The broadcast recordings included on this release showcases Lou Reed's eighth solo album, 'Street Hassle', which was issued in April 1978, during the most prolific period of the man's recording career. Lou Reed had embarked as a solo artist in the early 1970's, following his departure from the extraordinarily influential Velvet Underground. Every one of their four albums recorded during Reed's tenure with the group is included in Rolling Stone magazine's list of 'The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time'. Lou's own versions of two of the most commercially successful tracks from the fourth VU album, Loaded, are included here. After leaving the Velvets during the recording of Loaded in August 1970, Lou moved to RCA Records and issued his eponymous solo debut the following year. The follow-up, 'Transformer' (1972) and co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson was a different matter entirely. It boasted an insistently memorable hit single in the shape of the marvelously affectionate tribute to the Warhol/Factory era, 'Walk On The Wild Side', a song that Lou reprises here, together with the glorious ballad 'Satellite Of Love' - surely two of the most widely known and best-loved songs in the entire Reed solo canon. The album was a triumph and really served to establish Lou Reed as a solo artist of considerable stature internationally. Lou quickly followed up with the much darker-hued and heavily orchestrated rock opera Berlin and what became his highest-charting album, Sally Can't Dance, which reached the Top 10 in the USA. Subsequent records Metal Machine Music, the more accessible Coney Island Baby and Rock And Roll Heart were not as well-received, before 1978's Street Hassle marked a strong return to form, with AllMusic's Mark Deming described the record as ""among the most powerful and compelling albums he released during the 1970s, and too personal and affecting to ignore.
B**X
hassled in april is the best representation of that time in lous career
its a shame we haven't seen any official releases from the lou reed archives since his passing. there are several bootleg live albums from his mid-period. hassled in april is the best representation of that time in lous career. the sound quality from fm live broadcast is more than acceptable and translates good on hi-fidelity systems. also there are no annoying edits that butcher the songs like the others. for me personally I like the fact that lou doesn't banter with the audience too much, its more about the music. this is almost a look back to rock and roll animal, raw treatment of the songs and some unique variations of the classics. well worth any fan of lous money and time.
T**Y
Energy is great! Recording quality is surprisingly good
Everything you'd want in a late 70s Reed live album. Energy is great! Recording quality is surprisingly good. It's like "Take No Prisoners" but Lou actually sings and finishes songs! Highly recommended if you love this phase of Lou's career like I do.
P**E
Dirty, grungy, druggy, punkish Lou at his near V.U. best.
Long time fans of Lou have long been divided on the merits of the various permutations of his styles through the years. There is though a fairly common consensus that there are particular high points along the way centered on particularly strong albums which stand out from among the weaker ones. The corresponding tours to promote those albums are also generally held in high regard. The most obvious example of this synergy is the "Berlin" album and the subsequent "Rock & Roll Animal" tour. The album while mostly ignored upon its release has come to be regarded as one of Lou's greatest masterpieces. And the tour - repleat with the heavy metal guitar onslaught of Hunter & Wagner? Controversial, yes, but undeniably one of Lou's most poerful steps toward mass market stardom.Likewise 1989's "New York" album and the tour which followed (unfortunately only documented on unofficial recordings). Dedicated fans will obviously have other "high point" markers to add to the list. Another one which appears on many of those lists is 1978's "Street Hassle" LP. The album itself has come to be hailed as another one of Lou's masterpieces and the subsequent tour has achieved near legendary status.While the music of this period had very little overt similarity to the V.U. days, most fans note something about the "feel" and the "spirit" of the playing, the tunes, the lyrics and basically the whole package as the most V.U. like work of his entire solo career. The only official document of the tour is "Take No Prisoners", which in typical Lou fashion, is a bit of a thumbed nose to his then record label. Near half of the album features Lou doing what can best be described as stream of conciousness stand up comedy while the band endlessly vamps tunes for the songs that they never get around to actually playing.This release, "Hassled In April" presents a more typical presentation of the shows from that tour. On this one, other than to intoduce the band, Lou barely speaks at all to the audience. The songs get played for real and in all their ragged glory. Flubbed lyrics, bum notes, raucous punk attitude and all. In short, if you like "Street Hassle" and the part of "Take No Prisoners" where the songs do get played then this is an essential one to own.As to the sound quality, it was sourced from a remote professional recording done by Chicago radio station WXRT-FM for subsequent broadcast. The sound is roughly an a par with that of "Take No Prisoners" with the exception of the drums which seem to have been rather poorly mic'd. The last two cuts are from the same tour at a show in Cleveland also recorded for broadcast by radio station WMMR-FM, also in excellent quality. There is an hour long tape of more of that show in circulation among fans, so we can hope that one day it will appear also.
D**L
No Hassle Here.
A nice period piece, certainly not the "stand-up Lou" of "Take No Prisoners" recorded from the same tour. I have never encountered it as a bootleg, has typical 70's live radio sound. If you're a Lou fan, GET IT!
