Passaic NJ 9/25/1984 - Lou Reed (1984)

ideated from: concert week: a bunch of YT concert videos I’ve saved to a playlist called “good concerts,” which is a bit deceiving since I haven’t listened to most of them.

Reed was a superstar in the 1970s and hadn’t lost the spotlight yet. This tour was supporting his recent album Legendary Hearts, and features a handful of songs from that record as well as ten years of notable solo tracks and his earlier Velvet Underground tunes.

Reed did release a commercial live album in 1984, “live in Italy”, but honestly it doesn’t have nearly the energy that this does.

I’m guessing this recording features the “house mix,” the sound settings coming straight from the board to tune the oddities of the room and not necessarily for best recording levels. Fernando Saunders’ bass is front and center, which i have no problem with. However the side effect is that Robert Quine, one of the greatest and least-known rock guitarists–sideman for Reed, Richard Hell, Matthew Sweet, John Zorn, Lloyd Cole, and others–is tragically buried in the mix.