Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection

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Lou Reed has been a solo artist now for close to 30 years, and consumers still do not have a decent compilation of his career on CD. "The Definitive Collection" represented a perfect and timely opportunity to right this wrong, but failed. Still, its hard to argue too much because Lou himself put this collection together, and he included a lot of stuff from the late 1970's to early 1990's that most listeners may not be familiar with, as Lou's career has included high spots and low points and the inevitable record label changes.

I think the first mistake has to be that this collection should have equally represented all phases of Lou's output. This collection is thin on the early to mid-1970's becuase there are already a few discs out there (including imports) that chronicle this period. In addition, many early copies of the RCA/Arista CD's weren't mastered very well, which is another reason to start fresh with a remastered collection. Personally, I would have liked to see a couple of cuts from Lou's underrated first album, which included several Velvet Underground songs that weren't released until much later. Two essentials from his second album, 'Transformer', are included ("Vicious" and the essential "Walk On The Wild Side"), while a third ("Satellite Of Love"), is left off. No "Berlin", no "Sally Can't Dance", nothing from 'Rock And Roll Animal', which is unfortunate. However, one of may favorite songs, "I Wanna Be Black" (from 'Street Hassle'), is included. My other beef is that the compilation used the live version of "Dirty Blvd." instead of the studio recording, and excluded the humorous "Don't Talk To Me About Work".

I bought this CD wincing, knowing I was buying some slop with the treats. But on first listen that wince became the smile I had upon first hearing Lou years ago. The problem some reviewers have with this disc is that it's not "objective" enough - doesn't include all the agreed-upon classics - and therefore is merely an excuse for Lou to hoist upon us his personal favorites. What's really going on is this: Lou used tracks from his entire career to make not a retrospective but an album, with the feel and logic of an album; not every track is a stand-out, but every track fills a role in setting the scene and telling the story. Even with its flaws, this may be one of the best Lou Reed albums, from that point of view. Point-of-view is what makes this a coherent work, not merely a collection of career highs.

This isn't a 'Definitive Collection' in any sense of the name. Lou Reed's career and music spans sooo many albums and sooo many great songs, that if they were to do a truly 'Definitive' collection it'd probably have to be 4 discs (which has already been done - Between Thought and Expression), and then fans STILL probably wouldn't agree on its choices (a picky lot they are). I think this is STILL a great collection though. It foregoes 'Perfect Day' and 'Satellite of Love', which, though FANTASTIC songs, are on EVERY OTHER Lou-related compilation, as well as movie soundtracks, etc. I think the general tone of this album is set by the fact that it opens with 'The Blue Mask' -- not a big Lou hit in any sense of the matter. A strictly personal, raw song. This album is a great Lou sampler for those who want to wade into the water beyond 'Perfect Day' and 'Walk on the Wild Side' (though the latter is included). 'Definitive' it ain't, but that doesn't mean it's not a great album. Hell, it IS Lou Reed, so it can't go TOO wrong (unless we start talking about 'Mistrial'.. but that's another review altogether)..

"Lou Reeds" work with "The Velvet Underground" might be a little easier to digest, but given the chance, his solo stuff can be just as rewarding. Sure this includes "Walk on The Wild Side", possibly his biggest hit ever, but most of the rest takes a few more spins to love. He has many collections out, 1 or 2 disc, older or newer stuff, but this one does a decent job for just 16 tracks. It's at least career-spanning thru 1999, and supposedly pick by himself. Yes it does miss anything from his former band, and some better known cuts like "Satellite Of Love", but the rest is here. It's all good stuff, whether it's from his "Transformer" album, "New York", or in between. This is highly recommended, right after some "VU".

Hey man, hey man, that's not the real song...listen up if you listen to Lou or if you don't:

...the definitive collection comes highly recommended...

i own a vast majority of lou's albums (over half are vinyl)and I must say that this collection, handpicked by mr. reed himself, is a must in any good catalog. there are some songs that aren't on the collection that I had thought should have been, but when you look at the collection as a whole, as an artistic collection pieced together by an artist...then I think this album makes you look at lou's work in a new light and, personally, it changed my perspective on lou.

