New York

Rolling Stone - 4 Stars - Excellent - #19 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums Of The '80s" survey. (November 1989) New Musical Express (9/25/93, p.19) - Ranked #48 among the 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s. Q (5/92, p.103) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...his best since the early '70s..." Alternative Press (7/95, p.85) - Ranked #37 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...NEW YORK remains savagely contemporary, and unrelentingly raw. Open brain surgery with a grime-encrusted blade..." CMJ (1/5/04, p.26) - Ranked #18 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1989"

New York City figured so prominently in Lou Reeds music for so long that its surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches that represents the strongest, best-realized set of songs of Reeds solo career. While Reeds 1982 comeback, The Blue Mask, sometimes found him reaching for effects, New Yorks accumulated details and deft caricatures hit bulls-eye after bulls-eye for 57 minutes, and do so with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility. New York also found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about -- the devastating impact of AIDS in Halloween Parade, the vicious circle of child abuse Endless Cycle, the plight of the homeless in Xmas in February -- and even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox, Reed does so with an intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy -- like a New Yorker. And when Reed does look into his own life, its with humor and perception; Beginning of a Great Adventure is a hilarious meditation on the possibilities of parenthood, and Dime Store Mystery is a moving elegy to his former patron Andy Warhol. Reed also unveiled a new band on this set, and while guitarist Mike Rathke didnt challenge Reed the way Robert Quine did, Reed wasnt needing much prodding to play at the peak of his form, and Ron Wasserman proved Reeds superb taste in bass players had not failed him. Produced with subtle intelligence and a minimum of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Reeds solo career. ~ Mark Deming