Sold Date: February 2, 2015
Start Date: January 20, 2015
Final Price: $20.00 (AUD)
Seller Feedback: 5382
Buyer Feedback: 10

Lou Reed s/t 1st LP 1972 Australia Velvet Underground Wakeman Steve Howe

Original Australian pressing on RCA

Lou Reed is the debut solo album by musician Lou Reed, released in 1972 by RCA Records two years after he left The Velvet Underground. The album comprises eight new recordings of then-unreleased Velvet Underground songs, plus two new songs, "Going Down" and "Berlin" (the latter was re-recorded by Reed as the title track for his 1973 album Berlin).

With increasing interest in the Velvet Underground, Reed's debut album was highly anticipated, but the result was a commercial and critical disappointment, peaking at only number 189 on the Billboard 200.

After quitting the Velvet Underground in August 1970, Reed took a job at his father's tax accounting firm as a typist, by his own account earning $40 a week. In 1971, he signed a recording contract with RCA Records and recorded his first solo album in London with top session musicians including Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman, members of the progressive rock group Yes. The album, Lou Reed, contained smoothly produced versions of unreleased Velvet Underground songs, some of which had originally been recorded by the Velvets for Loaded but shelved (see the Peel Slowly and See box set). This first solo album was overlooked by most pop music critics and it did not sell well, although music critic Stephen Holden, in Rolling Stone, called it an "almost perfect album. . . . which embodied the spirit of the Velvets." Holden describes Reed's unique qualities, in both his voice and lyrics, in the album:

    Reed's voice hasn't changed much since the early days. Outrageously unmusical, it combines the sass of Jagger and the mockery of early Dylan, but is lower-pitched than either. It is a voice so incapable of bullshit that it makes even an artsy arrangement work by turning the whole thing into a joyous travesty. Just as arresting as Reed's voice are his lyrics, which combine a New York street punk sensibility and rock song clichés with a powerful poetic gift.

A1         I Can't Stand It              2:34

A2         Going Down    2:53

A3         Walk And Talk It         3:38

A4         Lisa Says          5:29

A5         Berlin 5:13

B1         I Love You        2:16

B2         Wild Child        4:39

B3         Love Makes You Feel               3:09

B4         Ride Into The Sun       3:13

B5         Ocean 5:04

CONDITION:

SLEEVE: EX— Trace of ring wear; sample stamp rear (see pic)

RECORD: EX++