Customer Reviews

Ecstasy

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Wow. What an incredibly bleak album, even by Lou's standards. Though themetically similar to "Berlin" (with it's boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, girl kills herself plotline), it lacks the orchestration of that early '70s masterpiece. Instead, it sounds more akin to "New York" or "Set the Twilight Reeling" -- a rocking, feedback-laden sound. If you don't mind the fact that the lyrics wouldn't be out of place in a suicide note, I highly recommend it.

it is thrilling to hear an artist in his fourth decade of work this vital, inspired and experimental. a sublime discourse on love in its various forms from transcendence (big sky) to masochism (rock minuet) to regret (baton rouge) to existential angst (like a possum) just to name a few. lou knows the power in the music and allows his voice to be shaped by the incandescent sounds. this must be one of the greastest vocal performances on record on a par with dylan on blonde on blonde and lennon on plastic ono band. along with the blue mask and live in italy, ecstasy can stand next to the genius of v.u.

Lou Reed's "Ecstasy" is the finest work that he has produced in several years, even when viewed in the context of his masterpieces "New York" and "Magic and Loss." He largely avoids the fault to which he occasionally succumbs on other albums, namely making his references too specific and topical. (He does have one reference to Clinton, unfortunately.) The writing on "Ecstasy" is hard-hitting but universal--they are the kind of lyrics that will resonate with poignancy years from now. "Modern Dance" is a beautiful clash between realism and romanticism; "Tatters" is soft and contemplative; the lines in "Mystic Child" are edgy and terse. With this album, Reed shows yet again that there are very few songwriters in his league.

The music is rough ala the Velvet Underground, and this is quite surprising and very welcome. "Paranoia Key of E" sets the tone with its fuzzy bass and wide-open guitars. Reed is in fine form musically--the guitars have a really nice edge to them, and the music is often passionate and frenzied. "Like A Possum" is another sonic feast that even bears similarities to Metal Machine Music. Frankly, it is nice to see Reed utilizing the aesthetic lessons of his early years by employing them in the context of challenging, contemporary songs that are relevant for the present and the future.

Although the lyrics are sublime and the music is intense, you should buy "Ecstasy" just because Lou Reed, better than any writer in the history of Rock, can take his listeners into the bowels of their consciousness and expose to them the filth that they desperately wish to deny. The urban themes in his music provide the perfect operating metaphor for the contemporary American's mind. It is a place that is a wee bit seedy, perhaps like a psychological equivalent of a freak show. It is a place where salvation is hustled on the street, lies are convenient substitutions for the truth, and where we all cheer when someone gets the upper hand on "The Man."

I am a big Lou Reed fan and so maybe a bit biased but I absolutely love this record. It is my favorite since maybe Street Hassle. And I loved the 80's Blue Mask and Legendary Hearts, Magic and Loss too. The band is so tight. And the songs are as honest and brutal as ever. His view of relationships is so far away from the entertainment world view so often pushed on me. Although he has much less patience than me for the sacrifices of monogamy, he hits on points most of us feel and experience.

go buy it.

I waited about half a decade for Bob Dylan and Tom Waits' new release, and the dudes didn't let me down. Reed's new studio album too, which features a cycle of 12 uncompromising and viciously stunning songs, astonishes me. It continues the grand tradition of albums with a central theme (as oppose to a collection of unrelated and scattered selections). Magic and Loss is Reed's interpretation of the impact of death on life; New York is about the decay of the modern American society; Ecstasy is about love, and the pain induced by it. At certain places in the album, Reed's feelings come out violently which resembles the emotional style in Berlin and Blue Mask. I especially enjoy Turning Time Around and the eighteen-minute Like a Possum. Brilliant! I gave Ecstasy a 4-Star because I couldn't help but comparing it to Magic and Loss, which is my favorite Lou Reed album. Songs such as Magician, Harry's Circumcision and Dreamin' from Magic and Loss are simply unparallel, even Reed himself would find difficult to top them. But don't get me wrong, Ecstasy is as good, if not better. I just personally prefer Magic and Loss over Ecstasy. 2000 has been a depressing year, the after-stink from 1999's teen pop, white dude rap and Rick "the Disposable Boytoy" Mart(I'm not calling names, okay) still lingers. It's good to finally have a breath of real talent and innovation. Long live music!

There are cuts on "Ecstasy" that have more edge than perhaps any Reed has ever done. The CD is uneven in places, and there are a few cuts I'll probably get in the habit of skipping over on repeated listenings, but well over half the lengthy CD is utterly brilliant! You have to admire the sheer creative staying power for an artist of Reed's longevity to be creating his strongest, most original, most "on edge" work in the present, on this CD. If you're a Reed fan, this CD is a must. Even if you're not, there's plenty of rewards contained therein if you like groundbreaking rock 'n roll with more edge than the Grand Canyon. It's a complete original.

Lou Reed's "Ecstasy" is the finest work that he has produced in several years, even when viewed in the context of his masterpieces "New York" and "Magic and Loss." He largely avoids the fault to which he occasionally succumbs on other albums, namely making his references too specific and topical. (He does have one reference to Clinton, unfortunately.) The writing on "Ecstasy" is hard-hitting but universal--they are the kind of lyrics that will resonate with poignancy years from now. "Modern Dance" is a beautiful clash between realism and romanticism; "Tatters" is soft and contemplative; the lines in "Mystic Child" are edgy and terse. With this album, Reed shows yet again that there are very few songwriters in his league.

