Lou gets a lot of love on this platform. Why, just yesterday his influence was noted in reference to our album of the week. Love for Lou sometimes comes with an asterisk: music good, vocals meh. Something like that. But the ostensible limitations of his voice have always simultaneously been its beauty, essence, and attitude. No rock demeanour has echoed that adolescent frail with the same definition. These long-rumoured, pre-Velvet Underground recordings do not inhabit the same space as much of Lou’s VU and post-VU work: they are simple but acute, bent towards his radiance rather than his darkness. The blues-y Waiting For the Man demo is a year-end highlight.
25/30
A favourite: ‘Waiting for the Man – May 1965 demo’
Words and Music 1965 is out now via Light In the Attic.
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