Remembering Lou Reed: Introduction

For decades, I fantasized about the day I would meet Lou Reed face-to-face and somehow be granted an audience with the man. Sadly, it never happened

Even so, Lou Reed held a prominent place in my orbit for more than four decades and probably had as profound an impact on my life as anyone outside of immediate family.

His death wasn't a shock -- we knew for a few months that he had had a liver transplant in April and learned a few days before he died that the new organ was shutting down. But it still hurt my heart when he left us on Oct. 27, 2013, and it continues to do so whenever I realize that he really is gone.

I'm going to use this space to celebrate the music Lou Reed left to the world, leading up to the second anniversary of his death. I'll do it in stages, starting with the earliest Velvet Underground recordings and moving chronologically through his nearly 50-year career. I'll do it mostly by compiling Spotify playlists of deeper VU and Lou Reed tracks.

Even the most casual fan is familiar with "I'm Waiting for the Man," a couple of different versions of "Sweet Jane," "Walk on the Wild Side," "I Love You Suzanne," "Dirty Blvd." and other of his more radio-friendly songs. But come check out this retrospective and hear some of the stuff that really defines the man's music as moments in time.

You'll be impressed, I'm sure.

Next: The Velvet Underground with John Cale.