Rock 'n' Roll Animal

There were two live ones, which-

Right, Rock 'n' Roll Animal or whatever it was called, yeah

... which did very, very well.

Yes.

Um, and it was an exercise in basically just taking ...

I spoke to Steve Katz, the producer, and he said they took a melange of all the current styles that, that, a bit of Elton John sounding stuff, a bit of Alice Cooper sounding stuff, a bit of that kind of light funk that was all the rage back then, and it just did extremely well.

And, and the Rock 'n' Roll Animal, if you talk to Americans, so many American people heard the, the version of Sweet Jane on the radio, the live version, which is obviously absolutely, to me, a fantastic version.

Um, and so Lou Reed was on a roll, but he had a terrible contract which had been signed around the time of his, his horribly produced solo record.

So I think we'll have a good mix here.

So my number 10 is Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Animal from 1974.

And by this stage, he had become quite a star in his own right as a solo artist and the Velvet Underground had dissolved.

So this was recorded in New York at the Academy of Music, and it's actually only 40 minutes and has five songs.

Never left my rotation.

Uh, I think, uh, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Lou Reed.

I think, uh-

Oh

Eddie and I still talk about that.

Kenny would listen to like Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Animal.

Like he'll go, okay, I got it.

Like one time, what do you mean you got it? Yeah, I got it.

However, Reed himself hated it, mostly because of how passive and uninvolved he was in the production of the record.

Critics also hated it, mostly calling it a lazy, complacent attempt at conventional boogie rock, which was in stark contrast to the rave reviews that Rock and Roll Animal, his previous live album, was lavished with.

In retrospect, the negative reviews are way off base.

Yes, it has that thick, sleazy 1970s sound with lots of layered saxophones, but that adds to its novelty in Reed's catalog rather than dates it.

And I do feel that it was a backlash to this kind of music.

For me, when I was a young man, I just thought that punk was birthed out of Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Animals.

I loved that album so much.

And I thought, yes, this is punk.

Yeah.

He, he also, he, so like, you know, that rock and roll animal record is a live record.

He, him and Steve Hunter were Lou Reed's touring guitar player too.

So he, he played out a lot.

So

here's where it gets crazy.

Through producer Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner ends up working with Lou Reed on the album Berlin in 1973, which is a great Lou Reed record, right? And the following year on Rock and Roll Animal, which I've already stated three times, is the best live record ever produced.

You know, I've never heard