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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's so cold in Alaska..., 4 Oct 2007
Lou Reed's masterpiece. Even taking The Velvet Underground into account, this is the best work that Reed has produced. Love, loss, wanting, hate, disgust - it's all here and more in the sorry story of 'Jim & Caroline' (it's a concept album). Theatrical in parts and suicidal in others it is a haunting listen. Highlights include the title track, and the whole of 'Side 2' (the last four tracks).
Oh, and the children crying on 'The Kids' - it depends which story you believe about how Bob Ezrin got his children to cry for their 'mommy'. He either told them that she had left them or that she had died. Whatever he said it got the desired effect.
This (re)remastered version is, thankfully, free of any unnecessary 'bonus' tracks.
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9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reissue of 1973's dark masterpiece, 1 Jul 2007
Originally intended to be a double LP, like No Other by Gene Clark, record company intervention ensured that this remained a single LP. This was the record that Lou Reed, with producer Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper/Pink Floyd), laboured over, and an LP that Reed appears to have invested most in. Reed has returned to a few songs in live performances, the odd track turning up on live albums, and now in 2007, he has toured Berlin across Europe with a set directed by Julian Schnabel. Berlin was the follow-up to the Bowie/Ronson-assisted Transformer (1972), which is the perfect LP to listen to as a teen, and was essentially a glam take on the climes of Reed's earlier, funny work with the Velvet Underground. Berlin is more adult and got a vicious critical response, sending Reed off into odd climes, from the sarcastic Transformer-pop of Sally Can't Dance, to the live LP Rock N Roll Animal, to the unforgiving Metal Machine Music. Berlin's failure would throw Reed completely, he wouldn't get a pleasant critical response until 1989's New York - despite the fact Coney Island Baby, The Bells, and The Blue Mask were fine records. The background to Berlin is possibly best highlighted by the hilarious encounters between Reed and the late Lester Bangs in the collection Psychotic Reactions & Carburettor Dung, as well as a Reed chapter shortly after Berlin in the recently reissued The Dark Stuff by Nick Kent.
I was loaned this LP by a decadent friend, who was also into stuff like Marc Almond, Scott Walker and Billy Mackenzie, in 1990, coming to it after Transformer threw me a little, but it's a record that grows, and to tell you the truth, I'd rather listen to this than Transformer. Berlin has been alluded to a few times, from Marc & the Mambas cover of Caroline Says II to Reed performing Berlin in the Wings of Desire-sequel Faraway (So Close!), or to the song Oh Jim by Gay Dad, which was not a cover but a reference. Berlin might sound to some people as a bloated, OTT, slighly ridiculous record - it certainly doesn't pull any punches, and predicts similarly extreme records like Dog Man Star and Torment and Toreros - though it is quite tuneful compared to records by Reed's former partners in crime - Cale's Music for a New Society and Nico's The Marble Index.
Reed was going for an overall concept, all 10 songs are a cycle of 49 minutes, intended to be like a novel or movie, something he returned to with New York, Songs for Drella, and Magic and Loss. Caroline might be Nico, and Jim might be Lou; or maybe this was something to do with Reed's recent divorce? Maybe it was a fictional take on some real lives...or vice versa? Whatever...a stellar cast of musicians accompany Reed and Ezrin, including Jack Bruce, Steve Hunter, Tony Levin, Dick Wagner, Blue Weaver, BJ Wilson and Steve Winwood. Reed hadn't been to Berlin at the time, but the allusion to that city of decadence (then known as West Berlin), or its earlier Weimar incarnation had a resonance. Bowie and Iggy would tap into Berlin later on, and this record seems to have been of influence.
Berlin is a great album, I don't really want to single out one track, since they are intended to work together, and are more effective if listened to in that way. In these times when people only download the few tracks they immediatly like from an LP, this is something that matters. Some of the music is almost a bit proggy, not that far from early Genesis or Peter Gabriel - especially 'Men of Good Fortune.' The first 'Caroline Says' is a string driven joy, which seems quite upbeat with the refrain, "...but of course I thought I could take it all!" The mood is tempered by the dirgey 'How Do You Think It Feels', with almost sitar guitar and an allusion to the lyrics of 'Beginning to See the Light' by the Velvets.
