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Topic: E9: From "Berlin" by Lou Reed |
Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 4 Apr 2015 12:14 pm |
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The second twin guitar break on “Sad Song."
The album “Berlin†is one of Lou’s masterpieces, along with “Transformer,†and “Loaded†when he was with the Velvet Underground. And who could forget the Steve Hunter/Dick Wagner intro to “Sweet Jane†on the live “Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal“ album, or the outtro to “Oh Jim†on the subsequent “Lou Reed Live†release?
Lou wasn’t much of a guitar player and his vocal range was limited, to put it kindly. But he could write a song and he knew how to surround himself with the best producers, arrangers and musicians to get the most out of what he had. As Wikipedia notes, “Musically, ‘Berlin’ differs greatly from the bulk of Reed's work, due to the use of heavy orchestral arrangements, horns, and top session musicians. Instrumentally, Reed himself only contributes acoustic guitar.â€
Top session musicians indeed: Jack Bruce, Stevie Winwood, the Brecker Brothers, B.J. Wilson of Procol Harum and Aynsley Dunbar all appear, as does the dynamic duo of Hunter and Wagner.
Stylistically, the songs range from cocktail lounge, to stripped-down acoustic, to orchestral, to hard rock. Thematically, Lou presents a rough tale of “... a doomed couple, and addresses themes of drug use, prostitution, depression, domestic violence, and suicide.†In other words, the story and lyrics can be gut-wrenching but the music soars.
In particular, “Sad Song†starts with a gentle flute riff, soon accompanied by woodwinds, strings, then horns, and finally Lou’s vulnerable, conversational vocal enters. The song takes on a harder edge as it progresses to the chorus which ends with twin electric guitars taking the solo. At the end of the song there are even several heavily reverbed steel-like glisses on the guitar.
* See Karen Hunter's comments about Dick Wagner's role in the "Berlin" album in a post below.
Click HERE for the audio.
Last edited by Frank Freniere on 6 Apr 2015 3:37 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Steve Pawlak
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2015 4:59 pm
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Frank
You tab the coolest stuff |
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Steve Geis
From:
Fayetteville, GA USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2015 5:24 pm
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| Aaaaah! "Sweet Jane"!!!! Such a great chord progression with such neat timing. Back in the late 70's and early 80's I played with a bass player that sang Sweet Jane almost everynight. I could never sing it and play the riff at the same time. And I'm envious of anyone that can! I too love your tabs, Frank. Thanks so much for the special tunes you tab. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2015 9:23 am Received via email
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| Karen Hunter wrote: |
Hello Bob
My name is Karen Hunter, I am married to guitar player Steve Hunter.
I do regular Google searches to see if Steve has any reviews. This morning your forum popped up with a post by Frank Freniere, in it he states that Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner played the duel guitar parts on' Sad Song’ from ‘Berlin’ .
I wanted to let him know that Steve did both those parts, Dick Wagner did very little on that album, mostly background vocals.
As I did not need to join your forum I am writing in the hope that you could pass on this information, there is such confusion over who did what on a lot of these classic tracks and whenever possible I try to put the record straight.
Many thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Karen Hunter
http://www.stevehunter.com |
Last edited by b0b on 5 Apr 2015 9:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Frank Freniere
From:
The First Coast
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Posted 5 Apr 2015 11:59 am Re: Received via email
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| b0b wrote: |
| Karen Hunter wrote: |
Hello Bob
My name is Karen Hunter, I am married to guitar player Steve Hunter.
I do regular Google searches to see if Steve has any reviews. This morning your forum popped up with a post by Frank Freniere, in it he states that Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner played the duel guitar parts on' Sad Song’ from ‘Berlin’ .
I wanted to let him know that Steve did both those parts, Dick Wagner did very little on that album, mostly background vocals.
As I did not need to join your forum I am writing in the hope that you could pass on this information, there is such confusion over who did what on a lot of these classic tracks and whenever possible I try to put the record straight.
Many thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Karen Hunter
http://www.stevehunter.com |
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Thanks, b0b. Now THAT blows my mind...
I've edited my original post to reflect Karen Hunter's comments.
| b0b wrote: |
I love the way you're using the top two strings and the D lever.  |
Thanks, again, b0b. It all flows back to the 'Big E' ... |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 5 Apr 2015 11:04 pm
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He played the acoustic on "Solsbury Hill". I always liked it. Amazing things that happen on the Forum!
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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