Lou Reed
Coney Island Baby

THE REVIEW

In the mid-70s, Lou Reed was in a rather strange period, a sort of middle ground between the success of the “cursed rocker” persona and the madness that led him to produce that Metal Machine Music which alienated him from many within his record company, as well as among his fans. He was therefore in a period where he himself needed a change, even musically, and the change came.
Indeed, he came out with this Coney Island Baby, a light and beautiful record, although in some way it anticipates the “stupid music” of Rock’n’Roll Heart that would soon follow.
It is possible that he did it also to at least partially compensate RCA for the terrible failure of Metal Machine Music, but it doesn’t matter, any reason for such a record is good.

The lightness is immediately felt in the first two tracks of the album, “Crazy Feeling” and “Charley’s Girl”, two excellent easy-listening songs, pleasantly rocked and highly catchy, music, to quote Lou, “to listen to at the bar while reading, just for enjoyment”. “She’s My Best Friend” is one of my favorite Lou Reed songs, a typically Reedian rock, with a final guitar explosion that certainly places it among his most prestigious pieces ever.
“Kicks”: if I were a director making a film about a serial killer, I couldn’t find a better soundtrack than this song, an anthem to depravation, vice, and total derailment. Lou Reed candidly confesses “I’m a gift for the women of this world”, (“A Gift”), one should ask for information from Laurie Anderson, his current partner.
Then comes the simple and straightforward rock’n’roll of “Ooohhh Baby”, with driving rhythm and guitars and Lou’s lazy and casual voice. “Nobody’s Business” is a slow piece that never particularly impressed me, while the finale “Coney Island Baby” is the Stroke of Genius, an autobiographical and effective slow song that leaves you stunned for its intensity and for the involvement with which Lou tells his story through a song, with even adolescent memories (“I wanted to play football just for the coach…”).

A record that perhaps was meant to be just a transition and instead turned out to be much more, especially in light of what happened after, and it is an album that, in the Lou Reed catalog, shines with its own light and, to this day, can be listened to with extreme pleasure.