Perfect Night
The first sign that the live acoustic setPerfect Nightis going to be dodgy is the liner notes, where Reed enthuses over the "Feedbucker"--a device that wipes out feedback. This from the man who recorded "I Heard Her Call My Name." Reed walks-and-talks through 15 of his songs with the absolute confidence of a man convinced he's a great urban poet. The problem is that he's only that sometimes: "The Kids" and "Vicious" come out just fine, but later material sounds flatter and preachier than ever--reviving "The Original Wrapper" is a mistake any way you want to cut it. Reed isn't just a lyricist, he's a songwriter, and reducing his music to functional accompaniment doesn't do his songs justice.--Douglas Wolk