Lou Reed is the debut solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in May 1972 by RCA Records, two years after he left the Velvet Underground. It was produced by Richard Robinson and Reed and features London session musicians as Reed's backing band, two of whom, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe, were from the British progressive rock band Yes. Wakeman recalled that during the recording sessions, "the lights had to be out so nobody could see." The album was recorded at Morgan Studios in London, between December 1971 and January 1972.

With increasing interest in the Velvet Underground, Reed's debut album was highly anticipated, but was a commercial and critical disappointment, reaching only No. 189 on the Billboard 200. It comprises eight new recordings of then-unreleased Velvet Underground songs, and two new songs, "Going Down" and "Berlin" (the latter was re-recorded by Reed as the title track for his 1973 album Berlin).

In 1976, when asked what he thought of the album in retrospect, Reed stated, "It's got some of the best songs I ever wrote, but the production sucks."

Critical reception

The Commercial Appeal wrote that the album "contains some of the frenzy for which his former band was noted, but most of the music is toned down into a more standard rock mold." The Buffalo News determined that Reed's "blunt, almost over-simplified lyrics and the pre-Clapton guitar sound melt into a peculiarly satisfying experience."

The Rolling Stone Album Guide noted the "genteel art-rock treatment" of the songs written during Reed's Velvet Underground years. However, the song was performed by Lou Reed and John Cale at the Bataclan 1972 concert in Paris with Nico, and can be heard on the Velvet Underground bootleg Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2, which features Lou Reed playing the song with an acoustic guitar into a tape recorder.

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| "Love Makes You Feel"

| Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition)

| The Velvet Underground version is titled "Love Makes You Feel Ten Foot Tall".

|-

| "Ride into the Sun"

| Another View, What Goes On, Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition), Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes

| Lou Reed version is similar to the versions found on Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition) and The Quine Tapes. Earlier versions of the song can be found on Another View and What Goes On.

|-

| "Ocean"

| 1969, VU, Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition)

| The version on Lou Reed is closest to the version found on Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition).

|}

Tour

On the album's tour, which lasted two legs between June 9 and November 2, 1972, Reed was backed by the Tots. The Tots featured no shared personnel with the album and consisted of Vinny Laporta and Eddie Reynolds on guitar, Bobby Resigno on bass guitar, and Scottie Clark on drums. This backing group would also play on the Transformer tour and perform on the live album American Poet (2001).

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Date

!Venue

!Notes

|-

! colspan="3" |First Leg

|-

|June 9, 1972

| rowspan="2" |Millard Fillmore Room, University of Buffalo, NY

|

|-

|June 10, 1972

|

|-

|July 8, 1972

|Festival Hall, London, England

|Guest spot with David Bowie

|-

|July 14, 1972

|Scala Cinema, King's Cross, London, England

|

|-

|July 22, 1972

|Wimbledon Town Hall, England

|

|-

|July 27, 1972

|Polytechnic, Manchester, England

|

|-

|July 28, 1972

|Scala Cinema, King's Cross, London, England

|

|-

|July 29, 1972

|Friar's Club, Aylesbury, England

|

|-

|July 30, 1972

|The Greyhound, Croydon, England

|

|-

! colspan="3" |Second Leg

|-

|September 27, 1972

|Manchester Polytechnic Union, Manchester, England

|

|-

|September 29, 1972

|Edmonton Sundown, London, England

|

|-

|September 30, 1972

|Amsterdam, the Netherlands

|

|-

|October 6, 1972

|St. Andrew's University, Scotland

|

|-

|October 7, 1972

|Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland

|

|-

|October 13, 1972

|Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

|

|-

|October 14, 1972

|Leicester University, Leicester, England

|

|-

|October 19, 1972

|University Stadium, Liverpool, England

|

|-

|October 20, 1972

|Essex University, Essex, England

|

|-

|October 21, 1972

|Imperial College, London, England

|

|-

|October 22, 1972

|HardRock Concert Theatre, Manchester, England

|

|-

|October 25, 1972

|Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford, England

|

|-

|October 26, 1972

|Alhambra Rock Theatre, Birmingham, England

|

|-

|October 27, 1972

|Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds, England

|

|-

|October 28, 1972

|Kingston Polytechnic, Kingston, England

|

|-

|October 29, 1972

|Southampton Guildhall, Southampton, England

|

|-

|October 30, 1972

|Friar's Club, Civic Hall, Dunstable, England

|

|-

|November 1, 1972

|Mile End Sundown, London, England

|

|-

|November 2, 1972

|Pheasantry Club, London, England

|

|}

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Lou Reed liner notes.

Musicians

  • Lou Reed – vocals, guitar
  • Caleb Quaye – electric and acoustic guitars, piano
  • Steve Howe – electric guitar
  • Paul Keogh – electric and acoustic guitars
  • Rick Wakeman – piano
  • Les Hurdle – bass guitar
  • Brian Odgers – bass guitar
  • Clem Cattini – percussion
  • Kay Garner – harmony vocals
  • Helene Francois – harmony vocals

Production and artwork

  • Richard Robinson – producer
  • Lou Reed – producer
  • Mike Bobak – engineer
  • Tom Adams – cover art
  • Ronn Campisi – back liner photograph

Charts

{| class="wikitable"

! Chart (1972)

! Peak<br />position

|-

| US Billboard Top LPs