Berlin

Lou Reed's rock opera about an abusive relationship. Musically, it’s dark and moody. Lyrically, it’s darker and realer. It's one of those concept albums that works extremely well. He developed the story because producer Bob Ezrin wanted to know what happened to the couple from the song "Berlin" from Lou's debut record. It's a dark exploration into the seedy side of life. It's brilliant, tragic and difficult. A really good record.

This might be a masterpiece you know, or maybe it just really appeals to me. Meh, means the same thing really. Gorgeous, interesting, slightly experimental (but not that much) music in this for real, that's what drew me in. I was grooving listening to this tale of love (at the start). Oh yeah and shout-out briefly to Lou Reed's voice, it's really nice and clear, don't know what everyone's problem is. As this went on, and as I was grooving around my wee flat, the latter half really drew an emotional reaction from me. How utterly horrifying, how bold, how brilliant, and it's an amazing combination of songwriting, instrument playing and sing-talking. "Sad Song" what a fucking banger of a final song. Big finale that still has that gut punch. Maybe people didn't appreciate this at the time (and now) because they aren't half musical theatre camp, and the other half muchly interested in the murky pitch-black darkness of life. Luckily I'm here now, so I can give it it's flowers. Long live the rock opera x

ganz ok

Konzeptalben immer gern interessant, Musik war okayish

I have most of Lou Reed's albums, but I hadn't listened very closely to this one. My friend says it's a masterpiece. And when I first listened, I wasn't so sure. I've only listened to the crying kid song once. because I felt creepy listening to it. So I pledged to my friend that I would listen to this a couple times more. and that's what I plan to do.

I liked this one in the bits where it got weird. Better than expected.

I have listened to some of this album before when I was getting into the Velvet Underground. I remember not liking it since I thought it would be a continuation of their sound. It had some good variation and experimentation. It had some good songs like "Lady Day" and "Oh Jim" but some songs that I wouldve skipped like "Men of Good Fortune". There are songs that I like the vocals or the instruments but not both. Like I really don't like how he sings in "How Do You Think It Feels", sounds Dracula-esque. Or "The Kids" and "The Bed" has cool melodies and instruments but is a bit heavy.

Never listened to this whole thing. Interesting and I’m sure it gets better w repeated listens but a bit on the dull side right now. I’m sure I’ll regret that review at some point

Entre 3 et 4. La profondeur de cet album pourrait en faire un 4. On ne sait pas toujours à quoi s'attacher durant l'écoute; ça demande un effort (et l'effort paie). Pas un très bon album pour passer la balayeuse.

Ah ben quin, quelle surprise, un 2e album réalisé par Bob Ezrin en autant de jours. Gainsbourg a fait Melody Nelson, Reed a fait Berlin. Écoute essentielle, oui. Ça mérite 5 étoiles, mais je sais pas si c'est bon.

I used to listen more to Lou Reed in my college days in Boston in the early 80's. It's not my jam these days. But this work is good. He is a bold, effective storyteller, willing to occupy uncomfortable spaces. He opened doors for people, and this album is a good example of that. I actually liked the album more than I thought I would, as there is musical dimension. I'll give it four stars, even though I could easily see why others might give it five (or one).

Not bad, but it isn't the classic that Transformer is. Bowie is missed.

Perfect.

did not expect actual crying children during sad song to be synced to the rhythm, made me giggle ngl

All these people hating on critics when they were right the first time. 1/5

It was OK. The concept and the lyrics were really good. It just felt like some of the songs lacked emotion based off the lyrics.

Ok ngl I’m in a really shitty mood rn and I don’t think I gave this record a fair listen. I did like the piano and his voice was enjoyable, especially sad song. There was one song that had a baby crying in it which pissed me off a little. I’m gonna give it a 3.03/5 and say LISTEN TO IT AGAIN when you’re in a better mood.

I felt pretty bored and indifferent to this one. Transformer was great, so I expected more from this album, but most of it felt pretty superfluous. The last song was exceptional though.

no me volo la cabeza :( esperaba otra cosa 6/10

meh

Nope

what a painful album in the best way, such a good album… though i’m obviously always going to be partial to a concept album

Ok

I would say this was a pleasant surprise, but there's some dark shit on here. I had this for a whole weekend, so I got a good feel for it. It's really good. I love the ambition of the storytelling. The subject matter is pretty gritty, but why not go there?

