Lou Reed New York 1 June 1980 audience recording

Bottom Line
New York
1 June 1980
early show

track 01: Sweet Jane 5.10
track 02: Real Good Time Together 3.34
track 03: I'm Waiting For My Man 3.36
track 04: Coney Island Baby 6.18
track 05: So Alone 3.44
track 06: Vicious 2.40
track 07: Walk On The Wild Side 4.00
track 08: Standing On Ceremony 3.47
track 09: Heroin 9.28
track 10: Keep Away 4.10
track 11: The Kids 5.12 (a song of lust, love, hate.....)
track 12: Caroline Says 2 5.33
track 13: The Power Of Positive Drinking 2.39
track 14: How Do You Speak To An Angel? 4.11
track 15: My Old Man 4.19
track 16: Growing Up In Public 3.52
track 17: Street Hassle 11.02
track 18: Rock And Roll 12.47
track 19: Think It Over 3.30


Lou Reed: guitar, vocals
Stuart Heinrich: guitar synthesiser
Chuck Hammer: guitar
Ellard "Moose" Bowles: bass
Michael Fonfara: keyboards
Michael Suchorsky: drums

lineage: MAXELL XL11 cassettes - (WavePad) - WAV - FLAC (level 8) - you

transfer to WAV by lurid_uk
uploaded to Dime January 2008 by lurid_uk

"Growing Up In Public" was the most obviously biographical collection of songs ever recorded by Lou.
Some of them seem so deeply personal they're amost embarrassing to listen to (but then he throws in
something like "The Power Of Positive Drinking" and you just have to laugh!). Setting aside his
inspiration for the material, it was certainly a very "wordy" lp: Lou seems to have focussed on the
lyrics and left the music and production to Michael Fonfara. The recording took place at George
Martin's AIR Studios in Monserrat, and to quote Lou himself: "Growing Up In Public is one of the
drinking records of all time......me and Fonfara were ridiculous. We both almost drowned in the pools
they've got there. It's not a good way to make a record. We were animals." Lou was now using alcohol
in lieu of more illicit drugs, and his weight had soared. (His "fat elvis" period??) Photos from the time
show him bloated and almost bursting out of his leather trousers.

There was a short USA tour to promote the new lp, then some dates in Europe towards the end of
June. I think there were some further dates in North America in late 1980 (including an appearance on
the Don Kirshner TV show) before Lou settled down to married bliss with Sylvia. He wouldn't
properly perform in public again till February 1983.

Lou's appearances at the Bottom Line Club are always something special. This is a great audience
recording of a really powerful show, and it's always been (another) one of my favourites. Lou's in a
really good mood, his vocals are full of passion, and he puts a lot of effort into the new songs (as well
as the old ones!). In a rare sharing of his private life, the final song is dedicated to his wife, Sylvia. The
band are superb - very tight. The audience are noisily appreciative - for me that only seems to add to
the electric atmosphere. There's a bit of tape hiss, but I think that keeping it is a small price to pay to
retain the high frequency fidelity of the recording.

Distribute widely but do not sell!

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Total time 99:43
All tracks had SBEs. Fixed by TLH and re-encoded to flac (8).
Track 20 'Kill Your Sons' from one of the early 70s demo tapes was deleted in the re-seed.