...listening to lou (if you have yet to do so)...

if you haven't listened to lou or the velvet underground before, this collection, undoubtedly, will give you a good taste for the singer (although he is more of a poet and less of a singer)

Reed's own compilation of his work is by far the best intro duction anyone could ever have to this undoubtedly Major artist. Beginning with "The Blue Mask", and then weaving through his obscure 70's work, he shows why Different Times and all the other Reed retrospectives are worse than ordinary: they lack any real artistic perspective or understanding; indeed, even ordinary empathy seems to be missing from the RCA release, it being just another rehash in search of cash at our expense. Buy this release: Reed has many surprises for you all. And Joy.

there is a person in front of me who pretty much hurriciane trashed this collection because, for the most part, it did not contain all of the standard issue stuff, that has been heavily compiled before. There are some interestesting cuts here. More importantly, there some great cuts which I only have on vinyl (the Street Hassle cuts - A GREAT RECORD BY THE WAY, the BLUE MASK stuff). No reason to detail Lou's career, it's obvoius you could put out a 7 or 8 disc set. Stylistically, however, it would be all over the place, Lou is all over the place, sometimes on the same record, this comp. gives folks a chance to listen to a cd issue of some of Lou's better, if not as popular material. If you were someone who know the hits, thought maybe they dug Lou, a listen to this and they would dig him a lot more. Not much else you can say really!

All aspects of Lou Reed are represented on this interesting collection. The title track from the magnificent Blue Mask album is a good choice, although a track like Waves Of Fear would have been better. The humorous I Wanna Be Black sits nicely alongside songs like Looking For Love and Coney Island Baby, whilst Romeo Had Juliette represents the acclaimed New York album.

Vicious is a brilliant ditty from the Transformer period, which is also represented by his great hit Walk On The Wild Side. A highlight of this album is the magnificent opus Waltzing Matilda/Street Hassle/Slipaway, where Reed is the street poet at his best in a song full of dread, loss and sadness. I have always loved Temporary Thing with its catchy melody and driving beat, and Cremation (Ashes To Ashes) remains another of his masterpieces from that very sad 1992 album.

The Bells is an atmospheric masterpiece, and the album closes with a live version of Dirty Boulevard. I would have included Caroline Says or The Kids from Berlin, Strawman from New York, Perfect Day from Transformer and Gimme Some Good Times from Street Hassle, but the compilation was Reed's choice. As it happens, there's not a bad track on this album of mostly obscure songs, which is a tribute to Reed's talent.

Considering Lou Reed has had a long history of often intentional commercial suicide, it is not surprising that the Definitive Collection, the best-of compilation Mr. Reed handpicked in 1999, neglected the few obvious choices from his songbook, such as "Satellite of Love," "Wild Child" and "Sally Can't Dance," and grouped together an eclectic bunch of tracks that generally gathered little notice and seemed largely insignificant to anyone but Mr. Reed, himself (He was not radical enough to leave out his seminal hit single, "Walk on the Wild Side," though). That is Lou Reed, though. If he is to have a "definitive collection," it is going to be on his own terms.

So what does Mr. Reed consider his best moments? Well, he certainly has a soft spot for his many R&B tributes/parodies such as "Looking for Love," "I Want to Boogie with You," "Shooting Star" and the utterly hilarious "I Wanna Be Black." Slow-paced, mopish ballads like "Coney Island Baby" "Vicious Circle" and the gorgeous "Street Hastle" are given a lot of space and mammoth, guitar-blazing epics like "Temporary Thing," "The Bells" and "The Blue Mask" also seem to be favored.

Unlike many other best-of packages, the Definitive Collection is not a sampling of an artist's biggest hits or an outlined chronicle of his career. It is, however, an interesting, enjoyable reflection of the work the man, himself, takes considerable pride in. This anthology is one of the many projects in which Mr. Reed's utter commercial disregard produced quite a novel idea.

At first listen, the only songs i liked on this album were wild side and dirty blvd. But after repeated listenings i began to understand and appreciate many more of the songs. Street Hassle Coney Island Baby Set the Twilight all have excelllent musical compositions and intriguing lyrics. Cremation, Vicious circle, Blue Mask The bells and Romeo had Juliet are also very good. Granted the rest of the songs ARE unlistenable but the others make the album worth it