LOU REED SIGNED LP “Berlin” on RCA + booklet orig ’73 Velvet Underground WOW

$

100

Artist:  LOU REED                  

Title:  “Berlin”

Label:  RCA RECORDS.  Stereo pressing on medium weight “Dynaflex” vinyl.  Label is orange with black text.  Catalog number is APL 1-0207.

Year:  1973 

Condition: 

DISC:  Vinyl is gorgeous NM, a beauty!  The playing surface is immaculate, with a high luster, played a small number of times and handled with care.  Plays beautifully with superb fidelity.  Labels are clean and pristine. 

JACKET:  Jacket is VG+ with obvious signs of wear and handling, but still quite presentable.   There is a minor bend at bottom left corner where there is also a jigsaw cut indicating the record was originally sold as a cutout/deletion.  Some minor soiling is barely noticeable against the light brown coloring of the artwork.  Bottom right corner is lightly bumped. 

SIGNATURE:  Front panel has Lou Reed’s signature in black marker.

Booklet insert is included in top condition.

NOTE:  This album came from the estate of a passionate LP and autograph collector who traveled extensively to personally have his albums signed by the individual performers.  I stand behind every autographed item I sell, with a full guarantee of satisfaction and authenticity. 

Track Listing: 

Side One:

• Berlin
• Lady Day
• Men of Good Fortune
• Caroline Says I
• How Do You Think It Feels
• Oh Jim

Side Two:

• Caroline Says II
• The Kids
• The Bed
• Sad Song

Review:

“Transformer” and “Walk on the Wild Side” were both major hits in 1972, to the surprise of both Lou Reed and the music industry, and with Reed suddenly a hot commodity, he used his newly won clout to make the most ambitious album of his career, Berlin.  Berlin was the musical equivalent of a drug-addled kid set loose in a candy store; the album's songs, which form a loose story line about a doomed romance between two chemically fueled bohemians, were fleshed out with a huge, boomy production (Bob Ezrin at his most grandiose) and arrangements overloaded with guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and any other kitchen sink that was handy (the session band included Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Aynsley Dunbar, and Tony Levin).  And while Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and Ezrin approached Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick.  This all seemed a bit much for an artist who made such superb use of the two-guitars/bass/drums lineup with the Velvet Underground, especially since Reed doesn't even play electric guitar on the album; the sheer size of Berlin ultimately overpowers both Reed and his material.  But if Berlin is largely a failure of ambition, that sets it apart from the vast majority of Reed's lesser works; Lou's vocals are both precise and impassioned, and though a few of the songs are little more than sketches, the best -- "How Do You Think It Feels," "Oh, Jim," "The Kids," and "Sad Song" -- are powerful, bitter stuff.  It's hard not to be impressed by Berlin, given the sheer scope of the project, but while it earns an A for effort, the actual execution merits more of a B-.”

(courtesy Mark Deming, allmusic.com).

Guaranteed to be original and authentic first pressing from 1973.  I do not sell bootlegs or modern reissues.

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