Lou Reed Says Kanye’s New Album Has “Beauty And Greatness”

Lou Reed, now a gentle poet in his golden years, has high praise for Kanye West and his latest album, “Yeezus”. Lou Reed is great. I mean, in theory. He used to be great. He’s okay now. I would go to brunch with him. Here’s what he said about Kanye’s music, via ContactMusic.com. And there’s a lot of praise. Maybe this will finally lift Kanye’s low self-esteem.

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. There’s a lot going on there: horns, piano, bass, drums, electronic effects, all rhythmically matched – towards the end of the track [“Blood on the Leaves”], there’s now twice as much sonic material. But Kanye stays unmoved while this mountain of sound grows around him. Such an enormous amount of work went into making this album. Each track is like making a movie.

Very often, he’ll have this very monotonous section going and then, suddenly – ‘Bap! Bap! Bap! Bap!’ – he disrupts the whole thing and we’re on to something new that’s absolutely incredible. That’s architecture, that’s structure – this guy is seriously smart. 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.

If you like sound, listen to what he’s giving you. Majestic and inspiring.

Seriously he said ALL OF THIS about Kanye. I ain’t mad, I love Kanye, I’m just surprised. Maybe he and Kanye will start hanging out now. Get some brunch. They can scowl together.

Mr. Reed was recently hospitalized for dehydration but he’s okay now.