Lou Reed has stepped in to offer his two cents on the new Kanye West album.
Everyone wants a piece of Kanye West. The rapper is one of the biggest stars on the planet, with new album 'Yeezus' racing to the top of the charts within minutes of its release.
Everyone has an opinion on Kanye West. A loudmouth, a braggart, a tender soul, a genius. Now Lou Reed has stepped into the debate.
Newly launched website The Talkhouse asked the legendary songwriter to review 'Yeezus' and the results are quite something. Here are some choice highlights…
"There are moments of supreme beauty and greatness on this record, and then some of it is the same old shit. But the guy really, really, really is talented. He's really trying to raise the bar. No one's near doing what he's doing, it's not even on the same planet."
"Each track is like making a movie. Actually, the whole album is like a movie, or a novel – each track segues into the next. This is not individual tracks sitting on their own island, all alone."
"He keeps unbalancing you. He'll pile on all this sound and then suddenly pull it away, all the way to complete silence. And then there's a scream or a beautiful melody, right there in your face. That's what I call a sucker punch."
"And it works. It works because it's beautiful – you either like it or you don't – there's no reason why it's beautiful. I don't know any musician who sits down and thinks about this. He feels it, and either it moves you too, or it doesn't, and that's that. You can analyse it all you want."
"Some people ask why he's screaming on I Am a God. It's not like a James Brown scream – it's a real scream of terror. It makes my hair stand on end. He knows they could turn on him in two seconds. By "they" I mean the public, the fickle audience. He could kill Taylor Swift and it would all be over."
A pretty fascinating article which both offers insight into Kanye West's work and reveals a lot about Lou Reed's psyche, you can find the entire piece HERE.
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