CD Details
- Clearance CDs with the ZHUS prefix may be specifically marked for one-way sale
- Number of Discs: 2
- Released: March 23, 2004
- Label: Reprise / WEA
Entertainment Reviews:
Entertainment Weekly - 3/26/04, p.72
"Reed concert albums have been plentiful but never as intimate as this one....[With] lesser known jewels...[and] rare performances..." -
Grade: B+a
Paste (magazine) - "Reed's oddly emotive voice works on 'The Bed' and 'Set the Twilight Reelin,' and his biting, coarse lyrics hit as hard as ever on 'Small Town' and 'Dirty Blvd.'"
Tracks on Disc 1:
- 1.Advice
- 2.Smalltown
- 3.Tell It to Your Heart
- 4.Men of Good Fortune
- 5.How Do You Think It Feels
- 6.Vanishing Act
- 7.Ecstasy
- 8.The Day John Kennedy Died
- 9.Street Hassle
- 10.The Bed
- 11.Revien Cherie
- 12.Venus in Furs
Tracks on Disc 2:
- 1.Dirty Blvd.
- 2.Sunday Morning
- 3.All Tomorrow's Parties
- 4.Call on Me
- 5.The Raven
- 6.Set the Twilight Reeling
- 7.Candy Says
- 8.Heroin
Product Description:
Personnel: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar); Antony (vocals); Fernando Saunders (vocals, guitar, bass, Kydd FS Piccolo bass, Roland drums); Mike Rathke (guitar, guitar synthesizer, ztar); Jane Scarpantoni (cello).
Recorded live at The Wiltern, Los Angeles, California on June 24, 2003.
Personnel: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar); Fernando Saunders (vocals, guitar, drums, background vocals); Antony (vocals, background vocals); Mike Rathke (guitar, guitar synthesizer); Jane Scarpantoni (cello).
Audio Mixer: Nick Launay.
Recording information: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA (06/24/2003).
Photographers: Jane L. Wechsler; Roberta Stacy; Guido Harari.
Though the two-disc ANIMAL SERENADE is the sixth live Lou Reed album, it never feels like a rehash of what's come before. This is partly because of its delightful focus on the more obscure corners of Reed's repertoire, and partly due to the unusual format in which the songs are presented. Though Reed's previous live release already employed a scaled-down approach, ANIMAL SERENADE removes the drummer entirely (bassist Fernando Saunders occasionally hits electronic drum pads), and adds a cellist. This gives extra poignancy to reflective ballads like "The Day John Kennedy Died" and the gorgeously bittersweet Velvet Underground nugget "Candy Says" (quavering tenor Antony is guest vocalist on the latter).
The band can still kick up a respectable ruckus on the more up-tempo tunes, though; NEW YORK's "Dirty Blvd." is turned into an extended rhythmic tour de force and Reed kicks up some dust on the harrowing BERLIN track "How Do You Think It Feels." The notoriously taciturn Reed also seems to be genuinely enjoying himself, the brooding artiste engaging in playful banter with the crowd and going out of his way to play the role of entertainer for his enraptured audience.
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