Lou Reed & Neil Young

Commenting on Greendale, close your eyes had this to say:

"It is very rare that concept albums move me. The last one and probably only one ever was Lou Reed's Magic and Loss where he transformed the pain of losing several friends due to AIDS into great art. "

And more on the connection of Greendale and Lou Reed's work from Google Groups: Thread - "Young's Greendale and Reed's New York":

"In some reviews of Neil Young's Greendale there are comparisons with 1970s symphonic concept albums, but to me it seems more like Lou Reed's New York and Songs for Drella albums. Or even some Zappa stuff, looking at the weird characters.

Greendale made me play New York and Songs for Drella again, for the first time in some years. I gotta say these albums have stand the test of time remarkably well. They sound very good, great guitar playing, terrific songs, and the use of language is very concentrated, each sentence having a purpose (especially on Drella). I have to say I like Neil Young better usually, but these Reed albums are still enormously impressive."

For more on the Greendale CD, see Neil Young's Greendale page.

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