The music is rough ala the Velvet Underground, and this is quite surprising and very welcome. "Paranoia Key of E" sets the tone with its fuzzy bass and wide-open guitars. Reed is in fine form musically--the guitars have a really nice edge to them, and the music is often passionate and frenzied. "Like A Possum" is another sonic feast that even bears similarities to Metal Machine Music. Frankly, it is nice to see Reed utilizing the aesthetic lessons of his early years by employing them in the context of challenging, contemporary songs that are relevant for the present and the future.

Although the lyrics are sublime and the music is intense, you should buy "Ecstasy" just because Lou Reed, better than any writer in the history of Rock, can take his listeners into the bowels of their consciousness and expose to them the filth that they desperately wish to deny. The urban themes in his music provide the perfect operating metaphor for the contemporary American's mind. It is a place that is a wee bit seedy, perhaps like a psychological equivalent of a freak show. It is a place where salvation is hustled on the street, lies are convenient substitutions for the truth, and where we all cheer when someone gets the upper hand on "The Man."

Sounding fresh again after some less than memorable studio albums and the customary multi-packing of greatest hits collections and live albums, Lou Reed jumps back to the front of that intersting genre of music that could be refered to as "pop music that matters, but which only a select few listen to." The selections on Ecstacy are taught and focused, at times humerous and at others deadly serious, sometimes within the same line. Reed's underrated band is again in prime form with Rathke's fills covering over Lou's feedback drenched lines and Saunders' (the most important bassist no one has heard of?) and Smith's accents below them creating an in your face abrasiveness that, while more subtle than that of the Velvet Underground of Lou's past, is none-the-less moving. Put it on the top ten cds of the year list, though I doubt anyone except fans and critics will notice.

Ecstasy is very strong release from 2000. I can't believe Lou was 58 years old (63 now) because it's full of youthful rebellion and attitude. He hasn't lost any of the anger or edge from when he began the first punk rock movement in 1965 with the VU. Much of this album rocks and Lou's semi-distorted guitar is all over it, along with a great rhythm section (Fernando Saunders and Tony Smith) and a smattering of horns here and there.

The theme of the album is love, or rather the failure of love as almost every song deals with the final days of a dying relationship. Great lyrics throughout. My faves are the opening track, "Paranoia Key of E" with its Angus Young like guitar riffs, the hard-driving "Mystic Child", the verbal battle between husband and wife in "Mad", the extremely sick and perverted "Rock Minuet" and the one so many of us can relate to, "Tatters"...

"I know you're hoping everything works out
Neither one of us is the type that shouts
You sleep in the bedroom
While I pace up and down the hall
Our baby stares at both of us
Wondering which one of us to call
I guess it's true that not every match burns bright
I guess it's true that not all I say is right
But what you said still bounces around in my head
Who thought this could happen to us
When we first went to bed"


There is also the 18 minute "Like a Possum" which would have been an album side back in the day, but is now just one of 14 songs. And after all the turmoil and despair, Ecstasy thankfully finishes with the really upbeat and optimistic "Big Sky". "Ecstasy" deals with loss of love in much the same way as "Magic and Loss" deals with loss of life. Not quite as successfully, but close enough. Lou is a poetic and musical genius.

Lou Reed has returned with his strongest effort in years. "Ecstasy" is a dark song cycle dedicated largely to the death of love and futility of marriage. Clocking in at 77 minutes, and darting in and around the back alleys of lust, betrayal and dashed dreams, "Ecstasy" is hardly the stuff of easy listening. But is richly rewarding, supremely mature rock and roll.

Like Bob Dylan, who released his 1997 masterpiece "Out of Time" at age 56, Lou Reed is not afraid to bring us pop music that tackles the personal conundrums of middle and later life. And just as Dylan closed "Out of Time" with a 16-minute talking blues called "Highlands" that served as a kind of emotional and thematic summation, Reed offers us "Like a Possum": 18 noisy minutes in which his alter ego travels the lower depths in search of an affirmation of his humanity.

"Got a hole in my heart the size of a truck," Reed bellows as his protagonist surveys a blown-out landscape strewn with crack addicts and cheap whores -- a tableau not unfamiliar to Reed's music. But the song is oddly affecting; when Reed's alter ego realizes he's "the only one left standing/calm as angel," you're bearing witness to someone bravely surviving despite his and his world's worst instincts.

"Ecstasy" has the sonic richness and thematic daring that can only come from someone of Reed's age, stature and jaundiced worldview. With old friends Mike Rathke on guitar and Fernando Saunders on bass, "Ecstasy" pulsates with edgy, unbridled energy. But even when Reed calms things down, the arrows still pierce armor, as on the gorgeous "Baton Rouge," a ballad of love not so much lost but never sought after or appreciated until it's painfully beyond reclamation. "I wonder where love ends and hate starts to blush," Reed muses with the realization of a man destined to live only with his hard heart.

Like the best of Reed's work, "Ecstasy" is serious, sardonic, self-punishing and never less than vital, even in its weaker moments (which are as spare as Lou's smile). In my mind, he's not produced anything so raw, introspective and catchy since "The Blue Mask."

Reed long ago earned his status as a kind of rock bard who helped beget a generation of punkers and post-punkers. "Ecstasy" confirms his stature as a reigning musical poet offering hymns to the battle between discord and harmony, degradation and dignity.