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Rating: The "loop" function on a media player will never prove more useful than with this album: recorded in 1983, after the excellent performance of "The Blue Mask," it has the particularity of presenting us with a very clean sound characterized by hypnotic and repetitive refrains (but not boring for this reason), with the exception of the beautiful final ballads "Home of the Brave" and "Rooftop Garden", paced by the great bass lines of Fernando Saunders, in my opinion one of the best interpreters of this essential instrument.
I could never tire of listening to (looping, indeed) songs like "Pow Wow", the melodious and moving "Bottoming Out", "Turn Out the Light" with its sparse yet tireless bass and drum line resulting in the best track on the album, the boozy but lucidly played "The Last Shot" echoing back to the period of "Growing Up in Public," "Martial Law" paved with powerful electric guitar screams, and the very sweet namesake song that gives this work its title, in some ways disorienting for the most fervent fans of the star, who will find themselves catapulted into the 80s without regretting this too much, as, although the sound influences of that musical period are clearly predominant in this work, the exquisite craftsmanship of the tracks and arrangements will not make anyone regret purchasing such a well-packaged product (I admit buying it initially blindly just for the cover!), where only the disappointing "Don't Talk to Me About Work" will make you press the "skip" button on your trusty stereo.
4 and a half stars.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Legendary Hearts (03:29)
Legendary hearts
tearing up apart
with stories of their love
their great transcendent loves
While we stand here and fight
and lose another night
of legendary love
Legendary loves
haunt me in my sleep
promises to keep
I never should have made
I can't live up to this
I'm good for just a kiss
not legendary love
Romeo, oh, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo
he's in a car or at a bar
or churning his blood with an impure drug
He's in the past and seemingly lost forever
He worked hard at being good
but his basic soul was stained not pure
and when he took his bow
no audience was clapping
Legendary hearts
tear us all apart
make our emotions bleed
crying out in need
No legendary love
is coming from above
it's in this room right now
And you've got to fight
to make what's right
you've got to fight
to make what's right
You've got to fight
to make what's right
you've got to fight to keep your legendary love
04 Martial Law (03:56)
I've declared a truce, so stop your fighting
the marshall is in town
I won't put up with no big mouth yapping
at least not while I'm around
This is my friend Ace, he's from the 8th precinct
nothing goes on that he don't know
And we've been send cause your arguments
have been going on for too long
And before one of you hurts the other one of you
I'm declaring martial law
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
The jails are filled with people like you
you oughta listen to your diddy-wah-diddy
What's a girl like you doing with that lamp
you better drop it down on the floor
And son, that isn't very smart
kicking a hole in that door
Hey, Ace will you take a look at this place
and get those neighbors out of the hall
I'm declaring martial law
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
'cause I'm the marshall in the city
And if you stand away, I've got something to say
that I might even help you
Keep your hands to yourself and keep your big mouth shut
don't you touch nobody with hate-hate-hate-hate
And if all you've got is poison in your mouth
make sure that you don't speak
It's 3:30 in the early morning
don't punch, don't scratch, don't bite
Try not to take the garbage of the day
any place but outside
Now me and Mr. Ace are gonna leave this place
and this fighting's gonna end
And if we're called back, I'm gonna knock you flat
and stack you end to end
Ah, I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city, ooohhh
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
'cause I'm the marshall in the city
08 Betrayed (03:13)
Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed
Justice taught her confidence
her mother was like steel
her cousins, they're all convicts
she alone rose above that wheel
But a motorcyclist no matter how good
is slave to the oncoming truck
and the poison of her father was
her most pitiless luck
Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed
Three of us lie in this bed
night of infamy
one of us lies on our back
her father's in her head
And quick she turns and slaps my face
and with her eyes open wide she screams
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you
but she's looking right past me
Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says that she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed
And I lie down betrayed
I lie down betrayed
09 Bottoming Out (03:43)
I'm cruising fast on a motorcycle
down this winding country road
And I pass the gravel on the foot of the hill
where last week I fell off
There's still some oil by the old elm tree
and a dead squirrel that I hit
But if I hadn't left, I would have struck you dead
so I took a ride instead
Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out
My doctor says, she hopes I know
how lucky I can be
after all it wasn't my blood
mixed in the dirt that night
But this violent rage, turned inward
can not be helped by drink
And we must really examine this and I say
I need another drink
Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out
I'm tearing down Route 80 east
the sun's on my right side
I'm drunk, but my vision's good
and I think of my child bride
And on the left in shadows
I see something that makes me laugh
I aim that bike at the fat pothole
beyond that underpass
Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out
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Other reviews
By jackpizzello
Lou Reed, just detoxed from alcohol and, especially, heroin, crafts an album with sweet tones and definitely more inspired than other albums of the '70s.
It's not a fantastic album, but placed in the '80s context, it is definitely a little jewel that old Lou managed to craft and produce with the art of the finest goldsmith.
