Why Don't You Smile Now - Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-1965

 

Everyone knows that Lou was a staff songwriter for Pickwick before forming the Velvet Underground from the ashes of the Primitives, which was a band created to capitalize on Lou's song, "The Ostrich", that the label was - hilariously - thinking would become a new dance craze! A few of Lou's tunes have appeared previously - I have a comp album with "Cycle Annie", for instance - but this is the first time (that I know of, anyway) where a good number of songs written by (not necessarily performed by, although some are) Lou at this time have been compiled in one place.

Seeing as these tunes are approximately 60 years old and certainly haven't been stored in pristine conditions, the sound quality varies - "The Ostrich" is particularly poor, unfortunately - but overall, it's pretty good.

As Lou would always say, the types of songs also vary pretty wildly, from primitive garage to girl groups to doo wop, crooners, Beach Boys/Jan and Dean influenced vocal-surf tunes and other pop of the times. Lots of Phil Spector rip-offs, some pretty cool soul-ish tunes, and, of course, Lou's own guitar weirdness is occasionally evident, even in these early days.

The Crawdaddies did a terrific, Velvet-styled version of the title song early on - still don't know where they first heard the tune, especially as their version sounded very different to the one included here by the All Night Workers. Ah, the detailed liner notes tell me that the Downliner Sect did a version (that I don't own), which explains that "mystery".

Overall, the songwriting is surprisingly strong, overall, considering that cuts by the Primitives and the Beachnuts were pretty trashy, and probably could have been hits if they had been in the hands of known artists and a more established record label. 

This is a pretty fun comp, especially if you're a fan of early 60's sounds that these tunes emulate and were part of. The CD comes with a huge, 40 page booklet with tons of info from Lenny Kaye and especially Ritchie Unterberger, who interviewed others who were involved, on the sounds herein. Not cheap, but worth it for fans of Lou and the early 60's!