Rock N Roll Animal

Lou Reed | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl
• Original Release Date: 1974
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000TK3AN0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,543 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

TRACKS: INTRO/SWEET JANE, HEROIN, WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT, LADY DAY, ROCK N ROLL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Metal Machine Music, September 1, 2006

By 

Richard B. Luhrs (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rock & Roll Animal (Audio CD)

The intricate, extensive and sublimely rocking introduction to "Sweet Jane" which opens ROCK & ROLL ANIMAL must have made many of this album's earliest buyers think they'd fallen victim to a record company foul-up. Surely the soaring guitars, thundering bass and tight, swirling drums with which they were confronted couldn't have had anything to do with Lou Reed, legendarily laconic purveyor of atonal drones and decadent, rambling anecdotes. But sure enough, after three and a half minutes all that virtuosic showboating somehow morphed into the beloved Velvet Underground classic, with Reed tossing off his lines in a voice by turns sardonic, indifferent and haunted. The result was, and still is, an album both the hardcore Reed fan and the Reed-hating hard rocker can dig, an eminently successful experiment in classic seventies metal from a man whose prior recordings had firmly established him at the opposite pole of the sonic spectrum.

In truth, however, ANIMAL is less a Lou Reed album than an album of Lou Reed songs as (stunningly) interpreted by what was then Alice Cooper's touring band. The leader's presence here, while significant in establishing the requisite dark, dissipated and druggy ambience, is ultimately more counterpoint than fulcrum. Instead, it's the beautiful picking of guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, Ray Colcord's nightmarish organ runs and the stop-on-a-dime interplay of bassist Prakash John and drummer Pentti Glan that are the real story, offering up post-Allman Brothers reinventions of Velvets nuggets like "Heroin," "White Light, White Heat" and "Rock & Roll" as well as several tracks from Reed's outrageously underrated BERLIN LP. What starts out looking like the most awkward of musical marriages ends up being one of rock's all-time greatest live albums, its dynamism literally unflagging from one end to the other. Recommended for...well, you.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a second half to the show!, May 17, 2005

By 

Smitty "Smitty" (Edge City, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rock & Roll Animal (Audio CD)

For those of you looking to purchase this c.d. you might be interested to know that there is another c.d. called "Lou Reed Live" that is the rest of this concert. It took me years to find, thanks to the help of the internet, but it is just as good as this disc. If you've already had this album, then you probably like me thought it wasn't long enough? Thanks to the newly released version with bonus tracks it has been made better. But if that's still not enough, here's the answer. The "extended version" is available but it's basically the same as the original but with "explicit" lyrics included. Also included is Reed's best band ever! So if your buying Rock & Roll Animal you've got to make it a 2 pack & get "Live"! The complete show is worth the price of admission!

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Live Albums Of All Time!, May 26, 2000

By 

M. Scagnelli (Brandon, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rock & Roll Animal (Audio CD)

Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Animal completely blew me away. It is completely different than most of Lou's other material. First of all, the setlist is great. It includes four great songs by the Velvet Underground; Sweet Jane, Heroin, White Light / White Heat, and Rock and Roll. It also contains three great songs from Berlin; Caroline Says I, Lady Day and How Do You Think It Feels. Each song is done incredibly. The Intro into Sweet Jane is great. Following this, Lou and the band rip through Heroin, doing a 13 minute version that is fairly different than the original, but still great. The two extra tracks, How Do You Think It Feels and Caroline Says I are two of the best songs from Berlin, and these recordings are just as good as the album, if not better. You even hear Lou tell the audience to shut up before starting a song. The version of White Light / White Heat is even louder than the original. The version of Lady Day done is even better than the album version on Berlin. The album closes with a great version of Rock and Roll, with a funky rhythm solo in the middle. The overall effect of the album is incredible. It makes you feel like you are actually at the show. If you are a fan of Lou, you will love this album. You'll love it even if you aren't a fan. It makes a good starting place for Lou Reed. Especially with the two extra songs, Rock and Roll Animal is one of the greatest live albums of all time.