Lou Reed – Magic and Loss (1992/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Lou Reed – Magic and Loss (1992/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 58:29 minutes | 2,38 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

Magic And Loss is Lou Reed’s sixteenth studio album. Produced by Lou Reed and Mike Rathke, it was released on Sire Records in 1992.

With 1982’s The Blue Mask, Lou Reed began approaching more mature and challenging themes in his music, and in 1992, Reed decided it was time to tackle the Most Serious Theme of All — Death. Reed lost two close friends to cancer within the space of a year, and the experience informed Magic and Loss, a set of 14 songs about loss, illness, and mortality. It would have been easy for a project like this to sound morbid, but Reed avoids that; the emotions that dominate these songs are fear and helplessness in the face of a disease (and a fate) not fully understood, and Reed’s songs struggle to balance these anxieties with bravery, humor, and an understanding of the notion that death is an inevitable part of life — that you can’t have the magic without the loss. It’s obvious that Reed worked on this material with great care, and Magic and Loss contains some of his most intelligent and emotionally intense work as a lyricist. However, Reed hits many of the same themes over and over again, and while Reed and his accompanists — guitarist Mike Rathke, bassist Rob Wasserman, and percussionist Michael Blair — approach the music with skill and impeccable chops, many of these songs are a bit samey; the album’s most memorable tunes are the ones that pull it out of its mid-tempo rut, like the grooving “What’s Good” and the guitar workout “Gassed and Stoked.” Magic and Loss is an intensely heartfelt piece of music, possessing a taste and subtlety one might never have expected from Reed, but its good taste almost works against it; it’s a sincere bit of public mourning, but perhaps a more rousing wake might have been a more meaningful tribute to the departed. –Mark Deming

Tracklist:
01. Lou Reed – Dorita – The Spirit (01:07)
02. Lou Reed – What’s Good – The Thesis (03:22)
03. Lou Reed – Power and Glory – The Situation (04:23)
04. Lou Reed – Magician – Internally (06:22)
05. Lou Reed – Sword of Damocles – Externally (03:42)
06. Lou Reed – Goodby Mass – In a Chapel Bodily Termination (04:25)
07. Lou Reed – Cremation – Ashes to Ashes (02:54)
08. Lou Reed – Dreamin’ – Escape (05:06)
09. Lou Reed – No Chance – Regret (03:14)
10. Lou Reed – Warrior King – Revenge (04:27)
11. Lou Reed – Harry’s Circumcision – Reverie Gone Astray (05:28)
12. Lou Reed – Gassed and Stoked – Loss (04:18)
13. Lou Reed – Power and Glory Part II – Magic – Transformation (02:57)
14. Lou Reed – Magic and Loss – The Summation (06:38)

Personnel:
Lou Reed – vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Mike Rathke – guitar
Rob Wasserman – bass
Michael Blair – drums, percussion, background vocals
Roger Moutenot – background vocals
Little Jimmy Scott – background vocals

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