The Raven (Lou Reed album)

The Raven is the nineteenth solo studio album by American musician Lou Reed, released in 2003 by Sire Records. It is a concept album, recounting the short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe through word and song, and was based on his 2000 opera co-written with Robert Wilson, POEtry.[6]

The Raven
Studio album by
Lou Reed
ReleasedJanuary 28, 2003 (2003-01-28)
Recorded2002
Studio
GenreRock
Length125:04
LabelSire
ProducerLou Reed, Hal Willner
Lou Reed chronology
Legendary Lou Reed
(2002)		 The Raven
(2003)		 Animal Serenade
(2004)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic54/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [2]
Rolling Stone[3]
Blender [4]
Pitchfork Media(2.0/10)[5]

The Raven features new and very different versions of two songs that Reed had released on earlier albums: "Perfect Day" (originally found on 1972's Transformer) and "The Bed" (from 1973's Berlin). In addition to Reed, the album features a number of guest vocalists including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Antony Hegarty, Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe. The co-producer of the album, Hal Willner, had previously overseen the Poe tribute album Closed on Account of Rabies.

The recording was simultaneously released as a two-disc set of recordings and in an edited single-disc version. Painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel created the cover. The Raven would prove to be the final solo rock album by Reed, as 2007's Hudson River Wind Meditations consisted entirely of meditational new-age music, and 2011's Lulu was a collaborative rock album with heavy metal band Metallica.

Track listing

All tracks written by Lou Reed.

Disc 1: Act 1: The Play
  1. "The Conqueror Worm"
  2. "Overture"
  3. "Old Poe"
  4. "Prologue (Ligeia)"
  5. "Edgar Allan Poe"
  6. "The Valley of Unrest"
  7. "Call on Me"
  8. "The City in the Sea/Shadow"
  9. "A Thousand Departed Friends"
  10. "Change"
  11. "The Fall of the House of Usher"
  12. "The Bed"
  13. "Perfect Day"
  14. "The Raven"
  15. "Balloon"

Disc 2: Act 2
  1. "Broadway Song"
  2. "The Tell-Tale Heart (Pt. 1)"
  3. "Blind Rage"
  4. "The Tell-Tale Heart (Pt. 2)"
  5. "Burning Embers"
  6. "Imp of the Perverse"
  7. "Vanishing Act"
  8. "The Cask"
  9. "Guilty", spoken
  10. "Guilty", sung
  11. "A Wild Being from Birth"
  12. "I Wanna Know (The Pit and the Pendulum)"
  13. "Science of the Mind"
  14. "Annabel Lee – The Bells"
  15. "Hop Frog"
  16. "Every Frog Has His Day"
  17. "Tripitena's Speech"
  18. "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
  19. "Courtly Orangutans"
  20. "Fire Music"
  21. "Guardian Angel"

1 CD edition
  1. "Overture"
  2. "Edgar Allan Poe"
  3. "Call on Me"
  4. "The Valley of Unrest"
  5. "A Thousand Departed Friends"
  6. "Change"
  7. "The Bed"
  8. "Perfect Day"
  9. "The Raven"
  10. "Balloon"
  11. "Broadway Song"
  12. "Blind Rage"
  13. "Burning Embers"
  14. "Vanishing Act"
  15. "Guilty"
  16. "I Wanna Know (The Pit and the Pendulum)"
  17. "Science of the Mind"
  18. "Hop Frog"
  19. "Tripitena's Speech"
  20. "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
  21. "Guardian Angel"

Personnel

Adapted from The Raven liner notes.[7]

Production

References
  1. "The Raven by Lou Reed". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  2. Deming, Mark. The Raven at AllMusic
  3. Decurtis, Anthony (2003-01-14). "Lou Reed: The Raven : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2009-05-31. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  4. Blender (magazine) review Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  5. James, Brian (2003-02-06). "Lou Reed: The Raven: Pitchfork Review". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2003-02-19. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  6. "POEtry". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. The Raven (CD booklet). Lou Reed. Sire Records. 2003.CS1 maint: others (link)
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