The Velvet Forum

Cameo Role wrote:I think if he was to use his power to acquire people like Tom Verlaine to play guitar for his band among other musicians that would jump at t he chance now that their egos have been deflated by maturity, he could put on some of the greatest shows of his career.

But has Lou's ego been deflated by maturity? That's always been the problem with his bands, he's never been easy to work with. Would someone of Verlaine's calibre bother with him? Think how he treated his own Velvet Underground during the reunion.

Cameo Role and Chance - both of you made some really worthwhile points. Wow. I'll be thinking on this one today.....

Do we have anything other than Bockris's biog to go by to describe how Lou screwed over the other Velvets during the reunion? If so, I'd like to check it out. The Bockris book coulda been great, but his holier-than-thou descriptions of Lou have forced me to take his "facts" w/ a grain of salt.

Maybe it's not about Lou's ego or his maturity. Maybe he's just a moody and crabby personality. And probably a picky perfectionist - they can be such bastards, although do create the best art, of course.

By the way, what did Bockris mean by Lou "screwed over" the other Velvets? Emotionally, financially, rights, or...??

I imagine Lou probably made the most off of the tour, because his was the biggest name attatched and his exwife was managing the whole thing, but I heard (may have been from Bockris, natch) that Sterling and Mo made in the low six digits from the reunion, so the didn't do too badly.
That Bockris bio was eight different kinds of shady. Someone on the Lou yahoogroup said that they saw him on "People's Court" getting sued. Sorry I missed that. When the meat of your book relies on the testimony of someone's college girlfriend (don't get me started on that weirdo) you know your writing career's got problems.
The Strokes backing Lou? Hmmmm.... that might be kinda cool, seeing that the Strokes liften their entire career from "Loaded" and various Beach Boys albums. Good luck trying to convince Julian Casablancas that he isn't actually Lou Reed incarnate.

sars wrote:The Strokes backing Lou? Hmmmm.... that might be kinda cool, seeing that the Strokes liften their entire career from "Loaded" and various Beach Boys albums. Good luck trying to convince Julian Casablancas that he isn't actually Lou Reed incarnate.

Hmmm...that's one I just have to say "huh?" to. Considering the scales and chords are quite a bit more complicated than anything on Loaded, I'd be interested in the specifics of your argument. Hell, everything is derivative of something else, but "Lou Reed incarnate?!" All Julian sings/writes about is girls!

And where does the biggest single from their last album fit onto Loaded? 12:51 would fit better on The Cars' "Candy-O" LP.

Sorry, but I don't see any plagiarism here. An influence? Sure, no doubt about that. But to say either Strokes album is ANYTHING like Loaded is a fantasy. Modern Age? Is This It? 12:51? Reptilia? Modern Girls and Old Fashioned Men? NYC Cops? Not one of 'em is anything like the songs on Loaded.

Is Viglione around?!

I don't think the Strokes are bad, I just think if they're gonna make two albums they should adopt more than one song to make variations on. And you gotta admit, Casablanca's singing style is totally liften from Lou.

Putting in my 4 kopeks, I think Julian's singing style is similar to Lou's, yet different. Lou, especially early going, had a very sweet, light and emotional voice. Stephanie Says, Sunday Morning, Jesus, etc....

Julian on the other hand hasn't shown he can do any of that. Then again, he has never written a soft song. He pushes his voice to the limits, but really doesnt have the expressiveness that Lou once had. However, Julian doesn't deadpan like Lou has for much of the last 25 years. To see Julian in concert is fantastic though. I'm waiting for him to get out of the studio and tour again so I can catch show #3!

mg196 wrote:Do we have anything other than Bockris's biog to go by to describe how Lou screwed over the other Velvets during the reunion? If so, I'd like to check it out. The Bockris book coulda been great, but his holier-than-thou descriptions of Lou have forced me to take his "facts" w/ a grain of salt.

"What's Welsh for Zen" By John Cale

"what's welsh..." killed my respect for John Cale. I respect him for his music, but Loooooooooord, whadda tightass in life. The whole thing is jab after jab after jab at Lou. He barely mentions Sterling and Moe, which really kind of irked me. They could have been nobody at all, so I don't know if Cale can really take a high horse in the "Lou thinks poorly of everyone else" parade. I mean, if Sterl wasn't DEAD he probably wouldn't have gotten those two extra sentences of mention.
But it was cowritten by Bockris, so maybe I'm taking it out on the wrong person.
But I dig that "slow dazzle."