The Raven (Lou Reed album)

The Raven is the nineteenth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released on January 28, 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.^[7]

The Raven
Studio album by Lou Reed
Released	January 28, 2003 (2003-01-28)
Recorded	2002
Studio	Various Sear Sound, New York Clinton Recording Studio, New York Cove City Sound Studios, New York The Looking Glass Studios, New York Roof Recording, New York
Genre	Rock
Length	125:04 (2-disc edition) * 74:59 (1-disc edition)
Label	Sire
Producer	Lou Reed, Hal Willner
Lou Reed chronology
Legendary Lou Reed (2002) The Raven (2003) Animal Serenade (2004)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	54/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Rolling Stone	^[3]
Blender	^[4]
Pitchfork Media	(2.0/10)^[5]
Robert Christgau	B+^[6]

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.

Limited edition double CD set

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.^[8]

Musicians

• Lou Reed – vocals; guitar
• Mike Rathke – guitar
• Fernando Saunders – bass; guitar; backing vocals
• Tony "Thunder" Smith – drums
• Friedrich Paravicini – piano; keyboards
• Jane Scarpantoni – cello; string arrangement
• Doug Wieselman – baritone; tenor saxophone
• Paul Shapiro – tenor saxophone
• Steve Bernstein – trumpet; horn arrangement
• Art Baron – trombone on "Broadway Song"
• Ornette Coleman – alto saxophone on "Guilty"
• Frank Wulff – oboe; hurdy-gurdy on "Overture" and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
• Kate & Anna McGarrigle – vocals on "Balloon"
• Antoine Silverman – violin
• Marti Sweet – violin
• Patrick Carroll – bass; drum programming on "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
• Shelly Woodworth – English horn on "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
• Russ DeSalvo – guitar; keyboards on "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
• Rob Mathes – string arrangement on "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
• Laurie Anderson – vocals on "Call on Me"
• Antony Hegarty – vocals on "Perfect Day"; backing vocals
• David Bowie – vocals on "Hop Frog"
• The Blind Boys of Alabama – backing vocals on "I Wanna Know (The Pit and the Pendulum)"
• Willem Dafoe – voice on "The Conqueror Worm", "The Raven", "The Cask" and "Prologue (Ligeia)"
• Steve Buscemi – voice on "Broadway Song", "Old Poe" & "The Cask"
• Elizabeth Ashley – voice on "The Valley of Unrest"
• Amanda Plummer – voice on "Tripitena's Speech"

Production and artwork

• Lou Reed – producer; mixing; recording
• Hal Willner – producer
• Ric Wake – production on "Who Am I? (Tripitena's Song)"
• Tim Latham – recording; mixing
• Aaron Franz – additional recording
• Jim Monti – additional recording
• Julian Schnabel – design; photography

References

1. "The Raven by Lou Reed". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
2. Deming, Mark. The Raven at AllMusic
3. Decurtis, Anthony (2003-01-14). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-05-31. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
4. Blender (magazine) review 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
5. James, Brian (2003-02-06). . Archived from the original on 2003-02-19. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
6. "Robert Christgau: CG: Lou Reed". Retrieved 1 October 2021.
7. "POEtry". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
8. The Raven (CD booklet). Lou Reed. Sire Records. 2003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)