Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby

One of my copies of this pressing has a Gold Promo stamp on the back cover.

Hey man, what’s your style?

I guess mine is close to this album. It’s got a real “pour yourself a drink after work” vibe, with Lou doing these heart on sleeve songs that fall somewhere between confessional and satirical, I can never tell. And then there’s “Kicks,” which disrupts the chill vibes quite a bit.

But I wanted to talk about this pressing and recording. My copy has a small but wide scratch on one track, and the whole thing looks a little dishy and warped at the edges. But every second of this record sounds fantastic. Crystal clear and beautifully mixed: you can hear everything perfectly. Great example of those perfect sounding 70s records, and a great Lou solo album as well.

Lou Reed
Coney Island baby
RCA
1976

Its rare for Coney Island Baby, to get mentioned in the same hushed tones, as Lou's, generally, accepted seminal masterpieces, like Berlin, Transformer and New York. Coney, doesn't even seem to get a mention, amongst Lou's records, that have been sleepers, but appear, to be getting reappraised, in more recent times like Set The Twilight Reeling, The Raven, and the confessional, refreshingly honest, Ecstasy.

I think that it is fair to say that Coney Island Baby, is under appreciated, and deserves more attention, it has some incredible moments, and the title track Coney Island Baby, is as good as anything, that Lou ever recorded.

The song, Coney Island Baby, is absolutely incredible. It has a surreal, floating, out of your body quality, that is contemplative, spacey, and very relaxing. Its gorgeous, and has that priceless, waking up naturally, and happily from a really pleasant dream, feeling. Coney Island Baby, the song, is a dreamy, melodic masterpiece, its totally unique and distinctive, and unlike anything else, that I have ever heard, in my life.

The two openers on Coney, the album, are marvellous, Crazy Feeling and Charly's Girl. These tracks, are really radio friendly, enjoyable, and assessable. Did Lou even release these as singles? As far as I am aware, Lou never revisited these tunes, and that's a shame, as I think they would been real feel good, crowd pleasers, at Lou's shows.

Oh baby, is great fun, Lou really sounds as if he was enjoying himself, a throwback to the barbershop quartets, that Lou, would have seen first hand, when he was growing up. Lou stayed loyal, and remained in love with doo wop, for the rest of his life. Interestingly, John Cale, also recorded a fun, frivolous, doo wop, inspired, style track, on his live, John Cale Comes Alive record, something like Oh Oh, La La. Check it out, but back to Lou Reed, and Coney Island,

Its not all, glam pop, commercial, danceable, singalongs, on Coney however, Kicks, is a much more angular track, Lou, veers into spoken word, avant-garde territory, with all that edgy noise, in the background, surely, this would have been a difficult listen, for Lou's post Transformer glam pop fans, back in 1976, who may not have any grounding in Lou's, Velvet Underground, Metal Machine Music past. I must mention the Jazzy intensity, and tightness of the band on Kicks, they absolutely sizzle. Kicks gives the album added sonic interest, and variation, and adds a fresh, vibrant dimension, to the record, which surprisingly, sits well, with the rest of the sunny side up, pop infused material.

She's My Best Friend, is also a very interesting track, Most of Lou's, new glam fans, would have assumed that this was a brand new, cracking, and infectious song. Its totally brilliant of course, but in actual fact was a Velvet Underground classic, not surprisingly, Lou's new version, updated for the seventies, is a perfect fit for Coney Island Baby.

Way back in 1976, this was the only version that was commercially available, most people had no knowledge of the original. Lou's original fans like Jonathan Richman, and Andy Warhol's factory contingent, would have loved, and been very familiar, with this indomitable, catchy tune, from the VU shows.

Ten, or so, years later, the original resurfaced, on astonishing, Verve Records, releases, of unreleased VU rarities, called VU and Another View. If you don't have these in your collection, buy them at once, they blew my socks off, when I first heard them, in the mid eighties, and still do, every time, I play them, to this day.

Coney Island Baby, as an album, doesn't have the big hitting, world famous tracks, on Transformer like, Satellite Of Love, Walk On The Wild Side, or Perfect Day. It doesn't have the bleak, tragic imagery, and dramatic intensity, of Berlin, and it, also doesn't have, the astute, biting, political, and social observations and commentary, of New York. Instead, what you get on Coney, is a very enjoyable, unpretentious, assessable, album.

Compositionally, Coney Island Baby as a record, is very consistent throughout, and at times, reaches levels of sublime beauty. Coney will never outsell, or get the same critical acclaim, as Transformer, however it is definitely, one of Lou's, lighter, in tone, most radio friendly albums. It creates, a nice upbeat, relaxed atmosphere in a room, great for a party, or having a few friends round, and it even sounds great, if you are having a work out in the gym.

You probably, already have Lou's, well known masterpieces, in your collection, and if you don't, you might want to get them first, however at some stage, you will want to add Coney Island Baby to your collection, when the needle drops, or when you press play, you will be glad, that you did. It really is charming, and delightful.

The Grain Of Salt

I have the original US deleted release APL1-0915, which is listed as 1975, but both the cover and label are dated 1976. What's that about?

This is probably my favorite Lou Reed album, i just wished they used that tough shot of him on the inner sleeve wearing sunglasses on the cover. What an awful cover. Not a throwaway song in the bunch. Tough and wild yet still accessible, I buy this album every time i come across one, i gift them to friends. If you have a record collection and are reading this review, buy this album. Classic.

What do you do after creating 4 sides of minimal and cacaphonous noise? Why not make its mellow anthithesis. Six tracks of fairly lightweight but entertaining AOR and two superior tracks of Reed close to his best. Kicks is a dark one with a backing track of midnight party chatter and lyrics about how stabbing someone is better than sex, all done in Lou's best throwaway style. Classic Reed.
The title track, on the other hand, is simply one his best ever songs. I've listened to it hundreds of times and still get something new from it every time. It's structure is sublime, not verse/chorus or anything approximating that. It's a kind of linear and literary look-back to high-school days where he wanted to 'play football for the coach'. Kind of hard to believe,but on the other hand, why not? Lou sounds so sincere here- it's the dyametric opposite of Kicks that's for sure.

I like the whole album - the other six tracks are sort-of fluffy and a bit cheeky. Very lightweight like I said - but coming after Metal Machine Music.... phew, what a carve up!

Coney Island Baby is an amazing album. It is accessible and fun while keeping that certain tough vibe that Lou Reed cannot help but give off. Dont be fooled by the cover image,