

Recorded and released right after the success of the David Bowie-produced *Transformer*, Lou Reed's *Berlin* couldn't have been *more* of a 180-turn for those who had appreciated his former album. Not only is this a bleak tale about a couple going through the throes of physical abuse, drug addiction, prostitution and child neglect, but also, it's narrated from the point of view of the main abuser, which makes it a difficult and harrowing concept album to say the least. Obviously, the narrator is very unreliable here, so the hints he gives about his suicidal partner actually using him by proxy to destroy herself should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Cynicism and ambiguity abound throughout those dark lyrics, yet the latter also create a mesmerizing thread to help you go from one track to the next. Starting from a minor cut in one of his former recordings, Lou Reed here imagines the tragic fate of its cursed characters with a lot of vivid and striking details. *Berlin* is thus a very "literary" album, which probably triggered all those early criticisms about its depressing and "pretentious" nature. But in retrospect, a "Transformer, vol. 2" would have been far less interesting than what Reed offered us instead, even with such admittedly harsh lyrical contents. What early critics of *Berlin* also seemed to have missed is the fact that the record is actually worth your time if only for the music itself. Reed's wild card here was his producer, Bob Ezrin, mostly known at the time for his grandiose orchestral arrangements for Alice Cooper--ones he would refine a few years later with his legendary handling of production duties for Pink Floyd's *The Wall*. Listening to *Berlin*'s extraordinary closer "Sad Song", everyone who's ever enjoyed "Comfortably Numb" will be automatically be struck by the obvious connection between the two, with the string arpeggio in Lou Reed's song sounding very much like a wonderful draft of the one Ezrin would later pen for the Floyd. And what the producer brings to *Berlin*'s table is not only about orchestral strings: there's also a very dynamic feast of horns, woods and flutes throughout the record, along with soul-stirring guitar solos, slapping drum parts, and haunting background vocals (either gospel-inspired, as in "Caroline Says I", or drawing from the atonal and metaphysical experiments of György Ligeti for "The Bed"'s conclusion). Add to this a few delicate parts played on mellotron and piano by Ezrin himself, along with an impressive list of seasoned performers for all the other instruments (check it on wikipedia), and you certainly have an A+ production team to do justice to Lou Reed's usual melodic flair in those days... All the songs we've quoted up to now are the obvious highlights of this album, to which glorious music hall number "Lady Day" and rocker "How Do You Think It Feels" should be added as well. The first part of side 2 is a little less convincing, admittedly--and the absence of any genuine moment of levity in that LP probably adds to most listeners' fatigue by this point. But the two last tracks of the album--the slow, incredibly dark and despondent "The Bed", also particularly poignant and atmospheric, followed by the cynical yet totally epic closer that "Sad Song" is--easily make up for these potential flaws. Decades after its release, it is thus obvious that *Berlin* is not the debacle that rock critics said it was at the time. Sure, it's dragged by its own heavy weight once in a while, from the dark subject matter of its lyrics to its layered production displaying so many sophisticated arrangements, just like a pusher takes out different drugs from his coat to tempt an addict. Yet as "heavy" as this album is, rarely have trips to hell and back sounded so lush and enticing. It's probably because the devil usually lies in all the little details--and this whether that devil happens to live in Berlin, "Alaska", or anywhere else in the world... 4,5/5 then, here rounded up to 5/5. Number of albums left to review: 679 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 158 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 74 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 90

This one is kind of rough and gets rougher as you go along. The story is quite upsetting but absolutely emotionally compelling. I really loved the instrumentation. It's such an interesting way to weave together songs that had been done before ("Stephanie Says" becomes "Caroline Says") and I love the idea of following what happens after a lovely romantic vignette like "Berlin," even if it does go to such a dark place. I couldn't get myself to listen to "The Kids" again the second time through and had to skip it—not because it is a bad song, but because it is so difficult emotionally. This one gets you involved and sticks with you.

Amazing! Stopped what I was doing shortly after pressing play and just listened. Then listened to it again. And then again. Incredible. I’m loving every song on this album. Even though it is really heart-wrenching. Lou Reed knows how to explore some pretty dark places without making me question the artists feelings toward his subject. That’s something that I’ve grown weary of with some of the rap and hip hop artists that have been served up lately. This is the best new thing I’ve listened to in a long time. Absolutely perfect!

gorgeous

Back when Lou Reed was still actively channeling the softer side of tVU into his solo projects, he pumped out a beast of an infectious pop-rock album with just enough curious experimental production choices sprinkled around to hint at all the madness he would go on to create later in his career.

Loved the vocals on this

Classic dadcore

Nice

Classic Lou Reed album. I am sticking to general consensus here and rate this album as his best one. "Berlin", "Transformer", "Street Hassle" and "New York" are all 5-star albums.

Still a very impressive album.

Some people just exude coolness. Lou Reed is one of those people. I feel like I should hate this album. It is depressing, but it's not a style I usually like... But it's so fucking good!

Great album! Lou Reed is an amazing song writer and the musical talent is insane!

Beautiful Sad album, even better than magic and Loss

Lou reed does it again the madman

I've always thought of myself as a bit of Lou Reed fan but this is the only album I've listened to in full so it looks like I have a nice journey of discovery ahead of me. Faves: The Kids, Sad Song

Oh, this was great - I've mainly listed to "Transformer" before, but this is much more consistent in tone and quality. I definitely want to revisit it more. Fave track - "The Bed", maybe? There's one hell of a suckerpunch in the lyrics...

Love lou Reed, this was a great album, I'm sure he'll have more on this list