Lou Reed

Berlin: Live At St. Ann's Warehouse

Matador/Beggar's Banquet

Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

09/26/2008 10:58am

I'm a big fan of both The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed's solo work. But Berlin, Reed's third solo album, has never ranked among my favourites. The depressing lyrics loosely tell a story of a couple of addicts, and the instrumentation was more grandiose than what we'd previously heard from the man. Berlin was released in 1973 and finally performed live in its entirety over four days at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, N.Y. in December 2006. Director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) captured the shows on film, and this disc acts as a companion to the DVD and a coffee table book that will be sold separately. Reed is joined by a seven-piece orchestra, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and guests including Reed's longtime bassist Fernando Saunders and vocalists Sharon Jones and Antony Hegarty. In addition to Berlin's 10 tracks, a three-song encore of "Candy Says" (with Reed and Hegarty alternating vocals), "Rock Minuet" and "Sweet Jane" is included to close the album. This is an ambitious project, but you're probably better off checking out the film version.