Berlin＜完全生産限定盤＞

1973年発売 ルー・リードの歴史的名盤『Berlin』(ベルリン)をモービル・フィデリティ社のSACDハイブリッド盤で復刻

元ヴェルヴェット・アンダーグラウンドのメンバーであるルー・リードの3枚目のソロ作品『ベルリン』。退廃の都市ベルリンを舞台に主人公と娼婦キャロラインが織り成す悲恋を描いた一大コンセプト・アルバムにして稀代の名盤。
アリス・クーパーとの仕事で知られその後彼とも名作の数々をつくりあげる名匠、ボブ・エズリンがプロデュースを担当。ロック界有数のストーリーテラーとしての面目躍如たる堂々の作品。母国アメリカよりもイギリス/ヨーロッパで大きな成功を収め、英チャートの7位を記録している。
今回、モービル・フィデリティ社のSACDハイブリッド盤で復刻。

Transformer and "Walk on the Wild Side" were both major hits in 1972, to the surprise of both Lou Reed and the music industry, and with Reed suddenly a hot commodity, he used his newly won clout to make the most ambitious album of his career, Berlin. Berlin was the musical equivalent of a drug-addled kid set loose in a candy store; the album's songs, which form a loose story line about a doomed romance between two chemically fueled bohemians, were fleshed out with a huge, boomy production (Bob Ezrin at his most grandiose) and arrangements overloaded with guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and any other kitchen sink that was handy (the session band included Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Aynsley Dunbar, and Tony Levin). And while Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and Ezrin approached Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick. This all seemed a bit much for an artist who made such superb use of the two-guitars/bass/drums lineup with the Velvet Underground, especially since Reed doesn't even play electric guitar on the album; the sheer size of Berlin ultimately overpowers both Reed and his material. But if Berlin is largely a failure of ambition, that sets it apart from the vast majority of Reed's lesser works; Lou's vocals are both precise and impassioned, and though a few of the songs are little more than sketches, the best -- "How Do You Think It Feels," "Oh, Jim," "The Kids," and "Sad Song" -- are powerful, bitter stuff. It's hard not to be impressed by Berlin, given the sheer scope of the project, but while it earns an A for effort, the actual execution merits more of a B-. ~ Mark Deming