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Fresh from UK dates touring his landmark 1973 album Berlin in its entirety, we take a second look at Lou Reeds first live ‘greatest hits’ collection.

Legendary Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed performing tracks from across his 40-plus years in rock and roll, recorded at the Benicàssim Festival back in 2004. Sanctuary Visual Entertainments superb DVD – a sort of a live retrospective ‘greatest hits’ collection - captures the legendary man on stage in Spain.

Aptly titled Spanish Fly: Live In Spain, the disc features a magnificent set of eleven of arguably Reed's finest songs, including re-worked takes on his Velvet Underground-era classics Sweet Jane and Venus In Furs, as well as tracks from his acclaimed solo work, including the undeniable classic from the mid '70s Transformer album Walk On The Wild Side.

Benicàssim Festival

Filmed and recorded in August last year at the world famous Benicàssim Festival in Spain, this release finds Reed joined by long-time collaborators Mike Rathke on guitar, bassist Fernando Saunders, drummer Tony 'Thunder' Smith and Jane Scarpantoni on the cello. Together, these musicians showcase the artist in a powerful new light, featuring performances that show both stunning range and a resilient edge.

A celebrated musician and 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' inductee, Lou Reed began his career as a founding member of The Velvet Underground and has since released numerous notable – and, it has to be said, a few not so notable! - solo works. Over the last 40-plus years Reed has forged an impressive resume for himself as a Renaissance rock and roller. Working as a composer, poet, lyricist, musician, vocalist and sound pioneer, he has constantly pushed the envelope with his art - and through his lack of compromise transformed many seemingly impossible barriers.

Lou Reed self-portrait (right) copyright, courtesy of Animal Lab Inc.

In the process he has created not just one, but many of the greatest albums and songs of all time, straight through to his top 10 single success with the dance remix of Satellite Of Love in the UK last year. Over the years he has recorded arguably some of the most outstanding of all rock 'n' roll albums: Street Hassle, New York, The Blue Mask, Coney Island Baby, Transformer, The Bells, Rock 'n' Roll Heart, the stunning Andy Warhol inspired Songs For Drella (with fellow Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale) and Sally Can't Dance. The list goes on and on...

When Lou Reed’s seminal Berlin was originally released in 1973 - an album he's still touring across Europe - it was a shock to critics and fans that had just seen Reed reaffirmed as a rock visionary with the runaway success of Transformer, which included the Top 20 hit Walk on the Wild Side. Instead of producing an album that enhanced his reputation as glam-rock innovator, Reed immersed himself in a highly ambitious, emotionally charged, psychologically exhausting, and utterly compelling work - a dark concept album about drifting, tormented addicts in love, broken hearted and willfully disabled ex-pats, plotting their own downfalls in the outskirts of a divided city.

The New York Times called Berlin “one of the strongest, most original rock records in years.” Rolling Stone magazine named it, “the Sgt. Pepper of the 70s.” The same magazine—among many others—attacked Reed for the work: “There are certain records that are so patently offensive that one wishes to take some kind of physical vengeance on the artists that perpetrate them. Reed’s only excuse for this performance…can only be that this was his last shot at a once-promising career.”

Between Thought And Expression

His most recent album releases have included The Raven (based entirely on the works of Edgar Allen Poe), Animal Serenade, and NYC Man: Lou Reed - The Collection. Apart from these Reed is constantly sampled (the bass line from Walk On the Wild Side is as ubiquitous today as it has ever been), referenced (by everyone from The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Pixies to Yo La Tengo and all points in between) and covered. Also a published author his volumes Emotion In Action, a double book edition of Reed's photographs was published in October 2003 by 7L and Gerhard Steidl – and his collected lyrics (Between Thought And Expression) was also a major success some years earlier.

A working musician who still makes New York his base, all these years after the Andy Warhol/Factory/Velvets era that launched his career came to an end. In 1996, Reed was inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' in ’97. Accepting the honour – in recognition of his founding of The Velvet Underground he received the ‘Heroes award’ from the New York Chapter of NARAS in 1997.

POETRY, a new theatrical collaboration with Robert Wilson, had successful debuts in Hamburg (Thalia Theater), Paris (L'Odeon) in 2000 and in Amsterdam (Het Muziektheatre) spring 2001. POETRY had its American debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2001. Also in 2001(and continuing in 2002), the avant garde German music collective Zeitkratzer performed his extraordinary opus Metal Machine Music and some of the other – more recent - electronic music written by Reed.

In the summer of 2002, 'An evening of words and music with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson' was performed at selected European venues. Lou Reed recorded The Raven, a complete reworking of POETRY, the production for which Reed collaborated with Robert Wilson in 2001 The diverse list of guest artists includes Steve Buscemi, David Bowie, Wilem Dafoe, Ornette Coleman and Elizabeth Ashley and was released January 2003.

NYC Man - The Collection

Since then, Luciano Pavarotti has invited Reed to duet and guest performs at the Pavarotti International 2002, in Modena, Italy. In 2003, Reed released NYC Man - The Collection, a compilation of his greatest hits spanning his days in the Velvet Underground through his current solo material. Reed selected and sequenced the tracks for the release personally. NYC Man features classic Reed tracks, including: Walk on the Wild Side, Sweet Jane, Pale Blue Eyes, Heroin and Perfect Day. This collection was followed – in March 2004 – with the release of Animal Serenade on Sire/Reprise – a concert recorded live at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Lou Reed signed an exclusive worldwide recording deal with Sanctuary Records Group.

Spanish Fly: Live In Spain is a neat sequel to The New York Album, the Magic Loss concert film and the Songs For Drella concert tape – all of which have previously appeared on VHS (and are long overdue for DVD re-release). A must-have for fans the disc features not only a full concert performance but also a photo gallery that includes photographs taken by Reed himself. This rare live DVD by that most rare of artists is sure to become a favourite.

The full track listing for Spanish Fly: Live In Spain looks like this:

1. Modern Dance
2. Why Do You Talk
3. Venus In Furs
4. Sweet Jane
5. Jesus
6. Romeo Had Juliette
7. Satellite Of Love
8. Ecstasy
9. The Blue Mask
10. Perfect Day
11. Walk On The Wild Side

Special Feature

Exclusive photo gallery, featuring photographs taken by Lou Reed.

For more information visit Lou Reed's personal website at: www.loureed.org

Lou Reed - Spanish Fly: Live In Spain is out now on DVD only, from Sanctuary Music.

Lou Reed self-portrait copyright, courtesy of Animal Lab Inc.

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