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The Blue Mask

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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Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Lou Reed, The Blue Mask

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.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #976: Lou Reed – “The Gun”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Lou Reed, The Blue Mask, The Gun

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.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #975: Lou Reed – “Underneath The Bottle”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Lou Reed, The Blue Mask, Underneath The Bottle

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2424: Spiritualized – “The Twelve Steps”
  • Certain Songs #2423: Spiritualized – “Take Your Time (Royal Albert Hall, Oct 10, 1997)”
  • Certain Songs #2422: Spiritualized – “Walkin’ With Jesus (Royal Albert Hall Oct 10, 1997)”
  • Certain Songs #2421: Spiritualized – “Medication (Royal Albert Hall, Oct 10, 1997)”
  • Certain Songs #2420: Spiritualized – “Electric Mainline (Royal Albert Hall, Oct 10, 1997)”

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