The opening notes of Berlin feel like the return of a (bleak) old friend along (a dark) memory lane to the (desolate) street corner where we used to hang out. Yet the familiar, strange and flat iconic vocals render a Berlin that is not what it was in the hell-bent past.
Reed’s times, like everyone’s, have changed.
A different energy has emerged from this reanimation of a renowned work with a more studied, wiser-with-age process evidenced on tracks that range from the bluntly harsh to the uncannily gentle.
Makes you want to listen all over again to The Velvet Underground.
Stripped down but still seminal, ‘Candy Says’ and ‘Sweet Jane’ stand out.
[etRating value=“ 4.5”]
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