Re lentísimo

i wanted to like this way more

Some good songs, some not good songs. Kinda reminds me of Pink Floyd in some cases, just not as good.

Album 335. Berlin (https://open.spotify.com/album/4iaDgkP0M6ahEHrBynAFei?si=W69nc59hR9qeRph7YlE2lg&utm_source=copy-link) — Lou Reed (1973) I was too tired or unfocused to fully get it yesterday. I needed another spin because there's a big chance it's a much more quality album than I think. And today I listened to it one more time. Fuck, it's an awesome conceptual album. It's a dark, dark conceptual musical novel. And it's really great, but not easily accessible. 4/5 Liked: — Oh Jim — The Kids — The Bed — Sad Song

Just dont get lou

Top album!!!!

actually not bad!! my fav was sad song!

Lovely. From the rock label I was expecting something more mundane but the opening song into the next several melancholic pieces really suprised me. Liked that quite a lot

Nah no really

Evocative, I guess, but only someone who's never raised kids would torture their listeners' ears with that much crying child. Interesting album overall, though.

Louuuu, love him, I get this is important but a tough one to get into

Berlin - 87 Lady Day - 88 Men Of Good Fortune - 89 Caroline Says I - 88 How Do You Think It Feels - 85 Oh Jim - 89 Caroline Says II - 92 The Kids - 90 The Bed - 91 Sad Song - 90 Berlin - 88

It was better than the last Lou Reed on here but still not good. I lost interest about half way through and the rest just played without me really listening properly.

This was shite. It was slow and boring with depressing themes. His voice gets on my tits, then to top it off, there was a crying baby and a kid shouting "Mummy". The atmosphere could have been way better utilised, because some of it sounded like it could have been good. Made me want to OD on heroin. 0 stars.

Need to give this another run but I loved what I heard. Lou is the coolest especially when's he's being next level avant-guard.

I really want to give this a 5 as most songs start out REALLY boring and transition into something REALLY beautiful but what the fuck was that in "The Bed"

Sonically it didn’t appeal to me, but I respect the fact that it is a concept/themed album.

Maybe leaning four stars? Need to give it more listens.

10/5 klasyka, najlepszy album na świecie

I kinda forgot it's on

Don’t really know much solo Lou Reed. I’m sure I’ve come across some and I’ve listened to some Velvet Undergound but this will be a new listen pretty much. Is this going to be weird experimental? Gets more straight forward but it’s still a little out there. There’s some good stuff here and I’m interested to see where it goes story wise if it’s supposed to be telling a story in a rock opera way. Obviously feels inspired by Tommy but it’s a different style of music altogether. There’s something about it I want to like but it’s not really doing it for me. His vocal style isn’t my favorite but it kind of all fits with the themes of the songs. Both Caroline Says are a few of the standouts. I think Caroline Says 2 might be the best song on the album. I think in general it works when it’s got more of that glam rock style influence. Lady Day seems is one I really liked. Even with the few songs that I liked, it’s a bit of a slog to get through. It’s somewhere between a 2 and 3. End of the album is the weakest part I think. I’m going 2

Sorta Meh for me.

Berlin feels like musical theater where every character is miserable and nobody gets a fun costume change.

It's been a few days since I listened to this to now where I'm actually writing about it, so I'll do my best. This was okay. Some interesting points that kind of reminded me of Gabriel-era Genesis, which makes sense for the release era but not what I would have expected from a Lou Reed album. The other stuff is all there as well, grit and a little bit of shine all revolving around two people who love to do heroin (I know, I was shocked too!). Like, what do you say? I feel like you basically know what you're going to get from an early Reed album, and with a few stylistic excursions, you get what you expect.

