Pernod time wrote: I also know what I'm talking about technical wise as I can play around 50 of his songs off by heart, I play in a Velvets cover band
Yeah ditto me too on both accounts Pernod so I guess we're at a stalemate on that one 8)
I think Lou is actually incredibly
underrated as a guitar player, sure he doesn't have much in the way of lightning chops or advanced technique
a la Steve Vai or some clown like that. However he has unbelievable instinct not just in songwriting but in his soloing. I haven't seen him improvise on stage particularly in the last several years but in the nineties he was playing some phenomenal lead guitar. A few choice examples follow:
Hey Mr Rain, Velvet Redux 1993-Reed and Cale duel away on guitar and viola to awesome effect
I'm Sticking with You, Velvet Redux 1993-Just check out that stunning guitar outro, most people assume that was Sterling playing because its so effortless and perfect, but in fact it is Lou-most guitar players would give their left testicle to come up with a passage like that. I expect it is his love of guitar players like James Burton that makes that kind of playing possible
Forever Changed, Songs for Drella 1990-On this entire album actually Lou's guitar solos and guitar fills are completely exquisite, utterly tasteful and incredibly instinctive. And these aren't just studio overdubs of dubious significance, he played the hell out of all those songs live on the short tour of Songs for Drella, particularly at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is captured in all its glory on the commercially available video performance of that album
The only time period where I think most of your comments hold particularly true is that period in the 1980s when Robert Quine was getting Lou to dust off his guitar and start playing more on his records and in his live shows, rather than relying on flamboyant session men as he had done through most of the 70's. And at that point Reed was understandably somewhat shaky and tentative while getting back into the groove of playing. That was all gone by 1989 though.
The comment about the augmented chord was made 35 years ago as an off hand comment, Lou knows full well that his songs are mostly written with 3 or 4 simple chords, and he celebrates that (just listen to the introductory chat on Animal Serenade Live 2003). But that is a slightly different issue, it is to do with songwriting rather than guitar playing.
And in interview etc, I think Lou tends to be obsessed with a lot of audiophile technical gadgetry etc which I just think of as his audiophile musings rather than particularly connected to guitar playing as such.
