25829-2

 

New York

Produced by Lou Reed and Fred Maher

Initially released on January 10, 1989.

US CHART POSITION... #40
US CHART POSITION... #14

Find it at GEMM


 

REVIEW City, sanctuary, asylum, inspiration . . . New York City has been all these things and more to Lou Reed over the years. Some folks have Aphrodite or Diana for a muse, this guy has the Statue of Liberty. Reed took a couple of years off after the mediocre Mistrial, a second honeymoon of sorts where the spark might be rekindled, and returned with his most lucid, funny, honest and inspired album ever: New York. In many ways, this album articulates what Reed has been trying to say all along. “Romeo Had Juliette” was played out earlier on Legendary Hearts; add some of Street Hassle’s realism and Reed bests both albums in a single stroke. Elsewhere he revisits old haunts like “Men of Good Fortune” (“Strawman”), “My Old Man” (“Dirty Blvd.”) and “Video Violence” (“Busload of Faith”), drawing the marrow of their meaning out. New York’s achievement is not that Reed is doing anything different; he’s doing the same thing he’s always done, but better than he’s ever done it before. The remark is often made that Lou Reed is an urban poet, but that’s not it. He’s an urban polyglot, fluent in the languages of the city’s pseudo-intellectuals and its survivors; a mosquito that draws blood from commoner and king alike; the patron saint of the downtrodden and their fellow penitent as well. His earlier accounts were delivered in the ecstatic throes of youthful abandon, then scared survival, degradation, rehabilitation, and finally bemusement. What transpired between Mistrial and New York was a kind of hosing off of Reed’s artistic ideals; he didn’t run away from making the great album he was always capable of, but embraced the challenge. New York isn’t merely an album, it’s a love song to the muse that has never abandoned Reed. On a more mundane note, Lou’s liner notes on the back are an inspiration on how to mix an album: one guitarist on the left channel, the other on the right channel.

TRACK LISTING

  1. ROMEO AND JULIETTE    3:09
  2. HALLOWEEN PARADE    3:33
  3. DIRTY BLVD.    3:29
  4. ENDLESS CYCLE    4:01
  5. THERE IS NO TIME    3:45
  6. LAST GREAT AMERICAN WHALE    3:42
  7. BEGINNING OF A GREAT ADVENTURE    (Lou Reed/Mike Rathke)    4:57
  8. BUSLOAD OF FAITH    4:50
  9. SICK OF YOU    3:25
  10. HOLD ON    3:24
  11. GOOD EVENING MR. WALDHEIM    4:35
  12. XMAS IN FEBRUARY    2:55
  13. STRAWMAN    5:54
  14. DIME STORE MYSTERY    5:01

    All songs written by Lou Reed unless noted

CREDITS

LOU REED -- vocals, guitar, mixing
FRED MAHER -- drums, Fender bass, engineer (1), mixing
MIKE RATHKE -- guitar, mixing
ROB WASSERMAN -- Clevinger electric upright six string bass
Maureen "Moe" Tucker -- percussion (6,14)
Jeffrey Lesser -- record and mixdown engineer, mixing

RELEASE DATA

REGION RELEASE DATE LABEL MEDIA ID NUMBER FEATURES
US January 10, 1989 Sire LP/CD/CS 25829 w. lyric sleeve
UK January 10, 1989 Sire LP/CD/CS    

 

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