Lou Reed
Set The Twilight Reeling

THE REVIEW

After the masterpiece "New York" (1989), the good "Songs For Drella" (1991), the very distinctive "Magic and Loss" (1992), Lou Reed is preparing for a new work. A new work that doesn’t tell stories, doesn't talk about cities, doesn’t deal with experiments, but this time old Lou tells us about himself, his ideas, his love (indeed, the album is dedicated to his new partner Laurie Anderson, remember: that half-dazed violinist of the New Wave?).

The album opens with the very distorted "Egg Cream", which deals with Lou's childhood passion for eggnog; it continues with "NYC Man", perhaps one of the most beautiful songs on the album, in which the artist talks about himself; then come two rock songs, "Finish Line", a sweet-toned ballad, and the more nervous "Trade In". Here comes "Hang on to your emotions", an acoustic, romantic, and sweet ballad, featuring Laurie Anderson. Now it’s time for Lou to reveal his ideas, and he does so with the rage and aggression of "Sex with your parents": a long indictment against the Republicans, ps92, and all the American crap derived from these things. The album heads towards its conclusion: "Hooky Wooky" is a very danceable and amusing rock track, "The Proposition", "Adventurer", and the distorted "Riptide" continue along the line of the previous ballads, and lead with pleasure to the beautiful final chapter. "Set the Twilight Reeling" is a sweet Valentine’s note, obviously in Lou's style: the ballad starts acoustically, and so the ending begins, when a sudden electric guitar assault captures the attention and raises the tension, and with this power, the song heads towards the real conclusion, as does the album.

Finally, the album is very pleasant and unveils an unknown Lou Reed until now, the band backing him is great, as well as the arrangements which are marked by splendid bass lines, frequent use of acoustic guitars, and electric guitars that make themselves heard with their powerful distortions. A Lou Reed of this type, despite being unusual, knows how to give us great pleasures anyway.