mg196
07-07-2005, 09:28 PM
Artist - Lou Reed
Title - Liquid Air
Year of Release - 1979
Record Label - Excitable Records
Genre - Rock
I practically STOLE this from an ePay seller for a measley $10. A rare piece of bootleg vinyl, this is a document of his 06/03/1979 performance at the Bottom Line in NYC. Inarguably one of the greatest live bootlegs of Lou you will ever get your hands on.
I'd rate the quality of the recording as a B+, as it is a "very good" audience recording, not soundboard or FM broadcast.
It was June of 1979 and Lou still had the VERY jazzy Everyman Band behind him (they'd been with him since about '77). I love listening to them lie low, playing just underneath the lyrics and then BAM...explode into the chorus. Fantastic musicians - especially Ellard "Moose" Boles, who is one of my personal faves. A giant linebacker of a black man who would often wear a cowboy hat, playing his bass like it was a 6-string guitar. It looked so small in his hands! Think of Karl Malone posessed by Rock and Roll.
What this recording lacks in fidelity, Lou makes up for in heart. His performance opens with a few jokes: "You hear about the Polish ballerina? She did the splits and stuck to the floor." Huh?! Throughout the concert, he is uncharacteristically emotional, pleading and crying to the audience...screaming from the top of his lungs on "Men of Good Fortune."
The highlight and emotional peak of the LP is the "Waiting for My Man/Work With Me Annie/Sexy Ways/I Wanna Be Black" medley, where Lou jumped onto the tables and sang from the audience. During the mid-late 70's, Lou often covered classic R&B and Doo-Wop songs. "Work With Me Annie" is a gem by the Midnighters that Lou makes all his own and "Sexy Ways" is a Hank Ballard & the Midnighters tune. Marty Fogel on sax plays like a motherfuc*er (a very important cog in Lou's late 70's Rock 'N' Roll machine)!! The medley will make the vinyl melt right off the TT.
There is a lot of great audience noise as well, with lots of cheering. It's enough to make you feel like you are there in the moment, but not so much as to overtake the music. Side two begins with security haggling with a woman over her camera (and a great guitar lead-in by Stuart Heinrich).
If you are a fan then get this. If you are a casual fan, there are few live recorded documents that get better than this. Sure, the sound aint perfect, but turned up loud, you'll feel like you are in a dive bar in 70's New York City with your feet sticking to the floor as you sit back and listen to a master at his peak.
"I wanna be like Martin Luther King and get my ass shot in the Spring. Lead a whole generation, too. And fuck up the Jews. I Wanna Be Black."
Classic.
Title - Liquid Air
Year of Release - 1979
Record Label - Excitable Records
Genre - Rock
I practically STOLE this from an ePay seller for a measley $10. A rare piece of bootleg vinyl, this is a document of his 06/03/1979 performance at the Bottom Line in NYC. Inarguably one of the greatest live bootlegs of Lou you will ever get your hands on.
I'd rate the quality of the recording as a B+, as it is a "very good" audience recording, not soundboard or FM broadcast.
It was June of 1979 and Lou still had the VERY jazzy Everyman Band behind him (they'd been with him since about '77). I love listening to them lie low, playing just underneath the lyrics and then BAM...explode into the chorus. Fantastic musicians - especially Ellard "Moose" Boles, who is one of my personal faves. A giant linebacker of a black man who would often wear a cowboy hat, playing his bass like it was a 6-string guitar. It looked so small in his hands! Think of Karl Malone posessed by Rock and Roll.
What this recording lacks in fidelity, Lou makes up for in heart. His performance opens with a few jokes: "You hear about the Polish ballerina? She did the splits and stuck to the floor." Huh?! Throughout the concert, he is uncharacteristically emotional, pleading and crying to the audience...screaming from the top of his lungs on "Men of Good Fortune."
The highlight and emotional peak of the LP is the "Waiting for My Man/Work With Me Annie/Sexy Ways/I Wanna Be Black" medley, where Lou jumped onto the tables and sang from the audience. During the mid-late 70's, Lou often covered classic R&B and Doo-Wop songs. "Work With Me Annie" is a gem by the Midnighters that Lou makes all his own and "Sexy Ways" is a Hank Ballard & the Midnighters tune. Marty Fogel on sax plays like a motherfuc*er (a very important cog in Lou's late 70's Rock 'N' Roll machine)!! The medley will make the vinyl melt right off the TT.
There is a lot of great audience noise as well, with lots of cheering. It's enough to make you feel like you are there in the moment, but not so much as to overtake the music. Side two begins with security haggling with a woman over her camera (and a great guitar lead-in by Stuart Heinrich).
If you are a fan then get this. If you are a casual fan, there are few live recorded documents that get better than this. Sure, the sound aint perfect, but turned up loud, you'll feel like you are in a dive bar in 70's New York City with your feet sticking to the floor as you sit back and listen to a master at his peak.
"I wanna be like Martin Luther King and get my ass shot in the Spring. Lead a whole generation, too. And fuck up the Jews. I Wanna Be Black."
Classic.