D**.
A companion to Prisoners of Rock n Roll
This is a wonderful FM recording of a historic tour. Couldn't recommend highly enough.
A**R
As much as we all love Take No Prisioners as our favorite live album of ...
A true documentation of Lou's 1978 tour with superb sound quality. As much as we all love Take No Prisioners as our favorite live album of all time this is what the band sounded like night after night. Take No Prisioners was a piece of art separate from that tour. This is it. This review is for the vinyl. I haven't heard the cd but have been listening to these shows on tape since they started circulating with collectors. This Chicago set has been known as a great sounding set but this vinyl is amazing!
F**S
Where's Street Hassle from Park West?
Great concert, great sound and great piece of rock history. If you want to hear Take No Prisoners without Lou talking through the songs this is that night. I took two stars off for the omission of Street Hassle form the Park West Performance and instead opting to include the inferior Cleveland Music Hall performance of it. For God's sake, its titled "Hassled In April", why would you not include the title song? I like having the complete show, no cuts, song omission, or rearrangement of titles. I like to hear the concert as it was that night, let the soundboard tape roll right onto the record. Unfortunately someone has decided to slice this up and try to include some extra bits from another night and another town. If you have the source recordings, why not release a Cleveland Music Hall LP too?
W**M
Saving the best for last
Of the recent influx of previously unreleased live material this is by far the best. Real good sound. Lou is in good form. A treat for all Lou Reef fans. Only downside the liner notes suck.
C**N
Imprescindible para completista.
Libreto bien de información. Son conciertos transmitidos por radio con un sonido aceptable, 7,5 sobre 10. No es un sonido nítido, pero se distinguen los instrumentos y la mezcla esta bien. La voz bien, aunque los coros un poco altos. Las 8 primeras canciones son de un concierto en Chicago del 14 de abril y las dos últimas en Cleveland el 26 de abril. Buena banda la que llevaba Los Reed en esa gira. Le pongo 4 estrellas porque es un disco pensado para fans. Pero si eres completista de Lou Reed no lo dudes.
M**B
Super live !
Un disque excellent. Enregistré un mois avant Take no prisoners le résultat est surprenant. Un Lou Reed plus énergique, moins causant accompagné de fameux musiciens. 10 morceaux dont 8 similaires au disque cité ci-dessus mais avec des traitements très différents. En fait ça vaut vraiment le coup d'avoir les deux. Le son est très bon aussi.
A**R
Five Stars
Raw but its Lou , the coolest man in New York
D**R
Gimme some good times - "Street Hassle" Tour 1978
Tolles CD bootleg auf "Smokin" von 2014 im Pappschuber und schöngemachten booklet. Die ersten 8 tracks stammen von einer "WXRT FM" Radioübertagung der "Street Hassle" Tour aus dem Park West, Chicago von 14 April 1978. Während die beiden Schlüsseltrack Nr.9. "I wanna be black" als Nr.10, das über 11 Minuten lange fast "opusartige" "Street Hassle" von einer spätern show vom 26. April in der "Cleveland Music Hall" in Cleveland stammen. Auch hier sorgt eine Radioaufnahme über "WMMS FM" Radio für eine recht gute Qualität der Aufnahme.Neben "Lou Reed" selbst spielen "Stuart Heinrich" Guitar, "Ellard Boles" Bass, "Michael Fonfara" : Keyboards, "Marty Fogel" : Sax, "Michael Suchorsky" :Drums und singen "Angela Howard" und "Chrissy Faith" im background. Besonders prägen ist hier oft der Saxophon Sound und die Keyboards von Michael Fonfara.Nach dem Opener "Gimme some good times" vom "Street Hassle" Album gibt es schon eher Altbewährtes mit "Satellite of Love" mit einer über 6 minütigen Version. "Leave me alone" ist da schon eher sperrig und schwerer zu konsumieren und wird auf über 9 Minuten gedehnt.Nach dem üblichen "Walk on the wild side" stellt Reed während des improvisierten Teils von "Coney Island Baby" die Band vor und versucht über das Thema "football" mit dem Publikum ins Gespräch zu kommen. Nach diesem Höhepunkt folgt ein nächster in dem düstern "Dirt" läuft Reed innerhalb der 8 Minuten zu Höchstform auf und schließt hier mit den Klassiker "Sweet Jane" und "Rock n Roll" von "Velvet Underground" die Show. Weshalb hier der Titelsong nicht von der Show in Chicago genommen wurde (bei youtube z.B. gibt es einen kompletten Mitschnitt der Show) und an die letzte Stelle rutscht, kann ich auch nicht erklären. Bei den Show wurd es meist nach "Dirt" performt. "I wanna be black" fand auch meist weiter vorne nach "Leave me alone" seinen Platz. Aber trozdem natürlich eine tolle Show und bei dem günstigen Preis sowieso ein schönes Sammlerstück.
I**Y
Five Stars
i miss you Lou!
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