LOU REED: "Sally Can't Dance"

Original released on LP RCA Victor CPL1-0611

(US, August 1974)

On the live album "Rock N Roll Animal", Lou Reed showed he'd learned how to give his audience what they wanted, and do it well. "Sally Can't Dance", on the other hand, was the polar opposite, a remarkably cynical album that pandered to the lowest common denominator of the market that had bought "Transformer" and "Rock N Roll Animal", and didn't even do it with much flair. Reed's performances here are limited to vocals, except for some sloppy acoustic guitar on one track (this from the man who helped reinvent electric guitar with the Velvet Underground), and the sodden, overblown arrangements sink most of these tunes before they get past the first chorus; much of the time, Reed sounds like an afterthought on his own album. And while Reed's best songwriting ranks with the best rock of his generation, "Sally Can't Dance" is cluttered with throwaways that reach for the boho decadence of "Transformer" and come up empty (with special recognition going to the bizarre and truly puzzling "Animal Language"). Side two does offer two worthwhile songs: "Kill Your Sons," a powerful and deeply personal remembrance of Reed's bouts with shock treatment and brutal psychotherapy, which he would revisit in a much stronger performance on 1984's "Live in Italy", and "Billy," a witty and surprisingly poignant remembrance of an old friend and how their paths in life diverged. But otherwise, "Sally Can't Dance" has the distinction of being the worst studio album of Reed's career; Metal Machine Music may have been a lot more annoying, but at least he was trying on that one. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)

LOU REED LIVE!

Original released on LP RCA Victor APL1-0472

(US, February 1974)

In 1974, after the commercial disaster of his album "Berlin", Lou Reed needed a hit, and "Rock N' Roll Animal" was a rare display of commercial acumen on his part, just the right album at just the right time. Recorded in concert with Reed's crack road band at the peak of their form, "Rock N' Roll Animal" offered a set of his most anthemic songs (most dating from his days with the Velvet Underground) in arrangements that presented his lean, effective melodies and street-level lyrics in their most user-friendly form (or at least as user friendly as an album with a song called "Heroin" can get). Early-'70s arena rock bombast is often the order of the day, but guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter use their six-string muscle to lift these songs up, not weigh them down, and with Reed's passionate but controlled vocals riding over the top, "Sweet Jane," "White Light/White Heat," and "Rock 'n' Roll" finally sound like the radio hits they always should have been. Reed would rarely sound this commercial again, but "Rock N' Roll Animal" proves he could please a crowd when he had to. (in AllMusic)

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The GODFATHER Trilogy

Rato Records gives you the opportunity to collect all the original soundtrack albums from the greatest trilogy ever made in the History of Film, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. So hurry to download all the three parts (1972, 1974 and 1990) and enjoy, once more, the magnificent score signed by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola. It's about two hours of listening (31:38 + 38:36 + 54:24), that probably will give you the desire of seeing again the entire and fabulous saga of the Corleone family (in that case, prepare yourself for more 9 hours of pure cinema delight).

(VER COMENTÁRIO SOBRE A TRILOGIA AQUI)

MIKE OLDFIELD: "Hergest Ridge"

Original released on LP Virgin V2013

(UK 1974, August 28)

Released as another lengthy composition, "Hergest Ridge" was the album that followed Mike Oldfield's momentous "Tubular Bells" release, with many of the same instrumental elements and methods employed throughout its two sections. Because of the time of its release, "Hergest Ridge" was overshadowed by the effects of Oldfield's first album for Virgin, but even so he manages to invoke some interesting patches of music by using instruments like the glockenspiel, sleigh bells, the Lowrey organ, oboes, and a variety of mandolins and guitars to maintain the same type of diversity as "Tubular Bells". Symphonic throughout most of the album's two parts, the highlight of "Hergest Ridge" is Oldfield's use of 90 multi-tracked guitars clustered together to create one of the most unique sounds ever to surface on his albums. Actually, "Hergest Ridge" entered the British charts in the number one spot in the fall of 1974, but "Tubular Bells" finally took its place only three weeks later. The album was highly regarded in the U.K. upon its release and it continued Oldfield's creative pace, proving that the genius put forth on his claim-to-fame album would indeed have some effect on works to come. (Mike DeGagne in AllMusic)

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ESPERANTO: "Danse Macabre"

Original released on LP A&M SP 3624

(US, 1974)

In a Curved Airish manner, Esperanto were truly good but there's no Sonja Kristina galloping with sexy ways and tales of masturbation, ghosts and queens. Musically they are thrilling with speddy violins and waltzing cellos yet the male vocals are only interesting (Keith Christmas is unconvincingly melancholic in "Castle") and Brigette Du Doit's wordless voice should be more explored on other tracks or used as backing vocals. The high points are the instrumental opener "The Journey" on amazing ten minutes of hard chamber european rock; "The Duel", a lovely madness with the charming female voice singing "sorry, sorry" and the stupendous "The Prisioner" adding the most prodigious violin theme of the album. "The Cloister" is quite funny with frantic prog-rock mixed with gregorian chants; by the other side, "The Decision" is a little pedestrian. The closer "Danse Macabre" (a Saint-Saens cover and the title-track) is boisterous but brilliant reminding Darryl Way's Wolf, the later project of Curved Air's fiddler. (in RateYourMusic)

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