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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cycle of Sorrow, July 23, 2007
These songs are harrowing but beautiful and ultimately rewarding if you can survive its labyrinthine descent into heartbreak and despair. The most melodic songs include Caroline Says I and II, the wistful Oh Jim, the painful The Kids, the bleak The Bed and the soulful Sad Song.
Over these beautiful melodies Reed lays his vocals that are so genuine, so apt and so gripping that listening to them is like being privy to the private details of a doomed relationship. Of course, these all fit the complete picture to create one of the most cohesive and searng concept albums in rock, from the jazzy intro of Berlin with its lounge piano through the spoken poem of Lady Day, right to the melancholy last refrains of Sad Song.
The grand production and sympathetic arrangements add gravitas to the somber mood to create a dark masterpiece of epic proportions. Somewhat inaccessible to some fans, Berlin has nevertheless improved with time and remains one of Lou Reed's greatest albums.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a much improved remaster, January 23, 2009
The remastered Berlin sounds much better than the previous version. The "over the top" production sheen has been toned down to proper dimensions and the songs are a lot more musically powerful and more pleasant on the ears to listen to, if anything about Berlin can be called pleasant. If you like Berlin enough to buy Lou's new live version, you should replace your old CD with this one.
As for Berlin itself, it is a powerful set of songs. My theory is that the ending of "The Kids" was/is so disturbing that it leads to an instant desire to not hear the album again. I am fascinated by Berlin, I don't think art should always be easy and fun, and I will be listening to a lot more now that I have the remastered version. There is another fan of it too. "Though never exactly one to blow her own trumpet she [Suzanne Vega] has nevertheless found it necessary to announce, via her website, that her aim with Beauty & Crime was to create a modern classic, something comparable to Lou Reed's Berlin, which she adores." -article on independent.co.uk
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Godfather's Masterwork, March 15, 2009
This is the ultimate in Lou Reed albums. Every song is packed full of dark, powerful lyrics, accented with beautiful shimmering performances and production is the high water mark of juxtaposition. Music accompanied by Steve Winwood, Tony Levin, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, the Brecker brothers, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (of Alice Cooper fame), this star studded line up proves a worthy adversary to Reed's strung out main character's delivery. The contrast of the beautiful music, the dark lyrics of drug abuse, physical abuse, and promiscuous sexual behavior, with the extremely deadpan delivery (I hesitate to call it singing), just pushes the impact home so much more. The pristine music almost buries Reed's lyrics, signifying the overwhelming nature of the story line on our main character, the character's psyche being lost in the deluge of jealousy, disgust, apathy, and feelings that he can never escape this nightmare.
Not to mention the songs are wonderful, BY FAR his most consistent effort since the VU. If you weren't hooked sooner, by THE KIDS and SAD SONG, there is no escaping the deluge and the listener is sucked in.
Whether you are having a bad day and need to be reassured that it isn't that bad, or are just looking for a dark drama of literary or cinematic scope, you can't go wrong with BERLIN. After all, if you are already a Reed fan, you obviously have tastes that run towards the dark side. Yes, the pristine music performances are not his MO and to those who are accustomed to his other work, this might take some getting use to, but if you give it a chance, this will prove to be the most rewarding and profound Reed work of his solo career, the scope of which is only revealed upon repeated listens.
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by Lou Reed 