I was surprised by how much I liked this. Beautiful string arrangements. Harrowingly sad, and I even coped OK with it being a concrete album.

this was great. I hope Metal Machine Music is next

I'm mostly familiar with Lou Reed by name, but I don't really know much about his actual albums rather than songs. I see people going on about how amazing and revolutionary he was, but this is the first actual album of his I've listened to. I found it just okay. Coming off the back of the huge hit Walk on the Wild Side, this album is a jarring, bleak shock. I guess for the 1970s it was pushing boundaries as a dark concept album following a doomed relationship in Berlin, but like many other albums on this list, it just felt a bit average. Even with Bob Ezrin's heavy production and full orchestral arrangements, the whole thing is just a bit gloomy and depressing, which I suppose is the point of the album, but it wasn't my cup of tea. It's supposed to have famous songs on it, but they all sounded relatively similar to me. If that's your style, it's probably a solid album, but for me, it just sounded a bit dreary and meh. It wasn't necessarily bad, just nothing special and not something I'd put on again. 5/10

Definition of "kinda weird vibes, but I dig it"

Bonito, até, alguns momentos interessantes que atiçaram meus ouvidos, mas como de costume, o foco de Reed é o conteúdo lírico de suas canções, tecendo dramáticas narrativas contra culturais. E como sempre digo, meu maior interesse na música não são as letras. Então muito conteúdo desse álbum acabou passando por cima da minha cabeça, e em alguns momentos fiquei até meio entediado. 3/5

Gravelly, gritty, gorgeous

Not a happy collection of songs, it's Lou Reed after all. A harrowing listen, falling short of some of his other work. He is a first class story teller and when the mood is right, the music hits the spot.

A fabulous voice narrating a tragic story. I’d not heard any of the album before and it quickly captured me. “The kids” had me welling up and “Sad song” is beautiful. A 1001 gem.

Has its moments. And after a second spin I feel it could go either way. A cautious 3*

Hate this except the parts that are so good I have to begrudgingly consider a decent rating. I'll never have a solid opinion on Lou Reed... Two stars, rounded down, because I would never voluntarily listen to this again.

One of those albums/moments where when you finish you think WTF did I just listen to. I guess 3- but why does the album sound so happy/triumphant at the end, when I believe the lady ended her life. 3- I guess

Pretty dark and depressing, even for Lou Reed.

Pa eso me voy al bohemia a escuchar versos manversos

Enjoyed it enough but felt all a bit aimless.

Lou Reed was just cool as fuck. Rock Opera is possibly the worst subgenre going but he manages to make it work.

Some songs stand out more than others. Overall decent.

Dreary

Not for me. 1/5

I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title. I kind of know what to expect from Lou Reed, but I don't think I know about this album, so I'm sort of going into this blind. This just isn't grabbing me. It's not awful, but it's also just not very good. Thoroughly meh. Maybe it would be better if someone other than Lou Reed were singing?

Not for me, cannae sing, got bored.

not as good as transformer but still a good listen

Favorite Track: How Do You Think It Feels

697/1001 2026.09.08

It was ok. Nothing really special or different. I don't get the voice, never have.

It's not very subtle about itself, which is good for getting the point across to an idiot who can't pick up on anything (one such could be typing right now) but if that were a concern, then the music does a fine job of setting tones and carrying the emotions through There's a good range of moods and even some opportunity for a few individual songs to stand out on this album-length downer saga, even though they can't quite shine the way the hits do on Transformer It's a nice album, all things considered

..

Haunting, subdued, and mysterious.

I’ve heard this before and I own it. This is not my favorite Lou Reed album but it’s not my least favorite. All of the songs are decent and none of them are bad, it none of them jump out as classics. Good background music.

More lou reed I can’t say this is anything different from his other music I’ve listened to but I like his sound so I liked this one Nothing crazy but this was good 3.5/5 Favorites: Caroline says II, sad song, the kids

Ура!!! Лу Рід!!!

I’ve never listened to this album before today. I had no clue what to expect, and I only read the Wikipedia info midway through playing it. I gave it a second spin just so I could truly appreciate what it was. All I can say after that second time is “wow.” This was amazing. Musically, lyrically, thematically. And the last three songs were absolute gut punches. What an impressive album. And I’m not certain I’ll ever want to listen to it again. But I’m very glad I did today.

It hard to explain, but this sounds more modern than I thought it was - if I was told this was made in the last 10-20 years, I wouldn't doubt it. Anyways, this was a pleasant listen to have playing in the background. I personally would give this a 3.5, but I'm not really comfortable with a 4. Nothing in particular song-wise stood out to me and I wasn't really the biggest fan of his speaking delivery at times (it wasn't the worst I've heard, but I just wasn't the biggest fan).

Lou Reed – Berlin (1973) On Day 252, this record fell short of its conceptual ambitions. If you set out to create a full concept album, losing narrative coherence along the way hurts the entire experience. While the theatrical production and dark cabaret atmosphere were evident, the execution felt disjointed and failed to maintain a compelling through-line. An ambitious but uneven listen that didn't fully pull together its story. A middling 3/5.

