Lou Reed East Rutherford 15 June 1986 Amnesty 1st gen from FM broadcast

"A Conspiracy of Hope"

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford
15 June 1986

track 01: Rock And Roll 6.18
track 02: I Love You Suzanne 2.59
track 03: No Money Down 3.49
track 04: Turn To Me 5.08
track 05: Walk On The Wild Side 5.00
track 06: Video Violence 7.13
track 07: interview 3.42

track 08: Think It Over 3.30 (recorded at the Bottom Line Club, New York, 01 June 1980 (early show))

Lou Reed: guitar, vocals
Fernando Saunders: bass, backing vocals
Rick Bell: sax
"Woody" Smallwood: keyboards, trumpet
Eddie Martinez: guitar
J T Lewis: drums

lineage: 1st generation recording of the FM broadcast on MAXELL XL11 cassette - (WavePad) - WAV - FLAC (level 8) - you

transfer to WAV by lurid_uk
uploaded to Dime January 2008

The 1980s rehabilitation of Lou's public persona proceeded apace, and he committed himself to the 6 date "Conspiracy Of Hope" tour in support of Amnesty International. This, the last of the shows, was broadcast live in its (12 hour) entirety by the Westwood 1 radio network.

Giants Stadium is a huge arena: Lou and his new band put on a "big stadium" show with booming drums, honking sax and "over the top" guitar sound. Personally, I think this resulted in sterile, tired arrangements of the songs, with Lou's vocals sounding forced and soul-less. I'm sure his heart was in it but it really does sound as if he's just going through the motions. (eg compare this version of "Suzanne" with the far superior performance at "Farm Aid" the previous year.) The new material doesn't help matters - his latest offering was the abominable "Mistrial" lp - surely amongst the weakest collection of songs he ever wrote. In the months after this show he would cross the USA on a seemingly endless tour playing the same uninspiring setlist night after night - we true fans were not fooled and soon consigned the lp to the very back of our collections. Even the slightly disturbing "suicidal robot" promo video for "No Money Down" didn't help sales.

"Mistrial" would be Lou's last lp on RCA - in 1988 he would sign with Sire Records and then release "New York" in early 1989.

Anyway, you can make up your own mind about the show. Sound quality is excellent.

As a complete contrast, "Think It Over" was recorded at the Bottom Line on 1 June 1980. It reveals Lou in a rare tender moment - he had married Sylvia in February 1980 and dedicates this very personal song to her. (And Lou says that his song lyrics are not autobiographical - who does he think he's kidding?)

Distribute widely but do not sell!