The centre of the LP has to be 'Oh Jim', which opens with rythms that sound like something from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, before shifting through styles, a sleazy jazz sound that predicts 'Street Hassle', and a wonderful acoustic section towards the end. The best known song here is 'Caroline Says II', which is a reworking of 'Stephanie Says' by The Velvets (& also a relative of 'Candy Says'), and has a similar autobiographical quality to Reed's life as the later 'Kill Your Sons.' The Dark Stuff has Cale suggesting that Reed but his fist through a window at a young age, leading to the ECT alluded to in 'Kill Your Sons.' This song sounds utterly sublime, the feel is gorgeous as the chorus drifts in "...but she's not afraid to die/All of her friends call her Alaska/When she takes speed, they laugh and ask her: What is in her mind?" This song extends on the territory of Reed's popular 'Perfect Day' too, I feel - is there anything as wonderful as the song's climax, "It's so cold in Alaska..."?
Reed had told stories in song before, examples including the sleazy Querelle-territory of 'Sister Ray', the sinister 'Murder Mystery', and the Cale-vocal 'The Gift', a hilarious gothic take on unrequited love and 50s kids. Berlin was a complete LP of this stuff, the latter section the point where the narrative completely takes over, the epic 'The Kids' is just under 8 minutes and takes in Caroline losing her kids, including the infamous sequence of Ezrin's kids crying for their mummy, after allegedly being locked in a cupboard and told their mother wasn't coming back! Chilling stuff when heard on here, it's freaked out a few people I've known, and is even a bit Blair Witch Project! Though a friend laughed at the line "the Welshman in India", which must be a Cale reference - I guess he thought it was odd coming from an NY soul like Reed?
'The Bed' is the ground zero here, an acoustic driven piece that sounds like an acoustic troubadour singing from the scene of a suicide, the acoustic guitar held above the pale corpse of late Caroline. This is as dark as 'Dress Rehearsal Rag' by Leonard Cohen and not that far from the slightly deranged world of Oar by Alexander 'Skip' Spence. But there is redemption, of sorts, with the closing 'Sad Song', another track I'm sure Reed attempted to nail before? A classical feel, and a flute sound not far from several Mercury Rev records, it is a beautiful conclusion to this dark record - parts of the melody recalls 'Satellite of Love', though with spaced odd prog-guitar soloing, chiming piano, and a choir section. You wonder where Reed would have gone had Berlin been acclaimed? Though the prettiness of the music is undercut with the most quoted line, "Somebody else would have broken both her arms"!
It's great to have a remastered version of Berlin, since my old mid price cd dates back to 1989/1990 - though I hope a CD/DVD is issued of the current Berlin tour, since not everyone can make it to these acclaimed shows! Berlin is probably Reed's masterpiece, his solo career has sometimes be unsatisfying, though at least prolific. I think it's his best record, though there are some other greats alluded to above. Berlin is one of those albums you'll either get or not, it sounds pretty great here today...even if it never makes those samey old Top 100 albums of all time!
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7 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reissue of 1973's masterpiece , 1 Jul 2007
Lou Reed is a controversial one, his work following glam rock crossover Transformer (1972) being celebrated by some and relegated by others. 1989's New York seemed to be enjoyed by the critics, but ol' Lou seems to divide critics and listeners alike, some declaring albums like The Blue Mask, The Bells, Magic and Loss, Set the Twilight Reeling, Ecstasy, Coney Island Baby and (even!) Sally Can't Dance to be great works, as others object wildly. I guess pretty much everyone is in agreeememnt on The Raven though? Berlin, and its later reaction, Metal Machine Music, are something else though - so, here we are, in Berlin again - odd that people have raved over Reed's tour of Berlin directed by Julian Schnabel, while completely ignoring his recent Enoesque ambient LP!
