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Rating: THE REVIEW
There are albums that, beyond being beautiful and particularly inspired, become indelibly linked to episodes in one's life, marking that specific historical period. It also happened to me with this album, lent to me in June 1995 by my colleague/friend Gianni A. We had been working together for a couple of years in an advertising agency in Milan, and we were very different from each other: he was 29, slim, with a deep face, beautiful, silent with a tormented soul, while I was 30, hefty, friendly, sunny, and a joker. Very different but attracted to each other because of this.
He gave me this album, recommending that I listen to it well since, for him, it was a milestone in rock. I expected to encounter yet another rock'n'roll digression, but already on the first listen, I felt a different atmosphere here, dark, melancholic, and slightly naïve.
"Berlin" begins mournfully with a distant reverb of voices, end-of-party sounds, a tired piano, and Lou's whisper sliding over a melancholic and decadent blues. With "Lady Day", the tempo becomes more assertive, even though the remnants of a pompous and slightly prog arrangement remain, with symphonic breaks that necessarily hark back to those years (it's an album from '73!). "Men Of Good Fortune" enters Reed's great classics. A sustained rock, although confined to a latent tension that never erupts into liberating screams or powerful sounds. Similarly, "Caroline Says", another classic, proceeds with a rock style without ever veering into extreme solutions. But it's the delicate and "sick" sound of songs like "How Do You Think It Feels" or "Oh Jim", arranged with excessively orchestral solutions, that gives this album its unmistakably "resigned and nihilistic" flavor. "Caroline Says II" reprises the song acoustically, but it's the following "The Kids" that marks (in my opinion) one of the most powerful and indelible emotional passages (with the tail end sung by crying children?) of the entire CD. The subsequent "The Bed" also reaffirms the album as a masterpiece of "restrained" rock, in many aspects acoustic, suffered, and "felt" like few others in this almost dreamy and hallucinated placement that is perceived in almost all the tracks. It closes with "Sad Song", another great classic of ours, arranged with an orchestra, trombones, and violins in a high-intensity Grand Finale.
Prophetic words, those closing this album, which, years later, still remind me of that horrible year: in July 1995, Gianni was admitted to Niguarda in Milan with a reserved diagnosis that was later communicated to us as pancreatic cancer. In September, I met Gianni again at his home (he had been discharged by then), and he was unrecognizable: he weighed 35 kg, bald due to chemotherapy but strangely euphoric and full of "zest for life." He asked me to organize a trip to Jamaica (he who was always very reluctant to speak!) and other things, and he asked me to keep this album as a gift. It was the last thing he said to me. On October 29 of that year, Gianni died from metastasis, and I was stunned, shocked, and shaken for weeks and weeks. I was left with a couple of his books, a book he wrote of transcribed "dreams," and this CD, which, beyond anything else, will always be a unique and unforgettable album for me for this and other reasons. An album I cannot separate from the figure of my friend/colleague, a great, deep, and complex person who disappeared "too" young to trust in a just and merciful God who allows such injustices.
**This review is dedicated to Simona Cella (his girlfriend at the time)
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Summary by Bot
This review reflects on Lou Reed's 1973 album Berlin, highlighting its melancholic, orchestral rock style and dark atmosphere. The reviewer shares a deep personal connection to the album through a friendship marked by loss. The album is praised as a restrained rock masterpiece with unforgettable emotional impact, tied to memories of a dear friend who passed away. It remains a unique and powerful listening experience.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Lou Reed
Lou Reed (born Lewis Allan Reed, March 2, 1942 – October 27, 2013) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and founding member of the Velvet Underground. He had a long solo career noted for albums such as Transformer, Berlin and New York and for experimental works including Metal Machine Music.71 Reviews
Other reviews
By hans
"He could have recorded 'Transformer 2-transformer 3' and other versions of 'Walk on the wild side.' But instead, he decided to undertake the most courageous act ever seen in pop history."
"Berlin. The absolute masterpiece (among the many) of the New York author deserves a place among the greatest records of the 20th century."
By luca reed
Berlin is a record that wounds, shocks, destroys.
An unattainable album that forces the listener to immerse into the coils of a gloomy atmosphere.
By AR (Anonima Recensori)
Here Reed strips himself bare, poetically, cruel towards himself.
"I am the water-boy" captures the excessive emotionality and vulnerability conveyed throughout the album.
By carlo cimmino
One evening I put on "Berlin." It was raining outside. I floated in a shabby and dusty leather armchair and in the dark, I listened in reverent silence, when I understood.
I had too many problems and she didn’t want to be involved. She was tired of being with someone who only played the role of the loser.
By Meco
The main problem is Lou Reed himself, with his monotonous, clinical, and borderline unmelodic singing.
Essentially, the album sounds bad, and not because the arrangements are intentionally sparse, but because it often lacks a fundamental blend between the various components.