Tog prog rock og reducerede det til enkelte akkorder og simple strukturere, men i stedet for lå det mere i fortællingen hvor man følger et par fra start til slut i misbrug og hårde dage indtil caroline til sidst begår selvmord. Det kommer efter transformer som var globalt stort og meget anderledes og lou gjorde lidt det samme som bowie gjorde med Low hvor han ikke lavede en kæmpe follow up men ændrede retning fuldstændig. Han havde mere fokus på socialt udsatte ligesom i velvet underground. Det er en fortælling fra start til slut og derfor rigtig godt som albumformat og sangene giver ikke rigtig mening på samme måde, hvis man ikke lytter til det samlet. Jeg synes det var meget godt men ikke noget specielt, men kunne egentlig godt lide produktionen ift vokalen fordi jeg synes teksterne var meget tydelige og gode. Det er måske meget godt på et album hvor fortællingen er det centrale. Blev først populært senere fordi det blev vist som et teaterstykke med orkester og det hele, hvilket der også er meget af. Altså orkester instrumenter osv. synes det var godt, men nok ikke noget jeg værdsætter og vil vende tilbage til foreløbig.

jako dobar album

It lacks sauce to make it truly great, but this album is well put together.

Lou Reed is echt een beetje een acquired taste als je het mij vraagt. Hij zingtpraat een beetje waar je net van moet houden. Op andere albums die ik van hem heb gehoord is de productie wat meer jazzy dan dat hier het geval is. Het is ietwat rockiger en meer standaard, maar een nummer als How do you think it feels leent nog steeds van een hoop andere genres en vind ik dan ook echt wel weer vet! Lou is geen goede zanger, ik denk dat iedereen dat wel met me eens is. Dat is ook niet echt waar je dit album voor aan gaat zetten, om te luisteren naar goede zang. Dan heb je meer aan Mariah Carey(Hallo Throwback Thursday!), maar wat Lou wel goed doet is interessante muziek maken, zowel instrumentaal als conceptueel. Een album over huiselijk geweld en heroine verslaving, klinkt gezellig! En dat is dit album ook, het is verdrietig, chaotisch en uiteindelijk niet echt prettig om naar te luisteren. Dat is de bedoeling, maar is het dan een goed album? En jezus, in dat kader hit The Kids echt kei en kei hard... Een nummer waarin Lou zingt over het moment dat de kinderen worden weggehaald bij de ouders. Poeh... Ik vind het album muzikaal niet zo ontzettend sterk, maar als zo'n nummer voorbij komt? Tsja... Blij dat ik het ooit heb gehoord, ik haat dit album, maar dan omdat het zo naar is om naar te luisteren door wáár het over gaat, in plaats van dat de muziek perse slecht is. Het album grijpt me pas echt bij The Kids, dan voelt het pas alsof duidelijk word waarom dit de hele tijd zo'n vervelend en bijna depressief album is. FAVO: How Do you think it feels, The Kids(is dit een favo?), Sad Song

This guy sings like he is desperately trying to find a girlfriend in his 50s.

Meh. Some good hooks, but he’s not as cool as he thinks he is

Standouts Men of Good Fortune How Do You Think it Feels?

Interesting enough to do the trick, despite some Lou Reed monotone vocals dragging me down.

I hadn't heard this before and I have mixed feelings about Lou Reed. I was prepared to not like this, but I actually liked it a lot more than I expected. Particularly the first half. But it just kind of became a drone in the background by the end with nothing standing out. I would put individual songs, like Lady Day, on a playlist, but I wouldn't listen to the whole album again

A lot of 5 star reviews of this one. But - I listened to it, almost made it all the way through. Lot of sad songs. If that's your thing, you'll enjoy it.

Bleak.

not a fan of the velvet underground, but this is good.

Berlin was enjoyable at first, but then Lou lost me during "The Kids."

Honestly it should be a 4.5

Ewww.

This was rough to get through, sadly I'm going to have to have another Lou Reed album eventually... I'm not looking forward to it

Cool concept. I respect what Lou Reed brings.

Berlin Lady Day Caroline Says I

A synthesis of fantastic vocals, beautiful lyrics and powerful instrumentation that creates a wind of through the mind