The story of Berlin can be found in Reed's relationship with Nico, critics like Lester Bangs (who had many an encounter with Reed - see Psychotic Reactions & Carburettor Dung - as well as one chapter in Nick Kent's recently reissued The Dark Stuff) seemed to think this was just cruel. Reed's recent divorce may have been a catalyst, or perhaps he had viewed Transformer as a more commercial refinement of aspects of the Velvets - and now back to something more artistic. Maybe Lou considered some works "entertainments" and others more serious, like Graham Greene? Berlin falls into the latter group, like Gene Clark's No Other, it appears to have been intended to be a double LP that the record company nixed. Reed with producer Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd) assembled a vast cast of supporting musicians including Steve Winwood, Blue Weaver & Jack Bruce and set about turning Reed's aural novel or musical film of the life of Caroline and Jim. I have the old CD reissue, and it sounds terrible compared to this - there are no extra tracks, just a remastered CD in a shiny paper sleeve with nice photos and lyrics in the booklet. So...well worth getting if you already have it...and I can't say I've listened to it since something like 1997/1998 when I cut out certain unhealthy albums like The Holy Bible and Dog Man Star...but boy, Berlin stands up. It probably is grumpy old Lou's masterpiece and one to file neatly alongside John Cale's Paris 1919 and Nico's Desertshore.
& these days, when people like to download the tracks they immediatly like to their MP3 player of choice, it's nice to be reminded that this is a very complete album. More complex and gruesome songs like Oh Jim, The Bed and The Kids probably didn't appeal on initial listening - though are probably my favourite now. I came to this LP with knowledge of a few tracks on the Retro compilation of the late 80s and Marc & the Mambas's cover of Caroline Says II (aka Caroline Says It- according to my ancient tape of it!). It should be noted that bits of Berlin did come out before - the title track was performed in Paris with Cale and Nico and featured on Lou's eponymous debut LP, while a trawl through bonus track/compilationville regarding the Velvets finds earlier versions of the songs that became Caroline Says II (Stephanie Says), Oh Jim (Oh Gin)and Sad Song. & How Do You Think It Feels takes its title from the closing refrain of Beginning To See the Light. So, the idea that all these songs came at the same time as one complete piece is a bit of a white lie - Reed and Ezrin did fashion all 10 songs into one cohesive whole though...
Since Berlin is a complete work, it seems churlish to offer a track-by-track analysis - this is one of those records, like Baader Meinhof or Jehovahkill or Los Angeles or Alice or The First Born is Dead or [insert suggestion here], that works as a definite whole and should be listened to in one 50-odd minute session. I do have favourites though, Caroline Says II will always be a joy with those lines, "she's not afraid to die/All of her friends call her Alaska/When she takes speed/They laugh and ask her, "What is in her mind?" - a complete joy. There is a Cale comment on Lou's difficult teenage years, ECT (alluded to in Kill Your Sons) and putting his fist through a window pane - a lyric that recurs in Caroline Says II, so Berlin is partly about Lou as it is Nico, or Caroline and Jim...
I always felt that Caroline Says I is a pretty good idea of this album, if you want one track that gets the slightly bombastic, highly literate and mildly proggy album - it's all here, though it's a bit joyful, which probably doesn't capture the feel of the title track or wrist slitters like The Bed and The Kids. Oh well...I think the latter half of the LP is probably its strongest part, Oh Jim starts off with an odd rhythm that predicts a record like My Life in the Bush of Ghosts before demented jazz comes in, and finally a gorgeous stripped lone guitar and vocal. Perhaps that's the song with everything in? The Kids is the one that will scare many, I once played it to a female I knew and she said it reminded her of the Blair Witch Project (which had just come out) - the rumour is that Ezrin or Reed locked Ezrin's kids in a cupboard, told them that their mother wasn't coming home and recorded the crying and screaming. This is funny and cruel and, if true, I hope they get a royalty payment for performance. The real low has to be The Bed, a cold take on a suicide - the Perfect Day-expansion of Sad Song is one that is very welcome thereafter...
Berlin stiffed, or at least threw Lou off kilter after the relative pop success of Transformer. The rest of the 70s would be quite confused, from sarcastic dumb pop in Transformer mode (Sally Can't Dance - though Kill Your Sons is brilliant), the FU that was Metal Machine Music, the neglected The Bells and albums that were decidely hit and miss - Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle, Rock and Roll Animal. It's nice that Mr Reed is revisiting it, I do hope that a DVD/CD set comes out with that show on, particularly as it didn't venture much into the UK and the closest I got was an episode of BBC2's The Culture Show. A fine reissue of an album that should now be declared a masterpiece, and with that lovely bit of trivia that Reed hadn't been to (West)Berlin at the time. Berlin, of course, a state of mind - Bowie and Iggy and everyone else would follow in the years after...
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