Lou Reed once said of his live performances: "It's really like going to a concert. There's a lot coming at you and you've got to follow it....Some people don't want to be bothered with that -- it's not why they go to a 'rock 'n' roll show.'...They've got to follow it and it's got to be worth following."
Reed's newest release, Magic and Loss (Sire, 1992), is worth following. It's an inspiring requiem, written in tribute to two friends who died of cancer. The dramatic format requires that it be heard as a whole, and that is the way Reed performs it -- from start to finish, without interruption. Compelling in content, it is Lou Reed at his most demanding best.
From the "pure sound" introduction "Dorita (The Spirit)" to "Magic and Loss (The Summation)," every death-step of sickness, grief, anger, and inspiration is portrayed. The first song, "What's Good (The Thesis)," sets a toe-tapping tone with the lyrics "You loved a life others throw away nightly/...What's good?/Life's good/But not fair at all."
The "death's unfair" theme emerges repeatedly. In "Magician (Internally)": "So many things to do -- it's too early/For my life to be ending." In "No Chance (Regret)": "But your optimism made me think you really had it beat/So I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." In "Warrior King (Revenge)": "You are a violent messenger/and I'm not above your taunts." And then finally, in "Magic and Loss (The Summation)": "There's a bit of magic in everything/and then some loss to even things out."
In the 25 years Lou Reed's been around the rock-and-roll world, he's gained respect for the poetry of his music. When Musician magazine wanted to interview Vaclav Havel -- poet, playwright, dissident, and president of Czechoslovakia -- Lou Reed was selected to do it.
Reed had already released New York, a dissident's view of The City (see "The Four Horsemen and the Five Boroughs," Sojourners, July 1989). And the songs of Reed's former band, The Velvet Underground, were already widely covered by formerly banned Czechoslovakian rock-and-rollers. He was a natural for the interview.
Reed tells of the closing moments of his visit with Havel: "Bending from the waist [Havel] handed me a small black book about the size of a diary. 'These are your lyrics hand-printed and translated into Czechoslovakian. There were only 200 of them. They were very dangerous to have. People went to jail, and now you have one. Keep your fingers crossed for us'" (Musician, October 1990).
That's the kind of recognition Lou Reed deserves, even in places where it's not (yet) dangerous to follow his music.
Karen Lattea, who's been listening to Lou Reed for 20 years, is the Vice President of Human Resources for Sojourners.
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