Bluestown Music

This 3CD/DVD/2LP Deluxe Edition of the legendary artist’s Sire Records debut features newly remastered sound, unreleased studio and live tracks, plus the DVD debut of “The New York Album” concert video. This limited edition and exclusive bundle also comes with a cassette version of the ‘New York’ album.

Lou Reed struck a chord with critics and fans alike more than 30 years ago with New York, his Sire Records debut and 15th solo studio album overall. Its raw sound and evocative lyrics would go on to earn the legendary singer-songwriter-poet a gold record, a Grammy® nomination, and a #1 hit on the Modern Rock charts with “Dirty Blvd.”

Rhino explores this gritty classic on an expansive collection that includes a newly remastered version of the original 1989 album on CD and – for the first time – on double 180-gram audiophile vinyl. The set also includes 26 unreleased studio and live recordings of album tracks from the Lou Reed Archive, as well as the DVD-debut of “The New York Album,” a long-out-of-print concert video recorded during the New York tour. In addition, audio from the set will be available through digital and streaming services.

The 3CD/DVD/2LP set comes packaged in a 12 x 12 hardcover book that includes new liner notes written by music journalist David Fricke, essays from archivist Don Fleming, and was produced for release by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Bill Ingot, Jason Stern, and Hal Willner. 

New York captures Reed in exceptional form and is packed with incredible songs like “Busload Of Faith,” “Halloween Parade” and “Dirty Blvd.” The entire album has been remastered for the first time ever for this collection. The second disc presents unreleased live versions from the Lou Reed Archive of every album track compiled from multiple performances. To avoid duplication, none of these live tracks were taken from the set’s accompanying DVD.

The third disc showcases unreleased early versions of several album tracks from the Lou Reed Archive, including “Last Great American Whale,” “Sick Of You” and “Dirty Blvd.” Also featured is the non-LP track “The Room,” as well as live versions of “Sweet Jane,” a song Reed originally recorded with The Velvet Underground, and “Walk On The Wild Side,” from his second solo album, Transformer (1972.)

This set also includes “The New York Album,” a concert video that was originally released in 1990 on VHS and Laserdisc. It has never been available on DVD, until now. It features Reed performing the entire New York album live in Montreal at the Theatre St. Denis. The DVD concludes with an audio-only interview with Reed.