About the only unpleasantry he's spared us is sixteen minutes (and one second) of grating feedback- er, I mean, deeply embedded classical melodies- to represent Metal Machine Music.

Here, studio versions of numerous mega-classics are replaced with live renditions, often denying listeners even that small pleasure of listening to these tracks with some small degree of studio clarity rather than stripped-down, emotionally dead reprises. It almost makes me wonder why he bothered at all to hand-select and remaster the 31 tunes included on NYC Man, especially when such effort has been made to include material from even (to my 'small mind') the worst of his later work. He's been maligned for not understanding what he does best, and inadvertently playing directly into his weaknesses as a result, but I'm more inclined to think that he just doesn't care what other people believe his perceived strengths to be. And diamonds are a girl's best friend.' See, only Lou Reed can criticize Lou Reed fortunately, he has only the kindest things to say about himself. Except my bullshit is worth other people's diamonds. 'I've been rewriting the same song for a long time. 'If you had a small mind, you'd miss it.' You said it, Lou. His vaunted intellectualism has always afforded him a final, unbreachable line of defense when one of his albums is subjected to criticism- I mean, who are we to detract from Lou Reed's epic vision? We, the insipid, the shortsighted, could never truly grasp the depth of artistry that goes into even the most seemingly hackneyed tracks from Ecstasy (particularly that of 'Like a Possum'), to say nothing of the deep harmonic layering in Metal Machine Music.

And if his interviews are any indication, that one man is Reed himself. To one man, everything Lou Reed has ever released is absolutely perfect. Lou Reed - NYC Man The Collection ( 2 CD ) - 2003 - BMG

Heaven and hell velvet underground rar