By: Lou Reed Average Rating: Binding: Audio CD Format: Extra tracks, Live, Original recording remastered Label: RCA Number of Discs: 1 Release Date: March 21, 2000
Amazon.com: Recorded live in 1973, Rock N Roll Animal is Reed's glam-rock sneer back at his Velvet Underground legacy. Four tracks are VU classics (two about the redemptive power of rock, two about the transformative power of dope) dressed up into slick, flashy twin-guitar noodle-fests, with big riffs and showboating solos and Reed practically phoning in his vocals. It was something of a hit at the time, and it's easy to hear how the simple forcefulness of these songs sounded good on early-1970s radio. But Reed doesn't bother to conceal his contempt for the commercial trappings he's put on his songs--"Heroin," in particular, turns from savage ambivalence into an easy cartoon--and the album's hard to like now. Two previously unissued tracks from 1973's Berlin-"How Do You Think It Feels" and "Caroline Says I"-flesh out this reissue version of the original LP. --Douglas Wolk
Album Description: Limited Edition Japanese pressing of this 1974 live album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Seven tracks including 'Heroin' and 'White Light/White Heat'. RCA. 2006.
Album Details: 2006 Issued Japanese Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.
Disc 1:
Intro/Sweet Jane
Heroin
How Do You Think It Feels - (previously unreleased)
lou reed rock and animal the band is tight and ready to rock.lou is up to task and gives a first rate show.real fans will love it.
REED'S PEAK/Plain Jane Easily in the top 5 list of GREAT LIVE albums, not debatable. Same class as Live at LEEDS(BEST EVER),HANK-Live, Live RUST! This takes you back to the filthy days when men made rock and roll and did'nt wory about how to sell it. LOU has always been on the cutting edge. Needs to be played loud and often. Lady Day/Heroin/Sweet Jane. You could try a hundred more times and never get an LP close to the original, just a classic thats all.
Maybe the Best Live Rock Album Ever This is one of my two favorite live rock albums (the other is Stand In the Fire by Warren Zevon). This is probably the best live rock album ever. The guitar work is amazing. The energy is explosive. This is what rock and roll should be. Two guitars, bass and drums and four guys playing their guts out (OK, there are keyboards too.)
This live version of Heroin, all by itself, should get Lou (as a solo artist) inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame. My favorite live rock track of all time. It's a lesson in how to build up a rock song to a screaming crescendo.
Like everyone, my only beef with the record was: not enough, give us more! This release includes two additional tracks from the same concert: How Do You Think It Feels and Caroline Says I, which are also great and fit right in. The remastered sound is excellent. This release, unlike to old release on CD, has some nice liner notes. Enjoy.
Good Music, Disappointing Mastering This is a classic album, and the music is what everyone else has said it is. My gripe is with the remastering. I have the original LP of this, and I bought this CD mostly so I wouldn't wear out "Sweet Jane". Unfortunately, when they remastered this album, they changed the tonal balance, in a not so subtle way. They took all of the heft and body out of it, to the point where the guitars were almost tinny sounding. I was shocked, so much so, that I pulled the LP out and played it to see if my memory was faulty. It wasn't. I am deeply disappointed with this disc.
Rock N Roll Animal Lou Reed-Rock N Roll Animal ****
When first off this is one of the best and clearest sounding live albums of all time. You can hear everything and nothing was lost in the recording process. The musicianship is top notch, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner play incredible guitar, but then that is what you would expect from two of the best studio musicians in the history of rock n roll. Reed's vocals are clear and crisp but it does seem as though he is singing via satalite because he doesn't seem to really be in the mix of things, might be because of drugs and it might be because he just wasn't feeling it that night.
The song selection is great. 'Rock N Roll' 'Heroin' 'Sweet Jane' and 'White Light/White Heat' all are Velvet Underground classics. 'Caroline Says I' 'How Do You Think It Feels' and 'Lady Day' are all from his then brand new album Berlin, which was a massive commercial failure but some how went on to be one of the greatest albums of all time, much like the rest of Reeds material has done.
While the song selection was great that does not mean the perfomances are. 'Heroin' which is one of the single greatest songs of all time is played out like a comic strip here. 'White Light/White Heat' could have used a little more balls and a little less organ but other then that it is a pretty good version.
All in all it is a pretty good live album. It captures a great moment in Lou Reed's career and would make an addition to anyones album collection.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
