Album
Street Hassle
1978 · Rock
26 collectors on Gatefold own this
Street Hassle is a Rock album by Lou Reed, originally released in 1978. On Gatefold: 75 pressings tracked, owned by 26 collectors.
About
Shaking off his aura of glam-rock camp, Lou Reed reclaimed the brutal grace of his Velvet Underground years with 1978’s <i>Street Hassle</i>. There’s serious intent behind the songs here, along with a renewed commitment to primal guitar-centered rock. Reed dispels the image of ennui and dissipation he’d cultivated over previous albums; instead, he probes themes of betrayal and self-destruction with merciless clarity. <i>Street Hassle</i> combines live and studio tracks, matching Velvets-era material (“Real Good Time Together”) with skull-crunching new compositions (“Dirt,””Leave Me Alone,””Shooting Star”). He tests the limits of bad taste with the sardonic racial commentary “I Wanna Be Black” and taps into his early affection for doo-wop with “Wait.” The album’s centerpiece is the title number, a song-suite that unfolds like a radio play. Against a nervous cello and a biting guitar, Reed narrates a stark tale of love and death with a grim sort of tenderness. (Listen for Bruce Springsteen’s brief but powerful vocal cameo on this track.) At the time of its release, the album was hailed as a major comeback by an artist in decline. Today, <i>Street Hassle</i> stands out as one of Reed’s most visceral and revelatory works.
via Apple Music
The Clerk says
The Clerk knows this whole record — the pressing quirks, the credits, the take.
Tracklist
Side A
- A1Gimmie Some Good Times3:15
- A2Dirt4:58
Side B
- B1I Wanna Be Black2:52
- B2Real Good Time Together3:19
- B3Shooting Star3:09
- B4Leave Me Alone4:44
- B5Wait3:14
Sound DNA
- Rock
- Art Rock
- gritty
- brooding
- urban
This is a stereo binaural recording. As such, it is optimized for listening through headphones.
(from Wikipedia: Street Hassle (opens in a new tab))
The recording of Street Hassle was notable in that Reed and his co-producer chose to employ an experimental microphone placement technique called binaural recording. In binaural recording, two microphones are placed in the studio in an attempt to mimic the stereo sound of actually being in the room with the performers/instruments. In the case of the recording sessions and concerts that composed Street Hassle, engineers used a mannequin head with a microphone implanted in each ear. Binaural recordings are generally only effective when the user listens to the album through headphones, and do not generally translate correctly through stereo speakers.
Reed's particular binaural recording system was developed by Manfred Schunke of the German company Delta Acoustics; Schunke is credited as an engineer on Street Hassle. Reed would continue to use the binaural recording style on two more releases: the 1978 concert album Live: Take No Prisoners and the 1979 studio album The Bells.
Credits
The people behind it.
Performers
- Angela HowardBACKING VOCALS
- Aram SchefrinARRANGED BY STRINGS, ARRANGED BY
- Bruce SpringsteenSOLO VOCAL
- Christine WiltshireBACKING VOCALS
- Ellard BolesBASS
- Genya RavanBACKING VOCALS
- Jo'Anna CameronBACKING VOCALS
- Lou ReedBASS BASS, LEAD GUITAR, PIANO, VOCALS ELECTRIC GUITAR
- Marty FogelSAXOPHONE
- Michael SuchorskyDRUM DRUMS
- Steve FriedmanBASS
- Stuart HeinrichGUITAR BACKING VOCALS ELECTRIC GUITAR
- Michael FonfaraPIANO
26 collectors on Gatefold own this · 75 pressings tracked on Gatefold
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