Lou Reed's "Berlin" has some of his greatest songs, but as a narrative concept album, it's weak. Side one is perfect, but the other side's pace is slow, almost an after-thought than anything else. The beauty of Lou Reed is that he was very much of an artist who wanted to do something new on the next record. The previous album "Transformer" is a masterpiece, and I think the last of his work that had traces of his years in The Velvet Underground. "Berlin" is very much 1973 Lou, and what's interesting is that at the time of this recording of the album, he never been to Berlin. So it's an artist's projection of a city and culture that he only got through second-hand channels.
Berlin has always been a mythological metropolis to me. I went there in the 1980s when the wall was still up. I liked the city, but I was disappointed that Sally Bowles wasn't around nor Bertolt Brecht. In other words, I totally had a "Berlin" in my head that no longer exists. And on top of that, Berlin reminded me in parts, of Los Angeles, my hometown. So when "Berlin" came out, I totally saw this project as a documentary or something Lou had experienced first-hand. Then again, the role of the artist is always to do illusionary magic, and the album is very much an illusion as well in parts, a magnificent pop album.
Besides the iconic Lou Reed vocals and lyrics, the album features the aggressive bass playing of Jack Bruce. "Berlin" is one of my favorite 'bass' albums. It's always thrilling to hear Bruce's work, and I think on this album he did a magnificent job. Like Jah Wobble or Mick Karn, Bruce was a very strong bassist, who was equally unique in his playing or sound. The other great thing about the album is the overall production by Bob Ezrin. Overproduced and making the music sound like a huge production with full orchestra, powerful drumming (Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson and Aynsley Dunbar), plus the twin guitars of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, this was a group of musicians who played huge on the aural soundtrack. In a certain style, "Berlin" has an operatic quality of being bigger than life, and that's a plus for this album.
In theory, it would have been great if the album was just an EP of the first six songs. Side two is just over emotional and almost a bad taste Christmas card. Still, it's an important Lou Reed album, in the context with the rest of his recordings.
No comments:
Post a Comment