RCA
LOU REED - The Blue Mask LP
$43.95
Highly recommended.
Quine and Reed are an absolute joy to hear interacting on this record. Lou had not been giving much attention to his guitar playing in the several years prior to this, which is a shame because he's one of the most influential and interesting guitarists of his generation, and some of the stuff he did with The Velvet Underground as an instrumentalist was truly groundbreaking. So it's great to hear him paired with a world class guitar player and letting their interplay take center stage. He also sounds reinvigorated as a songwriter after a couple of albums worth of treading water; "Waves of Fear," "Gun," the pulverizing title track and especially the gorgeous closer "Heavenly Arms" rank among his best songs.
Quine and Reed are an absolute joy to hear interacting on this record. Lou had not been giving much attention to his guitar playing in the several years prior to this, which is a shame because he's one of the most influential and interesting guitarists of his generation, and some of the stuff he did with The Velvet Underground as an instrumentalist was truly groundbreaking. So it's great to hear him paired with a world class guitar player and letting their interplay take center stage. He also sounds reinvigorated as a songwriter after a couple of albums worth of treading water; "Waves of Fear," "Gun," the pulverizing title track and especially the gorgeous closer "Heavenly Arms" rank among his best songs.
