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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

??!! / Zzzzzzzzzzzzz He Loved "He Loved Him Madly" Madly

Posted by Dave Segal on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:13 AM

There's a surprising revelation contained within the Invisible Jukebox interview with Lou Reed in The Wire's October issue. The interviewer, Alan Licht, plays Miles Davis' "He Loved Him Madly," and Reed, seemingly hearing the 32-minute threnody for Duke Ellington for the first time, nearly has a heart attack over how fantastic it is, comparing the lead-off track from Miles' Get Up With It to his own Metal Machine Music—no, really. (Reed later relates a brief meeting with Miles in which the legendary trumpeter/keyboardist complimented his snakeskin shirt. I am absurdly happy to know this encounter happened.)

The funniest part of the piece, though, occurs when Licht tells Reed the LP title, and Reed asks his "assistant" to write it down. Lou Reed has an assistant?

I encourage you to read the whole interview (I don't think it's online, so find a hard copy; Broadcast are on the cover). Lou Reed is a curmudgeon, but an eminently lovable, brilliant curmudgeon who's still voraciously curious about music at the age of 67. Plus, he's written more immortal songs than most mortals have. Recognize.

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This is a jam indeed. I posit that this heavily influenced Zepppelin's "No Quarter". Seriously, listen to them next to each other and tell me Page didn't do some lifting. Also, the way the beat transitions in the later part of the Miles composition happens in "No Quarter" the same way. Coincidence?

Posted by Trent Moorman on October 27, 2009 at 11:50 AM

Dave, again, thank you for introducing me to that Miles album last month. I've played He Loved Him Madly every morning since then and absolutely can't imagine my life without it now.

Posted by Brian Geoghagan on October 27, 2009 at 12:19 PM

Lou Reed songs hit all the senses...at least for me..."And curtains laced with diamonds dear for you (I can feel those curtains EVERY time I hear Andy's Chest)
Though as he has aged it's been hard to see him play out...sort-of sad and descending into ???

Cool to know of this link to other legends

Posted by julie russell