Retro Reviews: Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby

   I decided to launch a new series to imagine myself as a critic at the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, and to rectify certain reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and Creem. This not meant to be contrarian, but to offer a more balanced perspective. This is a lesser-known album.

Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby (1976)

***1/2

Producers: Lou Reed, Godfrey Diamond

Musicians: Lou Reed, Bob Kulick, Bruce Yaw, Michael Suchorsky, Godfrey Diamond, Michael Wendroff

Songs: Crazy Feeling, Charlie’s Girl, She’s My Best Friend, Kicks, A Gift, Ooohhh Baby, Nobody’s Business, Coney Island Baby

Reviewed By Matthew Anthony Allair

    This is probably the most accessible Lou Reed album since Transformers, in contrast to the polarizing Metal Machine Music, or the concepts of Berlin, or even the showcase of the live Rock N Roll Animal, this feels like the Lou of old. While Lou’s vocal abilities are limited \, he does lean into the melodic here, and the album with its eight tracks is concise. As a Producer, Godfrey doesn’t try to emulate David Bowie, Steve Katz, or Bob Ezrin, but finds a space for Lou to be pretty informal here, Bob’s guitar work, and Bruce’s bass work finds room to keep’s Lou guitar rhythm interesting. Michael’s drumming is supportive and a far contrast from Mo Tucker’s Velvet’s days.  His melodic instincts on here nod to countless other artists, and that seems to be in contrast to what Lou has stated about pop and rock music in the past, but then again, the prior album was going to force a change.

    The warmer feeling is established with “Crazy Feeling” and lead guitar work that seems to imitate George Harrison, with background vocals and orchestral bells, has a statement of intent to pull listener, Bruce’s bass work is a standout. “Charlie’s Girl” is the closest to his Velvet Underground days, and I mean from the Doug Yuel period. “She’s My Best Friend” begins with some more open-ended chords before it shifts into familiar territory, a song about a partner who accepts the real person. The band really opens with the last half of the number, which is refreshing. “Kicks” has the misdirection of studio chatter before the lean back moods sets in, but the song acts as a kind of possible sequel to “Heroine”, but an older character who envy’s the youth’s self-destruction, or an ironic statement against such destruction. The boldness is a way to close out the first half. Michael’s free form drumming is a surprise. 

    Irony seems to be in good form with “A Gift”, is Lou playing the role of a Gigolo? It’s hard to say, but another observation to the New York street life he is all too familiar with. “Ooohhh Baby” is the most accessible nod to pop flavored Rock N Roll, with Lou’s piano, and the playful slide guitar that has a Stone’s nod, but this give’s Bob a lot of freedom, this also has some of Lou’s most narrative lyrics to be featured.  There’s the Country shuffle of “Nobody’s Business”, the background vocal’s of “Nobody’s” has the looseness of The Rolling Stones. The laid back feeling of “Coney Island Baby” has Lou in a spoken narrative mode, and it eases the listener out of the album.

    Regarding the album cover, Lou’s painted tuxedo shirt and bowler hat seems to take a surface nod to his glam dalliances. But Lou’s seems to be veering away from that mystique in the same way that Bowie has abandoned it. I am reluctant to adulate too much over Lou, The Velvet Underground as a collective was an important reset for the last half of the 60s and kept the scene more honest. Lou seems to be less interested in being provocative at the stage, maybe the burden of being a musical revolutionary has waned on him, like it did with Dylan years before. What you have is a well-played and vocally layered album, and perhaps Lou has figured out other means to paint pictures of urban life. It is one of the most romantic albums to come out of him as of yet, but the journey is worth it for the curious.