Raven
It's not surprising that Lou Reed finds a kindred spirit in Edgar Allan Poe. The godfather of punk's early ambition was to bring the darker elements of great literature--decay, death, and decadence--to rock & roll.The Ravenwas born following a spoken-word performance of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" during which Reed "came to understand it in a way I never had before." Accordingly,The Ravenmay strike Reed's longtime fans in a way the artist never has before. Although dark, the music is stylistically all over the place--fromVelvet Underground-like rock instrumentals to actor Steve Buscemi's creepy lounge-lizard take on the anti-showbiz "Broadway Song," to moments that recall such diverse past Reed ventures asMetal Machine Musicand theBells. He even reprises two classics--"Perfect Day" and "The Bed" fromTransformerandBerlin, respectively -- in almost unrecognizable forms.Ornette ColemanandDavid Bowiedrop in, and actors read text in which Reed mixes Poe's poems and stories with his own words. The opium references are surely Poe's; the explicit images probably all Reed's. It's hard to tell, though; the blend's that good.--Bill Holdship