Legacy Recordings just announced Lou Reed – The RCA & Arista Album Collection, a 17-disc anthology of Reed’s solo output between the years of 1972 and 1986. The collection spans sixteen of Reed’s solo works, beginning with the 1972 self-titled solo debut Reed released following his 1970 departure from the Velvet Underground.
Overseeing the box set was one of Reed’s last projects before his passing from liver disease in 2013 at the age of 71. Each album was remastered under Reed’s guidance at New York’s Masterdisk in the summer of 2013, with engineering work from Vlado Meller and Rob Santos and additional production from Hal Willner.
“Our first date was a trip to the AES (Audio Engineering Society) convention. As wireheads Lou and I loved beautiful recordings and spent years making our studios, instruments and gear the best they could possibly be,” artist and Reed’s wife Laurie Anderson said in a statement. “Lou put his heart into remastering these records. They are not smoothed out. Sometimes remastering revealed their details and roughness in the most exciting ways. They leap out at you with their original energy.
“I also love the rare images and the great selection of Lou’s words about his music in this collection. Lou was a superb analyst and sharp critic and the interview excerpts bring back his crazy sense of humor, his generosity and his big view of the world and the meaning of music. Anyone who has loved Lou’s music will be so happy to have this. I’m really grateful to Sony for putting this one out.”
The box set will be available physically and digitally October 7, and a limited edition package will include an 80-page book, five 8×10 prints and a replica of an RCA promotional poster.
Check out the list of albums included in the set below.
LOU REED – THE RCA & ARISTA ALBUM COLLECTION
- Lou Reed (April 1972)
- Transformer (November 1972)
- Berlin (July 1973)
- Rock n Roll Animal (live – February 1974)
- Sally Can’t Dance (August 1974)
- Metal Machine Music (July 1975)
- Coney Island Baby (December 1975)
- Rock and Roll Heart (October 1976)
- Street Hassle (February 1978)
- Lou Reed Live Take No Prisoners (2 CDs – November 1978)
- The Bells (April 1979)
- Growing Up in Public (April 1980)
- The Blue Mask (February 1982)
- Legendary Hearts (March 1983)
- New Sensations (April 1984)
- Mistrial (June 1986)