Berlin

by Lou Reed, Julian Schnabel

Berlin is a concept album that represented a brave departure from the familiar sounds and themes of Lou Reed’s earlier solo work, a tragic tale about heartbreak and addiction meant to be played live as a rock opera, in the vein of The Who’s Tommy. But its poor reception meant that plans for a live performance were put on hold until 2007, when, with a renewed confidence in the material, Reed toured with a full orchestra and choir, giving some of the most personal and powerful performances of his career. The tour was filmed by legendary artist Julian Schnabel, a longtime friend of Reed’s who also designed the spare and beautiful set, and whose daughter Lola contributed moving images projected behind the stage. This immeasurably powerful book draws on stills from Schnabel’s film, photographs of the set design, printed lyrics of Reed’s original verse, and images from Schnabel’s projections to tell the twin stories of Berlin as rock opera and as unique collaboration between two geniuses of contemporary art, music, words, and film. The book also includes a rare conversation between Reed and Schnabel.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 2009

About the author

Lou Reed was an influential American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He first came to prominence as the guitarist and principal singer-songwriter of The Velvet Underground (1965-1973). The band gained little mainstream attention during their career, but in hindsight became one of the most influential of their era. As the Velvets’ principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined in rock and roll, including bondage and S&M ("Venus in Furs"), transvestites ("Sister Ray" and "Candy Says"), drug culture ("Heroin" and "I'm Waiting for the Man"), and transsexuals undergoing surgery ("Lady Godiva's Operation"). As a guitarist, he was a pioneer in the use of distortion, high volume feedback, and nonstandard tunings.

Reed began a long and eclectic solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", though for more than a decade Reed seemed to willfully evade the mainstream commercial success its chart status offered him. One of rock's most volatile personalities, Reed's work as a solo artist has frustrated critics wishing for a return of The Velvet Underground. The most notable example is 1975's infamous double LP of recorded feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which Reed later commented, "no one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive." By the late 1980s, however, Reed had won wide recognition as an elder statesman of rock.