Lou Reed – Berlin (1973)

I suspect this was bought well over 20 years ago in a closing Our Price store (the last of which closed in 2003).

In a closing down sale, I picked up about 20 CDs without boxes/covers for £1 each, and this one has a very low resolution home made cover, which I'm tempted to upgrade!

Berlin is Reed's third solo album, and it's a tale of unrelenting gloom, a series of songs following the cycle of drug abuse and violence in Jim and Caroline's doomed relationship. Rolling Stone, at the time, dismissed the album as a 'disaster'. I'm not sure I've listened to it before now pulling it off the shelves, but my first listen suggests that was harsh.

Two weeks later, after a holiday (cycling in the Baltic States, wonderful, thank you for asking), I finally get round to listening again, and while it's not an easy listen, it is a rewarding one.

Opening track Berlin, sets the scene with a sound collage leading into a powerful piano led song, before a few solid Reed pieces, both grand band songs like Lady Day, and more minimal pieces such as Men Of Good Fortune, Caroline Says I, and the strongest of the lot How Do You Think It Feels?

There's a bit of a dull section before the poignant and painful listen, Kids, ending with children crying for their mother, followed by the slow, sparse, sad Bed. After this, final track Sad Song sounds positively upbeat and positive, a grand ending.

It's not as immediate as some other Reed albums, but it does deliver and reward repeat listening, which allows the narrative to develop and reach the listener.

Link to full album

4* - definitely an album which grows with further listening, even if much of it isn't an easy listen at all