Legendary Hearts
	Produced by Lou Reed
	Released on January 1983
	US CHART POSITION #159
	Find it at GEMM
4568-2-R cover [high resolution scan]

S ome observers saw in Legendary Hearts (and The Blue Mask before it) a resurgent Lou Reed, ranking these two works with the singer’s best. I’ll concede that this is a good album, better than some of the Arista releases, but I’ve tired of all the “Lou Reed is Back!” spotting. Transformer, Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal, Street Hassle, The Blue Mask, New York... even Dracula hasn’t returned from the dead this often. Through all the peaks and valleys, Reed has done what he’s always done: write dark narratives that contrast his cracking voice and grating guitars with moments of disarming innocence. A theme seems to be at work here, an urban stage production of Romeo and Juliet that presages some of the scenes found on Reed’s New York (not that I’m calling Legendary Hearts a concept album). With a crack band and a get-in, get-out aesthetic, Reed delivers his amusing observations in deceptively simple packaging: “Martial Law,” “Don’t Talk To Me About Work,” “Pow Wow.” The songs that follow the Romeo & Juliet theme are slower and a little less self-assured, from the opening “Legendary Hearts” to a pair of tracks that deal with the father blocking the courtship of his daughter (“Betrayed”) and the suitor’s subsequent Jimmy Dean reaction (“Bottoming Out”). Dressed in a leather jacket and motorcycle helmet on the cover, Lou Reed engages in a little role-playing here, the principle figure in this musical drama. The album ends on a bright note, “Rooftop Garden,” that suggests the two lovers get together in the end anyway. In between are some songs that don’t fit the suggested storyline, like “The Last Shot,” but even in these cases Reed rarely steps out of character. While the songs themselves provide the main pleasure, the dual-guitar dialogue from Reed and Robert Quine is also terrific, offering a subtle and melodic foil to the singer’s deadpanned vocals. It elevates the musical discussion, lending credence to the image of Reed as outlaw/artist. With Legendary Hearts, I see a good songwriter writing good songs with a good band behind him, which is something you don’t see in Reed’s catalog as often as you’d like.

4568-2-R back sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. LEGENDARY HEARTS    3:24
2. DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT WORK    2:10
3. MAKE UP MY MIND    2:52
4. MARTIAL LAW    3:53
5. THE LAST SHOT    3:22
6. TURN OUT THE LIGHT    2:48
7. POW WOW    2:31
8. BETRAYED    3:11
9. BOTTOMING OUT    3:40
10. HOME OF THE BRAVE    6:51
11. ROOFTOP GARDEN    3:05
    
    All songs written by Lou Reed

CREDITS

LOU REED -- guitar and vocals
FRED MAHER -- drums
ROBERT QUINE -- guitar
FERNANDO SAUNDERS -- bass
Corky Stasiak -- engineer
John Snyder -- digital producer (1989 reissue)
Joe Lopes -- digital engineer (1989 reissue)
Sylvia Reed -- cover concept
Waring Abbott -- photography and art direction
Liz Lauman -- styling and hand coloring

For more discographies visit...

© 2005 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved.