Nils Lofgren - "Blue with Lou" : A tribute to Lou Reed

The Lou of the title is of course Lou Reed, who Nils Lofgren first collaborated with in 1979 on Reed’s The Bells and his own album Nils. The pair shared ties with producer Bob Ezrin, who worked on Reed’s ultra-harrowing Berlin, and guitarist Dick Wagner, who seems to have acted as matchmaker in what might appear to be an unlikely liaison. 
Now, with Blue With Lou Lofgren has revisited a set of songs he co-wrote down the phone with Reed 40 years ago. And the results are pretty good. Nils is in good voice and well capable of turning in spectacular but always tasteful guitar playing in front of his favoured trio collaborators Kevin McCormick on bass and Andy Newmark on drums.
The project, which does have an air of labour of love’ about it, begins with Attitude City, Give and Talk Through The Tears.

The former doesn’t quite live up to the title, although backing singer Cindy Mizelle does her best to revive the old Walk On The Wild Side vibe. The latter is much better, copping the opening line from Nat King Cole’s Smile and then mutating into something reminiscent of Loaded Velvets in an MOR groove plus barbershop harmonies. 

Lofgren’s own vocals are often uncannily close to Springsteen’s style when he’s not in any great hurry, and there’s a sense that Lofgren is creating a tribute to others. Even so, it’s instructive to hear Reed’s open letter to himself on Don't Let Your Guard Down and in the whiff of ancient danger on Cut Him Up, a track that steams along like a stolen New York taxi with Mizelle in the shotgun seat honking up R&B. Reed’s nostalgic City Lights retains The Bells’ sax arrangement but hangs around too long. 

Best of the rest is the ballad Too Blue To Play, a country lament with a romantic arrangement that suggests Lofgren is paying homage yet again, but this time to Elvis Presley and The Jordanaires. Overall, it’s a pleasant album and one that covers a lot of bases.