Animal Serenade - Lou Reed
Animal Serenade Image
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 5 Ratings

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  • Summary: Recorded live at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater in 2003, this 2-disc set finds Reed supported by a small (drummerless) band on material culled from his recent disc 'The Raven' as well as older albums from his 35-plus-year career (including Velvet Underground tunes "Venus In Furs," "Candy Says," and "Heroin").… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Filter
    84
    The irony is that the closer Reed gets to his present material, the more alive it becomes. [#10, p.87]
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  2. Blender
    80
    At 62, Reed apparently has indulged in the drug that rejuvenated Bob Dylan's career: enjoying himself. [Apr 2004, p.135]
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  3. Uncut
    70
    As ever with Reed, when it's good, it's blistering. [Apr 2004, p.104]
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  4. Mojo
    60
    It can't shake off the usual curse of live albums: an underlying sense, in the context of Reed's studio catalogue, of inescapable superfluity. [Apr 2004, p.114]
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See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. brent
    10
    Listen to this record despite the list of "professional reviews" compiled above. Lou Reed is an aquired taste and an iconoclast, therefore, doing something so foolish as using conventional pop standards to judge him is impossible. Even without drums this 2003-edition Lou set is hypnotizingly intense. This is his artsy-fartsy side, and for a change, he pulls it off brilliantly. I like feedback-drenched Lou myself, but he never cared what any of us liked anyway. More power to him.… Expand
  2. Shake
    9
    A great artist shows his non-rock 'n roll-side and plays instead a strange but beautiful serenade...
  3. augustusw
    9
    How ever you slice it, Lou Reed is a singularity. As his stated mission was to inform Rock'n'Roll with the same depth as great liturature, one can conclude that he has succeeded here. Sure, his guitar playing isn't to all tastes but neither was Carl Sandburgs. Nevertheless it is effective...and that voice is that of the Big Narrator. Songs of Expirience indeed! Mr.Fripp-the Band as mobile intellegence unit is here...and Lou Reed has it!… Collapse
  4. RicardoS
    7
    30 years after Rock n'Roll Animal, Lou Reed proves he's still an animal on stage - though tamed and less ferocious. Still, Reed at his (almost) best, apart from some very strange versions of his Velvet themes and an unnecessary Fernando Saunders song.… Expand

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