The Musicgoer: Lou Reed's Berlin Live At St. Ann's Warehouse

LOU REED
Berlin Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse
(Matador)
**** (out of 5)

Lou Reed’s 1973 concept album Berlin is often regarded as the most, for want of a better word, bombastic work of his career. That’s partly on account of its grim plot (lovers Caroline and Jim lead a squalid junkie existence in Berlin, the cops take their kids away, then Caroline kills herself) and partly due to Reed’s use of horns, strings, and a choir instead of his usual stripped-down arrangements for guitar/bass/drums. But I’ve always been struck more by the economy of Reed’s lyrics, his ability to sum up his characters’ wasted lives simply by repeating the phrase “sad song” over and over again.

This deluxe live version of Berlin, staged in 2006 for Julian Schnabel’s recent concert film, lacks the venom of the original album — when Reed sings the line from “Oh Jim” about “looking through the eyes of hate,” that state of mind feels more like a memory than something he connects to today. But the band (conducted by guitarist Steve Hunter, who played on the original album) is full of pep, Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) contributes an ethereal encore version of “Candy Says,” and the massive choral climax to “Sad Song” is as goosebumpily magnificent as ever.