Live in Italy [Import]

Lou Reed | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 11, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Camden International
• ASIN: B0009UN9O0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,666 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the greatest of the Quine-era, but still has awe-inspiring moments, December 11, 2008

By 

Brian D. Hughes (Modesto, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live in Italy (Audio CD)

I had a cassette of this that I never really bothered to listen to until I ran across it one day. I didn't care for Reed's solo stuff prior to giving this a chance, as it was so drastically different then the Velvet Underground and mostly because I didn't like the candy-coated/mainstream production of his solo albums I'd heard. Well, for starters, he has his best back-up band he ever had here. Robert Quine, although not really allowed to shine by Reed, inspired Lou to pick the guitar up again and Fernando Saunders and Doane Perry are a very strong rhythm section. I think as a document the live video release "A Night with Lou Reed" is a better testament to their live powers, as the group was fairly exhausted and not totally cohesive on this tour - Quine was here only for the money at this point and his guitar was being mixed down. But there are some songs here not to be found on the other live release, especially the brutal and clenching version of "Heroin" and the 17 minute medley of "Some Kinda Love/Sister Ray". It's a treat to have "Heroin" as this was rarely played live during the Quine-era, iirc. Regretfully there are not more performances documented of this line-up.

2.0 out of 5 stars Scorching Kill Your Sons, blah everything else, January 21, 2008

By 

J. S. Winston "crazy professor" (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live in Italy (Audio CD)

When I first heard Live in Italy, I was a VU fan somewhat leery of solo Lou, and had my head turned around by the fire-breathing version of "Kill Your Sons." That led me to buy a copy and, at the time, since I didn't have any solo Lou, I really got into the solo songs (except for the stupid "Martial Law") but thought that the versions of VU songs were lame. Now, however, I have the studio versions of just about all of these songs, and find just about everything on this album lame, and its very existence pointless, with the exception of "Kill Your Sons" which is actually better than the version on "Sally Can't Dance." So, overall, I recommend seeing if you can download an mp3 version of it somewhere, and skipping the rest of this disc.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unfortunately, not all that good, March 24, 2007

By 

happydogpotatohead "happydogpotatohead" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Live in Italy (Audio CD)

You would think that with this band, this would be a great disc, right? Sadly, it's not all that great. Lou and Quine were at loggerheads at the time. As a result, Quine's guitar is oddly muted and minimized on much of this. As much as I love Lou Reed, and I do, he will never be the guitar player that Robert Quine was. This CD suffers, as a result, from Lou's lack of guitar skills - even on his own music, by his own standards. The second thing that makes it a not-buy is Lou's refusal or inability to sing. He simply shouts his way through all the songs. The third reason to give this a pass is that there are no dynamics. All the songs are played as loud as possible, meaning that ear fatigue sets in a little over halfway through. It begins to sound very samey after a while. Lou's best live set remains the semi-bootleg "American Poet" album. Even for a Lou Reed fan, this is not a must, I'm sorry to say.