Animal Serenade
April 14th, 2004
Nobody covers Lou Reed’s material more often than Lou Reed. It’s either a constant strive
for perfection or a contractual obligation which makes this so. In either case, the live double album,
Animal, remains a thing of mystery.
This performance, despite the title, is not to be confused with 1974’s Rock
‘N’ Roll Animal, nor 1998’s Perfect Night – Live in London.
My guess is that Reed’s seldom happy with his last achievement, leaving a constant
desire for him to make something better.
A lot can be said about the song selection alone. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Men of Good Fortune has been pulled out of the Berlin sound book during a Bush election year. The Day John Kennedy Died as well rings with a somber reverence for an America that could one day be—post 9/11. But politics aren’t really on the agenda. There’s emotion to be made. He gives a forceful reading to a rewrite of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, doing it more justice in one evening, I think, than the entire concept album of the same name released a year prior.
Despite the usual downer overtone, Reed’s not without hope and not without humor. He even jokes to the would-be guitar players in the audience during the opening number, giving advice on how to “make a career out of three chords.” Of course, it’s more complicated than that. There’s the whole legacy of songwriting that still retains its lyrical power after several decades of listening, covers, and repeat performances. Volumes could be written about the simple genius contained in the vacillating, fast and slow rhythms of Heroin. And then there’s his stellar band, a gaggle of Reed music veterans as stripped down and bare as the Velvets once were. They back him up with an oomph nonetheless.
Two surprise performances include Mike Rathke’s Revien Cherie, the only non-Reed song on the set, and an angelic incantation of Candy Says sung by Antony of Antony and the Johnsons.
While this isn’t a collection of Lou Reed hits for the casual fan, it may act as a suitable windowseat for anyone wanting know more about the past and present of New York’s premiere poet laureate.