Street Hassle

When I saw David Bowie during his 1978 Stage tour he used Lou Reed's just released Street Hassel album as his opening act. I later read an interview where Bowie said he so taken with it he wanted as many people to hear it as possible. He knew it wouldn't recieve any radio airplay. Mind you, David Bowie and Lou Reed weren't even on speaking terms at the time.

Nasty, grimey, slapped together, angry, sarcastic, scarey and sad...it IS Lou Reed. What more can be said about the beautiful title cut. No one else could make bad luck sound so profound. Moving from a gay hook up between a huslter and his trick, to an impromptu drug party between strangers gone terrible wrong to the final part that describes the break up of Reed's own relationship the song goes from bloodless to achingly personal.
The entire album is fascinating and repellent at the same time.

And man! the Street Hassel tour was incredible. I've seen Lou Reed perform many times over the years, but...Read more

Both swaggering and glib, Street Hassle finds Reed hitting the peak of his shady career as a poseur and gutter songwriter. Over a rambunctious and inebriating, messy performance, Reed and band recreate an atmosphere of uncertainty tainted by dark humor and acid wit. Every song here is driven by Reed's cruelly sardonic takes on life and a rough jazz/rock blend that sounds positively filthy and catchy, every hook struggling to surface through a mire of bass, droning guitar, and saxes. Street Hassle reeks of the rot of New York and sounds like a massive waste spill that is both freightening and alluring. Whereas previous albums tried to capture Reed's musical persona by means of glitter productions, Street Hassle ironically displays his sophistication in an ugly, swirling fusion that is more spontaneous and improvisational than anything he's done. Your definition of beauty will never be the same after this.

While Lou Reed has had a pretty patchy run of solo albums throughout his career, this one manages to come shining through. Don't get me wrong, I love the velvet underground, and albums like transformer, berlin, the bells, etc. but this one seems to have the most redeeming qualities: It's hard to put my finger on exactly what those qualities are, which is why on first listen it may not seem as overtly impressive as some of the other albums. But, having listened to so many Lou Reed albums, this is the one that always seems fresh. I don't know how it is generally regarded, but it seems like it's been glossed over (and it may be hard to find, or expensive). However, if I could keep only one post-velvets Lou Reed album, this would have to be the one.