Search - Lou Reed :: Legendary Hearts

Reed at his best

Pieter | Johannesburg | 07/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a much leaner album than its predecessor Blue Mask, utilizing traditional 4-chord rock with hummable tunes to explore similar themes. The title track deals with love and its complications as does Bottoming Out with its dark edges hinting at frustration and a longing to escape: "I am that bike at that fat pothole/Beyond that underpass."



Alcoholism surfaces in this track and again in The Last Shot: "When you quit you quit/But you always wish that/You knew it was your last shot." Make Up Mind is a lovely, swaying ballad with a hypnotic chorus surfacing towards the end, while Turn Out The Light has Reed's echoic vocal over a moody guitar riff, like a miniature snatch of Street Hassle.



But the highlight of the album is Betrayed, a chilling vignette from the bedroom: "Three of us lie in this bed/Night of infamy/Her father's in her head/And quick she turns and slaps my face ..."



Rooftop Garden ends the album on a more optimistic note with its description of domestic bliss - it is High In The City (from New Sensations) without the threat of violence. I don't think Legendary Hearts did well when released in the early 1980s, but in retrospect it is a very good album and a pointer to his well-received New York classic later that decade."

Great album, but why is the re-mastering so poor?

Italo | 01/24/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing to add on the quality of the songs, they are great, 5-Star. But since its release there was always the hope that one day a re-master would be created with Robert Quine's guitar as appropriatedly represented as on "Blue Mask". Instead, the "re-master" sounds almost identical to the original master, just generally louder, whith Quine's guitar hardly audible (rumours saying that in 82 Reed tuned it down after recording, since he could not stand Quine's guitar play being so clearly superior to his own...don't know if this is true but the sound is weak indeed). What a contrast to the recent fantastic re-master of "Coney Island Baby", where Reed himself apparently was in charge of the re-mastering. This seems not to be the case with this album, making it a disappointing experience."

Legendary Hearts

W. Nalle | Los Angeles | 11/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Legendary Hearts was part of a post-70's creative rejuvenation for Lou Reed that started with The Blue Mask, continued with Legendary Hearts and would keep going with New Sensations. Legendary Hearts may be as close to a country album as Lou Reed has put out - not in terms of twang, but in the way the album presents Lou and his songs simply and straight ahead, with no theatrics. The band is great (including the late Robert Quine on one guitar), and the songs are handled with a beautiful understatement and musicianship. The lyrics are as hard-hitting as on any Lou Reed album (especially "Betrayed"), but they're also quirky, personal, and, well, unique to Lou Reed. "The Last Shot" is a rather harrowing drinking song, "Pow Wow" is a goofball take on love, "Bottoming Out" is a motorcyle song regarding a child bride and rage... the album's a true "singer songwriter" work, without pretension. In some ways it's my favorite Lou Reed album.

A note on the Japanese "Paper Sleeve Collection" import - the CD package is a minature version of the way the original album was sold, which is nice if you bought the original way back when, as I did, but no longer have the LP."