The Velvet Forum

Hello.

I'm new here and have a few queries.

Apologies if these get asked every day:

1. Will there be any more in the so-called Bootleg Series?
2. Are Lou Reed's solo albums all being reissued in deluxe editions? If so, when?
3. What's Growing Up In Public like? One of the few I haven't heard.
4. What's Rock ?n? Roll Heart like? Likewise, never heard this.

The Bells wrote:Hello.

I'm new here and have a few queries.

Apologies if these get asked every day:

1. Will there be any more in the so-called Bootleg Series?
2. Are Lou Reed's solo albums all being reissued in deluxe editions? If so, when?
3. What's Growing Up In Public like? One of the few I haven't heard.
4. What's Rock ?n? Roll Heart like? Likewise, never heard this.

Hi The Bells

1) Probably not in our lifetimes
2) It happens once in a while
3) It's very good
4) It's very good

Re: point 2, I often see Lou Reed CDs fairly cheap and wonder if it's worth buying them now or not. If there are definite reissue plans on the way, I will wait for the 'upgrades'.

Why did the Boot series stop?

Hi,

Hopefully the Bootleg series will continue at some time. There is a lot of material out there which the band members have access to.

There are many reasons why these may not ever get released though including some band members wanting them to be released while some don't.

As to the Lou Reed CDs I'd have to say "buy them"!! The previous extended editions have been anniversary releases so unless your willing to wait 20 odd years for each one it's not worth waiting !

I suppose there is the slight chance that we may get a "proper" box set release from Lou Reed. As ggod as Between Though..... was, I don't think much of it was exactly new material for a lot of fans.

Any reason why Lou seems reluctant to let out unreleased archive studio material? He seems happy enough with live albums.

Not sure to be honest!

He does seem to try to encourage his "rebel" image and I suppose this is just another way of doing that. It may also be that he, like many other musicians, believe that it was exactly as it should have been when it was first released.

It's a shame that we so often have to wait for the musicians to die before we get to hear the unreleased stuff...the re releases are often then left to people who have no idea what the hell they are doing so they decide to stick a couple demos and a remix on the CD instead of releasing a more considered set.

I'd just like to add that I think it's a buncha BS that the bootleg series stopped. Just let the fans have the fucking music fer cryin' out loud. ...'Stupid people...

Doctor Bob wrote: 3) It's very good
4) It's very good

So how do they compare to The Bells, Blue Mask etc? Good bits or good throughout? Which is the better of the two?

The Bootleg Series turned out to be a funny choice of title for the "series" seeing as the Quine tapes had never been bootlegged in the first place and no bootleg material has yet been officially released under this title...

Growing Up In Public (1980) is in a way the odd one out of Lou's discography, or one of them... it's very different to most of the other albums in that it's very energetically played by the musicians and you can hear they had really been working together as a band. There's a lot of little hooks in the band's playing that no way Lou could have come up with. In short I feel it mixes a kind of new waveish energy ("My Old Man") with a little progressive touches ("So Alone") in the arrangements. "Love Is Here To Stay" and "Think It Over" come to mind as standout tracks.

Rock And Roll Heart (1976) is one of my favourite albums although it's one I didn't think much of at first. It really grew on me with time. Mostly the songwriting is nowhere near the level of most of his '70s output, most of the album feels like the songs were guickly thrown together but nevertheless there's a cool easy "good time music, good time rock and roll" feel to the album. So, not one to sit around and brood over like Berlin, but a good one to play in the background. Standout tracks for me would be the title track, "Senselessly Cruel", "Vicious Circle" and "Temporary Thing".

I'd recommend both albums!

Although Growing Up In Public has its moments, overall I find it tedious and WAY too wordy. Where Lou once wrote very tight lyrics that easily conveyed a spectrum of emotion, he now used lots of words. LOTS OF WORDS. Not one of his best albums. Many people feel that was more an album for HIM than the fans. B-/C+

Rock & Roll Heart is pretty good. Very few weak points, and "Senselessly Cruel" is an oft-overlooked gem. B+