Berlin (Lou Reed album)
| Berlin | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Lou Reed | ||||
| Released | July 1973 | |||
| Recorded | Morgan Studios, London Record Plant Studios, New York |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 49:26 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | RCA Records | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Lou Reed chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| Chicago Tribune | |
| Pitchfork Media | (9.2/10) |
Berlin is a 1973 album by Lou Reed, his third solo album and the follow-up to Transformer. In 2003, the album was ranked number 344 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time after labelling the album "a disaster" 30 years earlier.
The album is a tragic rock opera about a doomed couple, Jim and Caroline, and addresses themes of drug use, prostitution, depression, domestic violence and suicide.
"The Kids" tells of Caroline having her children taken from her by the authorities and features the sounds of children crying for their mother. The UK group the Waterboys takes its name from a line in this song.
Instrumentally, Reed plays acoustic guitar. As with Reed's previous two studio albums, Berlin re-drafts several songs that had been written and recorded previously. The title track first appeared on Reed's solo debut album, only here it is simplified, the key changed and re-arranged for solo piano. "Oh, Jim" makes use of the Velvet Underground outtake "Oh, Gin". "Caroline Says II" is a rewrite of "Stephanie Says" from VU (though the latter was not released until 1985). The Velvet Underground had also recorded an alternate demo of "Sad Song", which had much milder lyrics in its original form. "Men of Good Fortune" had also been played by the Velvets as early as 1966; an archival CD featuring live performances of the band playing at Andy Warhol's Factory provides the evidence of the song's age. The CD featuring the early performance of "Men of Good Fortune" is not for sale and can only be heard at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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