Let's not kid ourselves that we expect Lou Reed to surprise us anymore okay? Those who retain an interest in his purring, dead-pan, rock 'n'roll tales of sex and death are fairly confident that they know what they're getting for their money.
And that's a mix of standard three chord sub-'Sweet Jane' rocking, some delicate intertwining guitars to accompany the odd love song, some self-indulgent guitar noodling that would try the patient of a saint and some touching, almost embarrassingly candid lyric writing.
'Ecstasy' has all three in spades, but thankfully the full-on noodling is saved until last 'Like A Possum' coming in at a cool if mind-numbingly hypnotic 18 minutes plus. Imagine your local guitar shop on a Saturday morning infested with 17-year-old Santana fans mashed on cider and armed with distortion pedals while someone slams a door in the distance every five minutes. You're getting close!
Thankfully, the gorgeously reflective 'Modern Dance' which evokes the bizarre image of Lou in a kilt in "Edin-borrow" and 'Tatters' show Lou at his easy-listening best, the famous voice given room to dominate a gentle but classic rock backing of two guitars bass and drums, trading lines over some fantastically chosen minor chords.
The title track returns to Lou's Manhattan stories, a brooding tale of dark deeds, piercings and lost love. 'Mad' offers Lou's preposterous excuse for infidelity; "I know I shouldn't a had someone else in our bed but I was so tired, so tired" It'll never catch on.
So there it is, bizarre, world-weary, beautiful, touching, self-indulgent but never, never dull at least not until at least nine minutes into 'Like A Possum'.
