Theories, rants, etc.
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“I WANT TO MATURE LIKE A WARRIOR,”
wrote Lou Reed in a letter to the New York Times, October 26, 2010. Ostensibly, his subject was Tai Chi, the martial art that put him “in touch with the invisible power of – yes – the universe.” The same ambition, though, powered the creative arc of Reed’s long and extraordinar y musical career: one that historically found grace and profundity amidst scenes of untrammelled squalor. He may have left what he termed “a study in reckless excess” behind him, but Reed carried for ward an understanding that a life of extremes could be lived with meaning. He matured like a warrior who could remember the value of his formative skir mishes.
As, of course, can we. This month sees a glut of significant Lou activity. The Art Of The Straight Line: My Tai Chi, the book project Reed plotted before his death in 2013, arrives in the shops, along with a deluxe vinyl reupholstering of the fourth Velvet Underground album, Loaded. There’s a significant anniversar y looming, too – the 50th birthday of his magisterial Berlin, that we celebrate in this packed new issue of MOJO. A perfect time, we also felt, to navigate the boulevards and back alleys of his catalogue, and surface with a Top 50 list of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground songs. Outraged as I am that Metal Machine Music, A-1 – A-4 only made it to Number 47? Your e-mails, please, to the usual address…