Lou Reed: New York
The deluxe reissue of one of Lou reed's greatest albums is a treat to listen to and sadly its theme hasen't aged a bit since it first came out in 1989.
I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag with Latin writ on it that says "it's hard to give a shit these days."
This album really coalesced his gift for taking the grittiness of urban living and elevating it to poetry. Pitchfork reviewed this recently and called it a protest album, but of course they would say that because they have to contextualize art, otherwise how might we understand it, right?
The truth is that he already lay the groundwork with his previous album Mistrial on the song "The Original Wrapper." The difference is that on that song, he was literally wrapping, telling the story from someone "watching cable TV with a female friend," and getting ever more agitated by what he saw, and gleefully skewering Reagan, Jerry Falwell, Louis Farrakhan, both of whom, "belong in Teheran."
White against white, black against jew
It seems like it's 1942
The baby sits in front of mtv
Watching violent fantasies
While dad guzzles beer with his favorite sport
Only to find his heroes are all coked up
Classic, original, the same old story
The politics of hate in a new surrounding
Hate if it's good and hate if it's bad
And if this all don't make you mad
I'll keep yours and I'll keep mine
Nothing sacred and nothing divine
Father, bless me, we're at full throttle
Better check that sausage, before you put it in the waffle
And while you're at it better check that batter
Make sure the candy's in the original wrapper
The plastic 80's sound and cheese "R&B" guitar dates the hell out of this song but if he'd rethought it and gave it some teeth, it would have easily fit on "New York."
In other words, whether it was Lou singing about "All the politicians makin' crazy sounds, Dead bodies piled up in mounds," on "Heroin," or "Billy," who got called to war from "Sally Can't Dance," I think it was Lou just being Lou. Only this time he brought his A game from start to finish.
Dirty Blvd is still one of my favorite songs he ever wrote. Plus it has Dion singing backup. What's not to love?
Except the mullet of course.