Archives for August 2017

Certain Songs #979: Lou Reed – “New Sensations”

August 31, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: New Sensations
Year: 1984

Fading in like a motorcycle coming over the crest of a distant hill, “New Sensations” feels like one of the most important songs of Lou Reed’s solo career.

Or at least it is to me. I’m not normally a lyrics guy, but when a song has as great of a set of lyrics as “New Sensations” does, it’s almost impossible for me — even 21-year-old-me in 1984 — not to notice. The message, to me, was that you’re never to old to experience new sensations.

Certain Songs #978: Lou Reed – “I Love You, Suzanne”

August 30, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: New Sensations
Year: 1984

It probably seems counter-intuitive that at some point in 1984, the number one album on College Radio was the 13th solo album by a man who was 20 years older than his target audience. It me. But that was the weird confluence of events that surrounded the brief second cultural ascension of Lou Reed.

It was, of course, infamously signified by the “Hey, don’t settle for walking” Honda scooter commercial, but it manifested itself in other ways, as well: the V.U. and Another View outtakes albums, his participation on the Sun City album and the Conspiracy of Hope tour, appearances in various soundtracks like Perfect to Rock and Rule, and of course, this shameless attempt at manufacturing another massive hit single.

Certain Songs #977: Lou Reed – “The Blue Mask”

August 29, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Blue Mask
Year: 1982

“The Blue Mask” begins with an ending.

At first you hear Robert Quine’s guitar screaming like the thing that scares a banshee, then Lou’s guitar shouting back in the other speaker, while drummer Doane Perry keeps trying to crash the song to an ending before it even begins, as if to say “you really aren’t prepared for this, so here’s your chance to leave.”

But Fernando Saunders is having none of that wimpy-ass bullshit, and so he plays a straightforward, strangled boogieish bassline — forsaking his usual magic for sheer power — and Lou says “aha!” and riffs right along with it, and “The Blue Mask” is off, and what’s underneath it is revealed.
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Certain Songs #976: Lou Reed – “The Gun”

August 28, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Blue Mask
Year: 1982

Unlike John Cale’s “Gun,” which starts off loud and only gets crazier, Lou Reed’s similarly-titled-but-not-even-remotely-the-same song “The Gun” slowly tiptoes up behind you like a burglar in a dark alley.

Spare and spooky, “The Gun” is one of the most harrowing songs of Lou Reed’s entire solo career.

Shifting back and forth from the first and third person, Lou not only warns us about the guy carrying the gun, he ends up inhabiting him as well.

Certain Songs #975: Lou Reed – “Underneath The Bottle”

August 27, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Blue Mask
Year: 1982

I know that this is going to get me thrown out of the fan club, but I’ve never been enamored of Lou Reed’s 1970s material. I appreciate the subversiveness of “Walk on the Wild Side,” the ambition of Berlin & “Street Hassle” (and Metal Machine Music), and the guitars of Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.

But I don’t l-u-v love any of them, and while I thought about writing about a couple of songs just to provide some kind of overview or not get kicked out of the fan club, I decided to skip straight to the first Lou Reed solo album that totally and completely blew me away, 1982’s The Blue Mask.

Certain Songs #974: Lou Reed – “Vicious”

August 26, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Transformer
Year: 1972

While Lou Reed’s first solo album was chock full of “interesting” remakes of then-unreleased Velvet Underground songs, the follow-up was arguably the first place he found his voice as a solo artist.

Hooking up with David Bowie and his ringer guitarist, Mick Ronson, Reed’s transformation into a glam-rocker felt almost natural, and he didn’t even really have to change his subject matter all that much, and in fact, Transformer is probably the most Factory-focused album (outside of Songs For Drella, of course) in his career.

Certain Songs #973: Los Salvajes – “Amor Salvaje”

August 25, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Diablos Del Ritmo: The Colombian Melting Pot 1960-1985
Year: 1972

The Analog Africa label is one of those labor of love labels doing the Lord’s Work by unearthing otherwise lost treasures from Africa, or in the case of “Amor Salvaje,” African diaspora music, as this particular track was recorded in Columbia in the early 1970s.

I’m a dilettante at best with this music — every few months or so, I like to randomly buy a new compilation from eMusic — which I’ve subscribed to for over a decade — and is where I came across a compilation called Analog Africa Goes eMusic, which I think was free.

Certain Songs #972: Los Lobos – “Will The Wolf Survive?”

August 24, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: How Will The Wolf Survive?
Year: 1983

Los Lobos have been bringing it for over forty years now, playing an unique blend of roots rock, country, tex-mex, soul, and even experimental music whenever and however they see fit.

I drop in on them occasionally, and am continually impressed with their unassuming virtuosity and deceptively simple songs, my favorite of which is the almost title track of their 1983 breakthrough, How Will The Wolf Survive?

Certain Songs #971: Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!”

August 23, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Hold On Now, Youngster!
Year: 2008

I can’t believe it’s been almost a decade since Hold On Now, Youngster! came out.

At the time, its exuberant joy felt like a breath of fresh air, as Los Campesinos! captured the sound of a bunch of young smart kids who understood just how fleeting, fun and special being a young smart kid was.

And while Los Campesinos! have made a handful of records since then — all of the them good-to-great — none of them have quite risen to the heights as their debut, which featured gems like “Death To Los Campesinos!,” “My Year in Lists” and the immortal “You! Me! Dancing!”

Certain Songs #970: Loretta Lynn (feat. Jack White) – “Portland, Oregon”

August 22, 2017 by Jim Connelly

Album: Van Lear Rose
Year: 2004

I’ll admit it: in 2004, when Van Lear Rose came out, I only had a vague knowledge of Loretta Lynn’s music. I mean, obviously, I knew that she’d been a Country superstar in the 1970s, and that Sissy Spacek had won the Oscar for Best Actress playing her in Coal Miner’s Daughter.

On the other hand, I completely knew who Jack White was, as The White Stripes were probably at the peak of both their popularity and their powers, and I was interested in Van Lear Rose because it was his first(?) extracirrcular project outside of the peculiar constraints he’d previously set on the music made.