Lou Reed
Lou Reed’s Berlin – DVD
Julian Schnabel directs this project, he of ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ film and it is based upon Mr Reed’s 1973 ‘Berlin’ album. When the record first came out, its stark production and atmosphere impressed listeners rather than endeared them ; my lasting memory is of the stunning Jack Bruce bass playing on ‘Men Of Good Fortune’, eclipsing most of his work with Cream for spot-on feel. Also of course, the players on ‘Berlin’ were out of this world, particularly guitar man Steve Hunter – a master of dynamics, he makes the work bite when it might chew.
The story of Caroline is bleak and has the divided city of Berlin as its setting – as monochrome as it gets, as a notion. Schnabel has a painter’s touch, unsurprising given his exhibitions in New York in the late Seventies.
Reed of course always has the air of a man who listens to no-one when it comes to artistic judgement. It’s a double edged sword, of course as it imparts an uncommon strength and direction to his work..but no-one tells him when he’s up his own fundament. You could say the same for Madonna or even Neil Young, but the former has no depth and the latter doesn’t always seem to connect with the deeper feelings of fellow earthlings. Reed can and does, though we don’t always like Lou’s verbal polaroids of us. We do not know what might make Lou Reed lighten up, if indeed he does. But what he has undoubted mastery of is the capacity to paint pictures and Schnabel has found a way to capture and present Reed’s muse.
This release has bonus features including an interview re the film, song lyrics and a trailer ; it can be bought as DVD or BluRay. The only parallel to Reed’s encapsulation of the dark end of the human condition might lie somewhere between Hogarth and Hieronymous Bosch. And they didn’t have electric guitars
Pete Sargeant www.fairhearing.co.uk
