Lou Reed - Hudson River Wind Meditations

Hudson River Wind Meditations is an album of meditational music by Lou Reed. It is a departure from his regular rock output. It is named for one of New York City's key features, the Hudson River. It is inner music to relax the body, mind and spirit, adjunct to Tai Chi and bodywork. The cover photograph is by Lou Reed.



At the time of the spring 2007 release of Hudson River Wind Meditations, four years had transpired since the release of The Raven, Lou Reed's extremely ambitious collaborative take on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, and three since his last live album, the excellent Animal Serenade. What transpired during those years is anybody's guess, but if one had to judge by this, his debut album for Sounds True Audio, one would have to guess that it was somewhat drastic, at least by evidence presented. Reed states in his brief note to the album he co-produced with Hal Willner that "I composed this music for myself as an adjunct to meditation, Tai Chi, bodywork, and as music to play in the background of life – to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of an unpredictable nature." Fair enough.

The bottom line is that the music found here is electronic and not in any manner associated with Metal Machine Music. It follows – loosely – the dictums of Brian Eno's notion of ambient music in that it can be listened to in the background and perhaps ignored, but not without very low volume, and not without trying. These four pieces – the first two, "Move Your Heart" and "Find Your Note," last over an hour – are movement-oriented, albeit very slow movement. They match the breath, they match the pulse, and if listened to in meditation or with movement, offer a base, a starting point, a way of moving through the time and space of sitting or slow action that can actually focus your attention on your practice. They are not cold or emotionless, and if anything, resemble the work in Reed's photographs of the Hudson River. They are nearly still but move – the listener – into places in the heart itself.

Sure, this isn't the crazy dog of rock from the past 40 years, but he doesn't need to be. With Willner as a sympathetic editor and co-producer, Reed can let these pieces unfold by themselves with no set end point other than the silence between each track. Certainly this won't be for everyone, but for those seeking out a recording to help induce quiet in the midst of a crazy busy life, it will be indispensable. For those seeking an accompaniment to nearly any kind of spiritual practice or bodywork, this will deepen the atmosphere. For those seeking rock & roll, it's best to look elsewhere. This one may score Reed some new fans, while causing some of his other ones to guffaw in cynical delight, but that's OK – it's a sure bet he could still take 'em in an alley fight.

Thom Jurek - allmusic.com



Yet Another Side to Lou Reed - Louie Bourland

Thirty-two years after the release of his notorious electronic instrumental album "Metal Machine Music", Lou Reed has returned to the electronic genre once again with "Hudson River Wind Meditations". Unlike the endless streams of feedback and noise that was "Metal Machine Music", "Hudson River Wind Meditations" is a quiet meditative collection of four ambient pieces and is intended as a serious musical work (as opposed to the former album being an obvious joke on Reed's former record label RCA). The intention of this music is made clear in Reed's brief liner notes to the album. This isn't music designed to make a person scream but rather a collection of music that is tailor-made for relaxation.
"Hudson River Wind Meditations" opens with two extended pieces. The opening piece "Move Your Heart" is a 28-minute minimalist piece consisting of slow pulsating synths. There is very little change throughout this piece and the music almost seems as if it were a long loop set on infinite repeat. There is a striking similarity between this piece and Brian Eno's disc-length piece "Neroli".
The second extended piece "Find Your Note" runs for close to 32-minutes and consists of endless droning sine-wave tones. While the ambient nature of the previous piece is still very much present, the overall style is more similar to the electronic music created in the 1960's (ie: the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen or Lamonte Young).
The disc closes with two shorter pieces. The two-minute "Hudson River Wind" is simply an electronic simulation of ocean waves while the closing "Wind Coda" is basically a five-minute summary of what was heard in the previous three pieces - the pulsating notes of "Move Your Heart" combined with the sine-waves of "Find Your Note" and the white noise of "Hudson River Wind".
This is definitely a different type of album from Lou Reed. This isn't the type of music to sing and dance to. This is a quiet, non-intruding piece of background music that suits its purpose perfectly. While this music may seem boring to some, it is quite beautiful and relaxing.
If "Metal Machine music" turned a lot of people off, "Hudson River Wind Meditations" may be likely to reverse that.

amazon.com




Tracks

1 Move Your Heart 28:54
2 Find Your Note 31:35
3 Hudson River Wind (Blend the Ambiance) 1:50
4 Wind Coda 5:23