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Released: January 10, 1989

Rating: 4.306 (average of 11 ratings)

Genre: glam rock

Quotable: “a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll” – Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Album Tracks:

  1. Romeo Had Juliette
  2. Halloween Parade
  3. Dirty Blvd.
  4. Endless Cycle
  5. There Is No Time
  6. Last Great American Whale
  7. Beginning of a Great Adventure
  8. Busload of Faith
  9. Sick of You
  10. Hold On
  11. Good Evening Mr. Waldheim
  12. Xmas in February
  13. Strawman
  14. Dime Story Mystery

Total Running Time: 56:40

Sales:

sales in U.S. only ½ million
sales in U.K. only - estimated --
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated ½ million

Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 40
peak on U.K. album chart 14

Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Dirty Blvd. (1/21/89) #18 AR, #1 MR
  • Romeo Had Juliette (2/89) --
  • Busload of Faith (4/29/89) #47 AR, #11 MR

Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more.

New York
Lou Reed
Review:
“New York City figured so prominently in Lou Reed’s music for so long that it’s surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches that represents the strongest, best-realized set of songs of Reed’s solo career. While Reed’s 1982 comeback, The Blue Mask, sometimes found him reaching for effects, New York’s accumulated details and deft caricatures hit bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye for 57 minutes, and do so with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility” (Deming).

“New York also found Reed writing about the larger world rather than personal concerns for a change, and in the beautiful, decaying heart of New York City, he found plenty to talk about – the devastating impact of AIDS in Halloween Parade, the vicious circle of child abuse Endless Cycle, the plight of the homeless in Xmas in February – and even on the songs where he pointedly mounts a soapbox, Reed does so with an intelligence and smart-assed wit that makes him sound opinionated rather than preachy – like a New Yorker” (Deming).

“When Reed does look into his own life, it’s with humor and perception; Beginning of a Great Adventure is a hilarious meditation on the possibilities of parenthood, and Dime Store Mystery is a moving elegy to his former patron Andy Warhol” (Deming).

“Reed also unveiled a new band on this set, and while guitarist Mike Rathke didn’t challenge Reed the way Robert Quine did, Reed wasn’t needing much prodding to play at the peak of his form, and Ron Wasserman proved Reed’s superb taste in bass players had not failed him. Produced with subtle intelligence and a minimum of flash, New York is a masterpiece of literate, adult rock & roll, and the finest album of Reed’s solo career” (Deming).

Review Source(s):

Last updated March 28, 2008.