S'l'lil’lllN Silt
Lou Reed: the glory years. . .
'l‘here‘s a l'urther irony in the tact tltat. shortly hel'ore Reed showed he could still make records that weren‘t meditations on the thetne oi mortal- ity'. the Reaper snatched away Vely'et l'ndergrotmd gttitarist Sterling Morrison. It had heen Morrison. the ttl'cltiy‘ist ot' the \v'ely‘ets. who proy'idcd the early rehearsal tapes that tnade the recent hosed set so illuminating; Morrison who ltad crammed the experiences ot college prol‘cs- sor. tugboat skipper and rock ‘n‘ roll cult hero into his 53 years; Morrison to whom 'liri/r'g/il’s ‘l-‘inish l.ine‘ m a tale oi two competitiy e hroth— crs -- is dedicated.
'l‘he t‘rictions hetween Reed and Morrison. and Reed and (‘ale. ran as deep as those ol‘ l'eud- ing sihlings. 'l‘he united l‘ront the hattd presented to the world tor the length (it their three—week liuropean tour was huilt on sttch t'ragile ititltltltt-
‘They [the Trainspotting team] sounded like good people to me. I don’t let my songs iust appear in anything. It’s wrong it people think they’re just flung around.’
tioits that. hel‘ore they had eyen played their tirst date. intery'iews were heing conducted hy‘ the separate teams ol‘ (‘ale/Morrison and Reed/ ’i‘llk‘hL‘h
Still. their second night iit lidinhurgh was a tritmiphant return. with a palpahle l‘eeling ot' eycnt. ‘Scottish audiences are always wonder- l‘ttl.‘ Reed hlurts ottt in a quite ttnsolicitcd testi- monial. ’l‘here tnttst haye heen a tremendous l'eeling ol‘ warmth coming l‘rom the audiences on that tour. I suggest. ‘l'm. I don‘t know ahout that.’ he replies.
liyen hct'ore Morrison‘s death. rel‘ormation til ‘13 looked unlikely eyer to he repeated. When they came oil the road. the tension exploded into an all-out lay war hetween Reed and (‘ale oy'er control ol‘ the hand. You could tell it was serious w hen cy'en the latnously loyal Maureen 'l‘ucker round hersell' standing up against Reed tor the sake oi the hand. All MTV I'll/t/ttggt't/ and a potentially lttc‘l'tlliVC l'S tour were scrapped. lndelinitely. 'l‘he \elyet l'nderground were dead again.
Reed's tone shilts from the merely disinter- ested to the taintly' menacing oy er the question ot whether he was glad to hay e played with the
old crew again. eycn it it did all end tip iit had lt‘c‘llllg.
‘I wouldn‘t say it ended in had t'ecling. .\'ot for me. .May he you‘re speaking tor other people. htit you’re certainly not speaking l'or me 1111' you.”
\\'ho would dare'.’ .-\nd. anyway. w hateyer hittcrncss was stirred up. their roots run so deep that it no longer seems t'ar—t'etched that the three sttryiying \clyets might play together itt l'uture. In January. Reed. (ale and luckcr marked their induction into the Rock ’n‘ Roll Hall ot’ lame hy playing a t\yt\»-d.t_\—ttld Reed song tor Morrison entitled last \igltt l Said (ioodhy'e To My liricnd’. Reed is non-committal ahout the l'ttture. httt douht that The \'elyet l‘nderground is gone lot'ey er.
'I just think that without Sterling there‘s no \clyet l'nderground.‘ he says. ‘liy‘ery'one has their own pt'oiects. We played together at the Rock ‘n‘ Roll Hall oi l‘ame. so you ney'er know. do ytttl'."
lt gay c some people pause l'or thought to see
he‘s in no
these t‘ot'incr archiconoclasts hcitig welcomed iitto such an institution and accepting the honour \tl graciously.
"l‘hat’s something l'yc noticed ahout inter-
LOU REED FEATURE
. and the golden years
y'iew'et‘s in particular.‘ Reed det'lects. "l‘hey' seem to he very hostile ahottt the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall ot' Fame. So I don‘t . . . have all that much to say'.‘
How ahottt 'li'ut'ns/m[ling‘.’ Seen that'.’ ‘No. I had a song on it. yes. what’s the question ahout that'.’ Did I know that lite." he drawls. sarcasti- cally. .lttst that it's had similar criticism to you in the past: that rather than just take the easy dope- moy'ie option ol' recycling the Just Say .\'o' message. they opted to make a more adventur- ous. less clear-cut statement.
'l was sent the credits ol' the person who'd
directed it. what they‘d done hel‘ore. what they were trying to do and why they wanted to use my song. and they sounded like good people to me.’ he says. ‘ln answer to an implied quay-111211. ldon‘t let my songs’iust appear in anything. lt's wrong it‘ people think they”re_iust lilting around.’ There are a t'ew minutes let‘t t'or those postponed questions. But. you know. I don't think Lou's heart‘s in it. [.011R(’(‘(/[l/(l_\‘.\' (I/(ls'g'utt'Rny‘u/('12111‘1’1'11111Hult Friday It) May: Step/ten Show [tic/1112' (if [.1111 lt’r't't/fi'um ill/11' ii'/t'('1 li'ttt‘s.‘ llitr/iu/s1111'1ury‘ “Mi/)7.published/trPurl/1111: l’)‘1‘\.y 111 [30.
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