Lou Reed - Blue Mask, Bells, New Sensations, Live in ITALY - Flere titler - Vinylplade - 1. aftryk - 1979

Yes, you have Transformer. And Street Hassle, New York, Berlin and Rock ‘n roll animal. But Lou Reed released far more gems. On offer some of these diamonds, some featuring guitarwonder Robert Quine, some very hard to find.

They are from the early eighties, when Reed was quite productive, in the studio as well as on stage. More than before his guitarplaying took centre stage. And he got a friend, a partner: Quine.

The Bells (’79, 9th solo) is a German product. Reed recorded it in Berlin (where his friends Bowie and Iggy would go too). The studio was built in the middle of nowhere, the band slept there too so ‘there was a lot of drinking Johnny Walker Black Label ‘. Reed wanted to capture then spontaneity of the moment, most songs are one take, the lyrics all improvised on the spot.
Technically it was a disappointment. Reed used binaural technique, the mike’s are places like ears. It sounded wonderfull according to Lou, ‘if done right’ and that was not the case. Musically he incorporated jazz, Don Cherry is playing. But the record company was not thrilled, honcho clive Davis suggested he would keep working at it.

Blue Mask (’82, 11th solo) was recorded around his 40th birthday, so next to the usual depravity he also wrote about settling down. It featured Robert Quine on guitar. The latter was a great fan, had followed the Velvet extensively. He recorded those shows, his tapes were released as The Quine Tapes. Being able to reproduce all Reeds solo’s got him the job.
Reed and Quine were a perfect match. Rhythm- and solo guitar blended like never before. No mistaking who is who: Reed is on the right speaker, Quine exclusively on the left. Also Quines guitar had a different tuning. The songs were never rehearsed, it took one or two takes. No instrumental overdubs, but all vocals were afterwards added. Many consider it one of Reeds finest.

But the friendship with Quine had a lot to endure. Both got named by Rolling Stone in the top-100-guitarplayers list. Was Lou jealous? Why did he erase most of Quine’s guitar on follow-up Legendary hearts? And this without telling. Robert was deeply shocked when he got a tape from the album. But eventuality his hard feelings softened; he joined Lou on his world tour.
The Italian concerts of this tour were recorded for a double live-album (’84). The settings were spectacular: the Arena of Verona and the Circus Maximus in Rome. Strangely, most of the material was from the Velvet-days. The album first was only released in Germasny, the UK and Japan. Much later, in 1996, it got a different sleeve and was renamed to ‘Live in concert. Mind you: the one of offer is the rare German one! Note the title, Italy, not concerts...

As New Sensations (‘84, 13th) reached the stores, the friendship seemed ended. Lou and Robert had another falling out, Reed ‘forgot’ to give Quine a writing credit for the single ‘I love you Suzanne’. Lou turned his back and simply played all guitar-tracks on the album himself. It was quite successful, it charted in both the UK and USA and that had been a while. Next to Suzanne two other songs were singles: My red joystick, and High in the city. And loo, after a while Robert returned again for the tour. Not for fun, but to pay the bills, he explained later.

The albums are pristine. All first pressings, all very well kept and hardly, if ever, played. Sleeves are mint, check the pics. They all have the original (illustrated) inner sleeves. You will be surprised, and not only by the quality of the music.


The Bells
Label: Arista
Number: AB4229
Released: 1979
Condition sleeve: NM+
Condition vinyl: NM+
Included: original inner sleeve

The blue mask
Label: RCA
Number: PL 14221
Released: 1982
Condition sleeve: NM+
Condition vinyl: NM+
Included: original inner sleeve

New sensations
Label: RCA
Number: PL 84998
Released: 1984
Condition sleeve: NM
Condition vinyl: NM+
Included: original inner sleeve

Live in Italy
Label: RCA
Number: PL 89156
Format: double album gatefold
Released: 1984
Condition sleeve: NM+
Condition vinyl: NM+