keepers 6
keeper avg .600
The stylistic detours of this album threw me a bit. Not all of them succeed equally, but the opening self-titled**** torch song is satisfyingly subtle, and the subsequent cabaret crusher "Lady Day"**** works surprisingly well. "How Do You Think It Feels" and "Oh, Jim" also get the big band treatment, the latter grounded with menacing toms and bass. Elsewhere "Caroline Says I"**** (a rewrite of "Stephanie Says" from VU) seems closer to Reed's general style despite the Bob Ezrin's orchestration, which sounds suspiciously close to his work with Kiss. "Caroline Says II" is even more familiar, a ballad similar to "Candy Says". The only true low point of the album is "Men Of Good Fortune" (dating from 1966 with the V.U.), a plodding dirge with obvious lyrics and farting guitars tarted up with a tinkling piano. The album's powerful closing song cycle starts with the infamous "The Kids"****, featuring producer Bob Ezrin's children crying and shouting, juxtaposed with some pretty bitter lyrics. "The Bed"**** is a haunting eulogy for the mother in "The Kids", now dead from suicide. The theme continues in the epic "Sad Song"****, part Aerosmith ballad, part full-on Disney. It flirts with all kinds of musical disaster before a long fade-out chorus that manages to be beautiful and rocking at the same time.
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