| Rock 'n' Roll Animal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | February 1974 | |||
| Recorded | December 21, 1973 | |||
| Venue | Howard Stein'sAcademy of Music, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:32 (original) 48:12 (remaster) | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer |
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| Lou Reed chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Rock 'n' Roll Animal | ||||
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Rock 'n' Roll Animal is alive album by American musicianLou Reed, released in February 1974 byRCA Records. In its original form, it features five songs, four of which were initially recorded bythe Velvet Underground. Reed's band includedPentti Glan (drums),Prakash John (bass),Ray Colcord (keyboards), andDick Wagner andSteve Hunter (guitars). The two guitarists would later form the basis of the firstAlice Cooper solo band, beginning onWelcome to My Nightmare, which also features Glan and John.
The album was recorded live on December 21, 1973, at Howard Stein'sAcademy of Music in New York City. Asleeper hit, it peaked at No. 26 in the UK and No. 45 on the USBillboard 200 album chart during a 28-week stay before earning Reed's firstRIAA gold certification in 1978.[7][8][9]
Paul Nelson ofRolling Stone magazine was in attendance that night. Writing aboutRock 'n' Roll Animal and its sequel,Lou Reed Live, which were both recorded at the same show, he recalled:
As it happens, I had seen Reed and a mediocre pickup band atLincoln Center some months earlier in his first New York non-Velvets appearance and he was tragic in every sense of the word. So, at the Academy, I didn't expect much and when his new band came out and began to play spectacular, even majestic, rock & roll, management's strategy for the evening became clear: Elevate the erratic and unstable punkiness of the centerpiece into punchy, swaggering grandeur by using the best arrangements, sound and musicians that money could buy; the trimmings, particularly guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, were awesome enough so that if Reed were merely competent, the concert would be a success. And it was, as one can judge from the resultant albums. The band does not emulate the violent, hypnotic, dope-trance staccato power and subway lyricism of the Velvet Underground, but rather opts for a hard, clean, clear, near-royalMott the Hoople/Eric Clapton ("Layla") opulence and Reed sings out most of the songs in his effective street-talk style. Animal, coming first, naturally contains the best performances ("Intro/Sweet Jane", "White Light/White Heat", the first half of "Rock 'n' Roll").[10]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [11] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [12] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A−[13] |
| Overdose | A[14] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [15] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10[16] |
| Uncut | [17] |
Rolling Stone editorTimothy Ferris describedRock 'n' Roll Animal as "a record to be played loud", continuing: "As background music it isn't much, but powered up on a strong system loud enough to make enemies a quarter-mile away,Rock 'n' Roll Animal... is, well, very fine."[18]
Paul Morley, writing inNME in 1979, said, "Rock 'n' Roll Animal andLou Reed Live were the ultimate insults, Reed wrecking the rare beauty and affirmation of his greatest songs by turning them into cliché ridden hack heavy metal mutations."[19]
Reviewing inChristgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981),Robert Christgau said, "At its best, Reed's live music brings the Velvets into the arena in a clean redefinition of heavy, thrilling without threatening to stupefy. 'Lady Day,' the slow one here, would pass for uptempo at many concerts, the made-in-Detroit guitars of Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner mesh naturally with the unnatural rhythms, and Reed shouts with no sacrifice of wit. I could do without Hunter's showboating 'Introduction,' and I've always had my reservations about 'Heroin,' but this is a live album with a reason for living."[13]
A remastered version was released on CD in 2000. It featured two tracks not included on the original LP or 1990 CD release.
Further excerpts from the same concert were released in 1975 asLou Reed Live (between the remasteredRock 'n' Roll Animal andLou Reed Live the entire show has been released, albeit in a different order than the original concert). The stereo mix on Rock 'n' Roll Animal isolates guitarist Steve Hunter on the right channel, and Dick Wagner on the left; this arrangement is reversed onLou Reed Live.
All tracks are written byLou Reed, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro/Sweet Jane" |
| 7:55 |
| 2. | "Heroin" | 13:05 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 3. | "White Light/White Heat" | 5:15 |
| 4. | "Lady Day" | 4:00 |
| 5. | "Rock 'n' Roll" | 10:15 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro/Sweet Jane" | 7:48 |
| 2. | "Heroin" | 13:12 |
| 3. | "How Do You Think It Feels" | 3:41 |
| 4. | "Caroline Says I" | 4:06 |
| 5. | "White Light/White Heat" | 4:55 |
| 6. | "Lady Day" | 4:05 |
| 7. | "Rock 'n' Roll" | 10:21 |
Adapted from theRock 'n' Roll Animal liner notes.[20]
Production
| Chart (1974) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[21] | 20 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[7] | 26 |
| USBillboard 200[8] | 45 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| France (SNEP)[22] | Gold | 100,000* |
| United States (RIAA)[9] | Gold | 500,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
But Reed also went gold by playing slightly cheesy hard-rock version of Velvet Underground songs on his 1974 live albumRock 'N' Roll Animal.(Subscription required.)
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