Track Listing

1. Crazy Feeling
2. Charley's Girl
3. She's My Best Friend
4. Kicks
5. Gift
6. Oooh Baby
7. Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do
8. Coney Island Baby

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99384 in Music
• Released on: 1989-09-15
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

The future of rock'n'roll
This album is a laid back album with moments of humour and also some moments of beauty. There is much to do with drug culture- 'Kicks', for example. 'Crazy feeling' and 'Nobody's business' are good rock songs as is 'Ooooh baby' which appears to be about someone working in a strip bar. There are moments of darkness on the album as you would expect from Reed. The best song here is the title track, which is thoughtful, soulful, and even a little touching. It is a perfect song. In a laid back doo-wop style, Lou sings about isolation ("when you find that you very soul, its been up for sale") and then a possible redemption through love ("remember the princess who lived on the hill, who loved you even though she knew you was wrong"), with Lou ending the album off with the words: "man, I swear I'd give the whole thing up for you."

Not Great, But A Few Classics.
It's a familiar story with Lou Reed's mid-seventies albums, as it is with his weaker eighties albums, there's always a few tracks worth getting the album for. Coney Island Baby has a couple of the finest Reed tracks you can hear. The title track's homage to the fifties is, as always with Lou in this mood, touching without resorting to sickly sentimentality. It is an immaculately produced record most notably on the other standout track "Kicks", a harrowing account of a psychopath's lust for thrills gained from violence, where Reed uses a tape of a conversation at a party to excentuate the moments of drama. These two tracks are classics, not too far behind is "She's my best friend". After that there isn't really anything that the casual Reed listener will need. However, for Reed fans an average but enjoyable listening experience is on offer.

Warm & human Lou
This is probably Reed's most atypical solo album and at first sounds lightweight and subdued, laking the great moments, drama and exciting highlights of his best work. Hard to appreciate immediately, repeated listens reveal Coney Island Baby's lyrical depth and melodic beauty. My favorites include the love song She's My Best Friend, the streetwise Charley's Girl and the sensitive narrative of the title track. Not his greatest album, but valuable as a showcase of Reed's human side in its warmth and simplicity.