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Lou Reed recalls very little about the creation of his third solo album, 1973’s critically lambasted Berlin. “I remember I had wanted to write something like A Streetcar Named Desire or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, except with guitar and drums,” Reed explains. “The idea was absurdly simple: Records have 12 or 14 songs, and there’s a character in each one. What if these characters interacted on all the songs? Wouldn’t that be fun?” The fun came 33 years later when Reed toured the album around the world and collaborated with director Julian Schnabel on a multimedia performance for the film Lou Reed’s Berlin. Click below for more on Reed and Berlin, including what young rock star he calls “a real jewel.”

• Lou Reed Goes Back to Berlin

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