In addition to being a consummate performer, Lou Reed was a consumer of other artists’ work. His personal LP collection reflects the diversity of his interests, from the expected fellow punk-inspired artists like Elvis Costello and Iggy Pop, to opera, rap, and hip hop, to baroque instrumental suites and the Boston Pops orchestra. Over the next few months, we’ll share a selection of recordings from the archives in the Lou Reed exhibit, including an ever-expanding Spotify playlist as we move titles in and out. 

Reed’s collections of LPs will be kept as an artifact of his life—that is, the recordings will not be separated out, cataloged, and added to the collection. They will remain an intact entity that can be looked through, but not listened to. Because they are, by and large, commercial recordings, most can be found through your local branch or streaming service. We believe the power in the collection as a whole is the relationship between the recordings and the fact that they were all owned by one man. Eventually, there will be an inventory made available of the titles in his collection.

Four items will remain in the case throughout the duration of the exhibit.

Paul McCartney’s white label limited release of his 1997 album, Flaming Pie

In the archives, we have paired this album with the letter that accompanied it, from Sir Paul McCartney, describing the gift.

A still-sealed copy of A Tribe Called Quest’s 3-D release of Can I Kick It?

On this recording, A Tribe Called Quest samples the bass line to Reed's Walk on the Wild Side pretty much in its entirety.


 

A rare picture disc (almost certainly bootleg) of Elvis Costello’s Something New

A recording by Lou’s longtime friend, Doc Pomus

This is accompanied by the text, from the archives, of Lou’s tribute at Pomus’s funeral.

For the first round of recordings, we’ve also chosen a diverse collection of artists including Culture Club, Bow Wow Wow, Kurt Weill, Johann Sebastian Bach, and the comedian Steve Martin.

You can find all the details for the Lou Reed archive here. Also, check out our Spotify playlist for the collection, which will expand as we update it with one or two tracks from each recording we add.

Recordings displayed have been selected by Music & Recorded Sound librarians Dave McMullin, Danielle Cordovez, and Rebecca Littman.