Coney Island Baby

Coney Island Baby is the sixth solo studio album by Lou Reed, released December 1975 in the US, and in January 1976 in the UK, by RCA Records.

For the 2003 film, see Coney Island Baby (film). For the barbershop song, see Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby.
Coney Island Baby
Studio album by
Lou Reed
ReleasedDecember 1975 (US)
January 19, 1976 (UK)
RecordedOctober 18–28, 1975
StudioMediasound, New York City
GenreSoft rock
Length35:15
LabelRCA
ProducerLou Reed, Godfrey Diamond
(Steve Katz bonus tracks 2, 4–6)
Lou Reed chronology
Metal Machine Music
(1975)		 Coney Island Baby
(1975)		 Rock and Roll Heart
(1976)

Music and lyrics
At the end of the title track, Reed dedicates the song to "all the kids at P.S. 192", referencing the P.S. 192 – Magnet School for Math & Science Inquiry, in Brooklyn, New York, where Reed went to school.

The album has been described by Anthony DeCurtis as "perhaps the most romantic album of Reed's career".[1] Many of the album's songs were inspired by and dedicated to Reed's girlfriend and muse at the time, a trans woman named Rachel Humphreys.[2][3] According to Aidan Levy, Coney Island Baby was "as much a love letter to Rachel as it was to the nostalgic Coney Island of the mind."[4]

The album's title track directly references Rachel with the line: "I'd like to send this one out to Lou and Rachel, and all the kids at P.S. 192."[5] "P.S. 192" refers to P.S. 192 – which at that time was a public school for kindergarten to 6th grade, in Brooklyn, New York City, NY, where Reed went to school before moving to Long Island, New York.[6] In 1979 Reed said "Saying 'I'm a Coney Island baby' at the end of that song is like saying I haven't backed off an inch. And don't you forget it."[7][8]

The album includes the song "She's My Best Friend", a version of which was originally recorded by Reed's band the Velvet Underground in 1969, and eventually released on the 1985 compilation album VU. The 30th-anniversary re-issue of Coney Island Baby includes bonus tracks featuring Reed's Velvet Underground bandmate Doug Yule.

Critical reception
Retrospective professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Blender[10]
Chicago Tribune[11]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[12]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[13]
The Guardian[14]
Pitchfork8.5/10[15]
Q[16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[17]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[18]

Reviewing for Rolling Stone in 1976, Paul Nelson wrote, "For the eight superb songs on Coney Island Baby, Reed assembled the best band he has performed with since the Velvet Underground. Michael Suchorsky's versatile, controlled drumming is especially praiseworthy, and Reed himself has even managed to rekindle his intense, individualistic guitar playing of the late Sixties. Better yet, he has shelved his recent FM-DJ vocal style in favor of confident, expressive singing. The songs themselves—as structured and melodic as any Reed has written — are timeless, terrific rock & roll, and the strength of the genre is accentuated by the simplicity and logic of crisp, tactile production (by Reed and Godfrey Diamond) and careful, resourceful arrangements which emphasize both electric and acoustic guitars and inventive background vocals."[19]

In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said of the record, "At first it's gratifying to ascertain that he's trying harder, but very soon that old cheapjack ennui begins to poke through. Oddly, though, most of the cheap stuff is near the surface—the songs sound warmer when you listen close. And not even in his most lyrical moments with the Velvets has he let his soft side show as nakedly as it does on the title cut."[12]

For the entry on Reed in Rock: The Rough Guide (1996), Roy Edroso highlighted Coney Island Baby as "the most pleasing of Reed's soft-rock albums" and said, "His sense of humour has never been better than on 'A Gift', and the title track reminds you why Jonathan Richman idolized Reed: who else would have had the nerve to try to find 'the glory of love' in the reveries of a troubled would-be high-school football player (in doo-wop style, no less)?".[20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lou Reed.

Side one

  1. "Crazy Feeling"  – 2:56
  2. "Charley's Girl"  – 2:36
  3. "She's My Best Friend"  – 6:00
  4. "Kicks"  – 6:06

Side two

  1. "A Gift"  – 3:47
  2. "Ooohhh Baby"  – 3:45
  3. "Nobody's Business"  – 3:41
  4. "Coney Island Baby"  – 6:36

30th anniversary deluxe edition bonus tracks
  1. "Nowhere at All" – 3:17 recorded November 18 & 21, 1975 at Mediasound Studios, NYC
  2. "Downtown Dirt" – 4:18 recorded January 3 & 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC
  3. "Leave Me Alone" – 5:35 recorded October 19 & 20, 1975 at Mediasound Studios, NYC
  4. "Crazy Feeling" – 2:39 recorded January 3 & 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC
  5. "She's My Best Friend" – 4:08 recorded January 4, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC
  6. "Coney Island Baby" – 5:41 recorded January 6, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC

Charts
Chart(1975/76) Peak
Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[21] 25

Personnel
  • Lou Reed – vocals, rhythm guitar, piano
  • Bob Kulick – lead guitar, slide guitar
  • Bruce Yaw – bass guitar
  • Michael Suchorsky – drums, percussion
  • Joanne Vent, Michael Wendroff, Godfrey Diamond – background vocals
  • Doug Yule – bass guitar on bonus tracks 2, 4–6, guitar on bonus tracks 4–6
  • Bob Meday – drums on bonus tracks 2, 4–6
  • Michael Fonfara – keyboards on bonus tracks 2, 4–6

Technical

  • Geoffrey Diamond, Lou Reed, Michael Wendroff – mixing
  • José Rodriguez – recording
  • Acy Lehman – art direction
  • Mick Rock – photography

References
  1. DeCurtis, Anthony. Lou Reed: A Life. New York: Little Brown. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-316-37654-9.
  2. DeCurtis, Anthony. Lou Reed: A Life. Little Brown. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-316-37654-9.
  3. https://dangerousminds.net/comments/rachel_lou_reeds_transsexual_muse
  4. Levy, Aidan. Dirty Blvd.: The Life and Music of Lou Reed. Chicago Review Press, 2015
  5. Lou Reed. "Coney Island Baby". Coney Island Baby, RCA, 1976
  6. Business Insider – Lou Reed's Most Personal Song About New York Is Not The Same As His Best One 27th October 2013
  7. Interview with Rolling Stone's Mikal Gilmore in 1979. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/lou-reed-performs-coney-island-baby-1984-video/
  8. Ref. the 'football coach' lyrics, for Reed's school life see Chapter 3 of Dirty Blvd.: The Life and Music of Lou Reed by Aidan Levy
  9. Deming, Mark. "Coney Island Baby – Lou Reed". AllMusic. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  10. Wolk, Douglas. "Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby". Blender. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  11. Kot, Greg (January 12, 1992). "Lou Reed's Recordings: 25 Years Of Path-Breaking Music". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  12. Christgau, Robert (1981). "R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  13. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Reed, Lou". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  14. Simpson, Dave (October 6, 2006). "Lou Reed, Coney Island Baby". The Guardian. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  15. Berman, Stuart (October 9, 2006). "Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  16. "Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby". Q. No. 68. May 1992. p. 103.
  17. Coleman, Mark (1992). "Lou Reed". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. pp. 582–84. ISBN 0-679-73729-4.
  18. Strauss, Neil (1995). "Lou Reed". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 325–27. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  19. Nelson, Paul (March 25, 1976). "Lou Reed: Coney Island Baby". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  20. Edroso, Roy (1996). "Lou Reed". In Buckley, Jonathan; Ellingham, Mark (eds.). Rock: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. ISBN 1858282012.
  21. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 249. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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