Never one for the slick, safe live recording, Reed outdid himself on this 1978 double. Street Hassle (also ’78) had brought him halfway back from the brink he’d braved with Metal Machine Music, but here the well-known songs’ loose outlines are just irrelevant backdrops for extended miserabilist rants against fans, friends and critics.
A cross between Lenny Bruce and Alex Ferguson, Lou bitches about the injustice of it all as the nervous, ignored band jam through “Sweet Jane”, “Walk On The Wild Side” et al. Reed as great, grizzling punk grinch.
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