Lou Reed - Blue Mask
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CD Details
Artist: Lou ReedEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-02-09
Music Label: RCA
Soundtracks:
- My House
- Women
- Underneath The Bottle
- The Gun
- The Blue Mask
- Average Guy
- The Heroine
- Waves Of Fear
- The Day John Kennedy Died
- Heavenly Arms
Music reviews of Blue Mask
Music Review: A classic, if not for 1966 - 1973
Rating: 3 Stars
I am amazed at the amount of praise this good CD gets. After The VU to Berlin in 1973, a great Lou Reed album now seems to be one where half the songs are strong, a decent album is one with 2 great songs, and a lousy album is consistently bad.
The Blue Mask has 3 stand-out tracks: "My House", with evocative lyrics, a melodic chord progression and quite nimble singing for the usually monotone Lou. "Waves of Fear" is a cousin to "Kill Yr Sons". Same kind of chords & menace, with Lou really belting/bellowing out the words. "Heavenly Arms" finishes the album in style with impassioned singing, a good melody & soulful female backing vocals. Robert Quine adds a lot. A fine guitarist whose reputation is making noise, but here Quine is usually very clear & melodic. (Obviously this CD was a big influence on Matthew Sweet & especially Lloyd Cole who used Quine extensively in the 90's.)
That being said, there are some serious turkeys on this album that would have fit right in on any of Lou's 20 bad records. "The Blue Mask" is just a tuneless rant over droning chords & feedback that goes nowhere. Monotonous & unmelodic. This would have been thrown off of a VU or Sonic Youth album.
"Average Guy" is sung in his Transformer voice, but is otherwise awful. Lou is sometimes a genius, sometimes lame, but he is never average. He sounds like he is trying way too hard on this, and doesn't believe it.
"The Day John Kennedy Died" could have been great, but it concentrates on Lou not JFK, and the corny title hook ruins it.
I'm glad Lou loved "Women" at this point (as opposed to men who dress like women) but if Michael Bolton sang this song, it would be universally hated.
Yes, The Blue Mask is Lou Reed's best work of the '80's, but most artists don't have the legacy of Velvet Underground with Nico, Loaded, Transformer & Berlin to compete with. Early genius is a b*tch!
Suspend your expectations and you will enjoy The Blue Mask.
Description of Blue Mask
Lou's 1982 RCA album, his first after returning to the labelfrom Arista. Dedicated to his long-time inspiration, poetDelmore Schwartz, the album features guitarist Robert Quineand 10 tracks, including 'My House', 'Women' and 'The DayJohn Kennedy Died'.Alternative Rock CDs
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