R.I.P. Lou Reed

As a teenager I spent a lot of time exploring new music, and one of the happiest discoveries was some old Velvet Underground records in the collection of my friend’s father. I made copies to tape (I know! Terrible pirate that I was) and I listened to them over and over. I still have an enduring love of those records and of the other later works of John Cale. Though I’ve not followed Lou Reed’s career as closely in recent years, I still have fond memories of hearing him on those VU records. Listening to him sing Venus in Furs still sends shivers down my spine. You really could hear the ‘different colors made of tears’.

Here’s Lou and his band performing an amazing version of that song a few years ago.