Needles & Grooves AoTM /// Vol. 1 - July 2019 Lou Reed - The Blue Mask

Alrighty, I’ve listened to Blue Mask 3 times this weekend. I love it! I’m an Old, and its themes really resonated with me. I know it’s not a concept album, but I nevertheless couldn’t help but see (maybe invented on my part) that the concerns, fears, humor, and anxieties contained in this record are a reflection of Middle Age. And I feel like I pick up more of the humor and darkness every time I listen to it.

To me, My House is about the coming to terms with the passing of our heroes and influences, with a darkly humorous twist of them haunting us, with an additional twist that the haunting is welcome.

Women is a cheeky presentation of the contrast between the Romantic Traditional Love for Women mixed up with total objectified lust and how both approaches are false sexist constructions.

Underneath the Bottle is about the effects of substance abuse but delivered in a darkly humorous way, with upbeat music and delivery. This tone felt like what was going on in my head back when I was dealing with my own issues a couple years ago.

The Gun is...I’m not sure. I think it’s about the intoxicating power that comes with carrying a gun and a situation of violence that leaves no one as a good person. The instructions, the dehumanization, it’s all...woo...pretty intense.

I don’t really understand the lyrics of The Blue Mask, but it’s music kicks ass.

What I got out of Average Guy was how aspiring for average-ness and identifying as average is not-great while still providing a voice to real middle age middle class concerns and fears.

I don’t think I get Heroine either. I have some guesses (an ode to a relationship and comparing that love to heroin) but it feels like it could be a stretch.

Waves of Fear is a terrific description of anxiety, with some more kickass music.

The Day John Kennedy Died feels like a longing for inspiration and hope and integrity in political leaders, longing for a certain innocence.

Heavenly Arms, to me, contains a hope of redemption from the love of someone or something.

Anyway, that’s what I got out of it so far. I’m really glad it was a record of the month. I had planned on getting Transformer and Berlin, but I woulda overlooked this were it not for the club. Great pick @Murfocakes !
 
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On my second spin now. I can't believe I've never listened to this album. I blame every single one of my college roommates and bandmates! SOMEONE should have played this for me at some point!

Fun fact: the seller I got this from on Discogs is *also* excited that I'm checking out The Blue Mask for the first time. He and I are messaging back and forth about it. There are some real douchebags on the Cogs, but every once in a while you run into an actual music fan!
 
I lost track of this thread after my initial guess, and honestly, when I heard it ended up being Lou Reed, I lost interest because the only Lou Reed exposure I'd had was Lulu when it came out. But the context you provided in your write-up and other posts in the thread was really helpful. So, thank you for changing my mind about Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground! Looking forward to spinning Blue Mask and Transformer regularly now.

Also, I'm looking at the Velvet Underground 5LP "Verve/MGM Albums" box because I love that self-titled album you recommended and 5 LPs cut by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI for ~$100 seems like a decent deal for such a big-name band. Does anyone have thoughts on this set?
 
Ericj32 said:
I lost track of this thread after my initial guess, and honestly, when I heard it ended up being Lou Reed, I lost interest because the only Lou Reed exposure I'd had was Lulu when it came out. But the context you provided in your write-up and other posts in the thread was really helpful. So, thank you for changing my mind about Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground! Looking forward to spinning Blue Mask and Transformer regularly now.

Also, I'm looking at the Velvet Underground 5LP "Verve/MGM Albums" box because I love that self-titled album you recommended and 5 LPs cut by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI for ~$100 seems like a decent deal for such a big-name band. Does anyone have thoughts on this set?
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I've heard that the audio quality on these are great but the box is nothing special. You may be better off buying a few of them individually. I see the box pop up on Amazon for $75 ish or something like that once in a while. Personally, it doesn't have Loaded, so I passed.
 
This was my third of the year one AotMs that I've gone deep on in the past 24 hours (being in the midst of a heatwave and having very little impetus to move from under the ceiling fan makes for a great opportunity to a deep read of the old threads while streaming their albums a few times) and, I think, my 8th AotM overall and definitely the one that's challenged me the most right out the gates. And probably would have even more so without your write-up and the care you put into this selection and thread @Murfocakes - so thanks for that! An immediate second listen definitely yielded better results for my experience so I do look forward to more.

I think I can safely say this is the first full Lou Reed album I've listened to. I know about half the songs off Transformer, but don't know that I've ever listened to the album in its entirety (at least with intentional focus - I can picture many likely situations in my life where the album could well have been playing, but not as a focal point.) Very much a long-overdue situation rectified and door finally opened. I reckon my first experience with the album was pretty, though not entirely, similar to the post @Goatfish made, so I'll avoid getting too repetitive, but I was definitely worried I might not like the album at all until "The Gun" and "The Blue Mask" really grabbed me and pulled me in. I don't know for sure if this is something I'll add to the shelf (unless/until a time arrives that my employment settles out and I can afford to indulge my completionist side on N&G AotMs!) but I will certainly be streaming it a few more times. I've also added Berlin, Transformer and Alice Cooper's Killer to a playlist of things I need to check out - so thanks for that as well! This was a great pick and a very entertaining thread.
 
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