Lou Reed-Live: Take No Prisoners (1978)

This double live album by Lou Reed, released in late 1978, is one of his most infamous records, and it's so because, more than a conventional live album, it's a long monologue in which he insults, rants, and laughs at everything under the sun, all while smoking and telling sordid jokes brimming with malice and madness. Preceded by the equally twisted "Street Hassle", this concert, recorded at The Bottom Line in New York in May 1978, features Lou Reed revisiting some of his most emblematic songs, which sound unrecognizable here, yet retain their charm thanks to the brilliant musical treatment applied. Songs like "Sweet Jane" contain hurtful interludes, such as insulting the audience. Others, like "I Wanna Be Black", "Satellite of Love", "Pale Blue Eyes", and "Berlin", showcase an excellent backing band that navigates between funk and rock, embellishing the well-oiled rhythm section with electric guitars, piano, saxophone, and backing vocals. In "I'm Waiting for My Man", Reed returns to the attack after warning the audience, "I'll speak when you shut up". Not content with slightly altering the title and presenting the song as a blues track three times longer than the original, it ultimately becomes the prelude to one of his biting songs, "Temporary Thing". However, Reed's harshest and most scathing criticisms are reserved for the nearly seventeen minutes of an unalterable "Walk On The Wild Side", whose riff perpetuates itself as a cold chant over which Lou Reed hurls insults left and right, insulting music critic Robert Christgau, talking about how idiotic Joe Dallesandro was, imitating and ridiculing Barbra Streisand, praising Bruce Springsteen, or improvising on any outlandish idea that crossed his mind during the concert, turning this song into a kind of ceremony of bewilderment and provocation. Without a doubt, we are dealing with a punk album, performed in a way that few, if any, punks would ever dream of.