Lou Reed passed away this weekend, and I’m not going to say much about it. Â I am incredibly bad at eulogizing, especially so when the person in question is someone I have mixed feelings about.
Lou Reed was a genius. Lou Reed was an asshole. Lou Reed was a revolutionary songwriter. Lou Reed was a hack. Lou Reed was a legendary performer. Lou Reed was lazy and hated his audiences. I feel that all those things are true, and I don’t know how to compose my contradictory viewpoints into anything that would do either him or my own thoughts justice.
So I’ll just say that Lou Reed will be missed by a lot of people, including me. Everyone should listen to his work with the Velvet Underground. If you can tolerate shoddy audio quality, then you also must listen to The Quine Tapes, an amazing 3CD collection of VU bootlegs that feature some of the greatest live performances I’ve ever heard. And listen to Transformer. Because damn.
This is all the Lou Reed-related material I have, enjoy.
Lou Reed
My Red Joystick (Remixed Version)
My Red Joystick (Instrumental Version)
The Original Wrapper (Extended Version)
The Original Wrapper (Dub Version)
The Original Wrapper (Remix Single Version)
Video Violence (Remix)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Retouch)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Dab Hands Radio Edit)
Satellite Of Love ’04 (Groovefinder Remix)
This is literally all the rare Lou Reed I have (that was recorded under his actual name…keep reading and you’ll see what I mean). These are all taken from various 12″ singles and I’ve posted them all before. However, I re-recorded everything save for the “Satellite of Love” remixes, so even if you downloaded them from me before, be sure to grab them again – these versions sound so much better than my original rips.
If you’ve never had the joy of hearing Lou Reed “rap” then you’ll be in for a treat with some of these tracks.
New Order
Sister Ray (Live)
From the disgustingly-titled-but-vaguely-interesting compilation Like A Girl, I Want You To Keep Coming, which includes rarities by David Byrne, Debbie Harry and Henry Rollins as well. As far as I know, this live VU cover has never been released on any other album.
Billy Idol
Heroin (Nosebleed Mix)
Heroin (Ionizer mix)
Heroin (A Drug Called Horse Mix)
Heroin (Overlords Mix).mp3″>Heroin (Overlords Mix)
Heroin (VR Mix)
Heroin (Needle Park Mix)
Billy Idol covered “Heroin” for his 1993 alubm Cyberpunk, an album that literally everyone on Earth hates except for me and Billy Idol. I re-recorded these tracks too, so if you downloaded them from my site once before and want better copies, download these too.
The Beachnuts -Â Cycle Annie
The J Brothers-Â Don’t Turn My World Upside Down
The Liberty Men -Wonderful World of Love
The Hi-Lites -Soul City
I wrote about these tracks before , they’re all from a mid-60s budget compilation album called Out Of Sight. This is how Lou Reed paid the bills before forming VU. He only performs on “Cylce Annie,” but he wrote all of these tunes.
David Bowie & Lou Reed
Queen Bitch
I’m Waiting For The Man
Dirty Boulevard
White Light/White Heat
All taken from Bowie’s 50th birthday bash in 1997. A great show you can find on YouTube I think.
David Bowie
White Light/White Heat (Rehearsal with Stevie Ray Vaughn)
White Light/White Heat (Studio Outtake)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live)Â (Another Radio Appearance)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Studio Recording)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live Bootleg)
I’m Waiting For The Man (Live In Budapest)
These are all taken from various bootlegs, radio rips and other odds and sods I’ve accumulated over the years. In case you’re wondering how the Stevie Ray Vaughn thing happened, Stevie played guitar on Bowie’s Let’s Dance album. He was supposed to joing Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour, but that didn’t work out. That recording is from the rehearsals for that tour.
I think we can say without question that David Bowie really liked “I’m Waiting For The Man,” I assume he could identify with that song on multiple levels.
Nirvana
Here She Comes Now (Electric Punk Version)
Here She Comes Now (Radio Appearance)
One version of Nirvana’s cover of this VU song has seen official release, the “Smart Studios” version was included on both the With The Lights Out compilation and the Super Deluxe edition of Nevermind. However, Nirvana performed and recorded this song a lot over the years. The “Electric Punk” version is, like the title suggests, more of a punk rock arrangement of the tune, while the radio appearance versions is more in tune with the Smart Studios version – all are great. You can really hear the emotion in Kurt’s voice in all these versions. This cover is how I got into VU in the first place.
