So here's my Lou Reed top 10, in no particular order...Sunday Morning
Satellite of Love
What Goes On
Pale Blue Eyes
Stephanie Says
Venus in Furs
Coney Island Baby
Dirty Blvd
The Murder Mystery
Last Great American Whale
Six of my ten are Velvet Underground tracks. So I guess I feel - like most people - that the early years of Reed's career were his peak. But you have to love how the guy kept making uncompromising music on his own terms, into middle age and beyond. I remember when New York came out in 1989. To me and my friends at school it was one of the most angry and sharply political albums we had ever heard. It's also a terrific collection of rock songs.
And that for me is the key to Reed's longevity, the real reason I'm still listening to him: superbly-crafted songs that are full of invention. Strip away the drugs and the sleaze and much of what the media has focused on in the wake of the man's death, and at the core of everything is the quality and creativity of the music. That's why he will surely linger on.
