Recently I watched a documentary, The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy & Lou 1971-1973, about David Bowie's Glam/Glitter zenith during his Ziggy Stardust (1972) period and the influence he had (or lack thereof) on the careers of Lou Reed and Iggy Pop.
Several things struck me in watching the documentary, one of which was how totally Lou Reed had surrendered after leaving the Velvet Underground in August 1970. He had gone back home to live with his parents on Long Island, and he was working as a typist at his father's tax accounting company.
It made me want to go back and listen to the last Velvet's album, Loaded.
Reed leaves the band right after recording Loaded the summer of 1970. The album is released November of that year; by that time I imagine Reed is already sleeping in his boyhood bed.
Loaded was one of the first albums I acquired in college after I purchased a new Marantz stereo system. My friend and musical mentor Oliver no doubt insisted that I have a copy. Oliver was a champion of "Sweet Jane"; he thought it was one of the most perfect rock 'n' roll songs ever recorded. I was in agreement. I turned my buddies onto it. They were still in high school back in Southern Oregon. They became mesmerized; taught themselves how to play guitar by listening to it; and eventually formed their own band while still in high school, going so far as warming up for Shockabilly when they rolled through town.
Velvet Underground had been purged by MGM Records after The Velvet Underground (1969). Atlantic Records signed the band to its Cotillion subsidiary with the directive that the Velvets produce a record "loaded with hits"; hence, the satirical title and album cover. But, based on the impact that Loaded had on me and my friends, I would have to say it is an accurate title.
What I have always felt is amazing about the record is that there are all these powerful, flawlessly constructed songs that make up an album that is shot through with a fin de siècle sadness and failure, the sadness of a consciousness standing outside of and commenting on its own corporeal husk.
Just listen to "I Found a Reason" or "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'." Time has run its course on the Hippies 1960s social revolution. With Loaded's repeated send up of country rock ("Lonesome Cowboy Bill," "Train Round the Bend"), Reed saw the end of the Hippie dream several years before the Hippies began filling stadiums to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. The target might not have been Southern Man rock, more likely the San Francisco Sound of the Grateful Dead. But when you hear Doug Yule beautifully sing "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'/You Ain't Got Nuthin' At All" you know the end has come.
No comments:
Post a Comment