On "Magic and Loss," Lou Reed once again digs inside himself with all the fatal fervor of a junky prodding a needle in his arm. He also shows that rock'n'roll is a fine vehicle for growing up, growing old, and dying. A melancholy, painful album, part regret, part sentiment, part loneliness and contemplation, this is a very personal statement during a period when Reed lost two friends to cancer. It's not an album you can put on to play in the background--few of Reed's albums are. Listen to it while you're in a reflective, downbeat mood--it draws you in, shows you sights of beauty and sadness, and leaves you with a ray of hard-won hope. Stand-out songs include "What's Good: The Thesis," "Magician: Internally," "Dreamin': Escape, "Cremation: Ashes to Ashes" and "Harry's Circumcision: Reverie Gone Astray." In one moment of honesty, a character says, "Doctor, you're no magician, and I am no believer... I need more than faith can give me now." Ouch. These are not the same old platitudes... Lou Reed explores not just the terminal illness of disease, but of life itself.

In both his Velvet Underground and solo days, Lou Reed has explored dark themes: sex, S&M, drugs, mind trips, and the rough street life. His art has been about experiencing these things, not so much social commentary. One dark theme has not been that much of a preoccupation. In Magic and Loss, Lou switches gears and looks at life's experiences contemplatively, but focuses heavily on its end--death. This was inspired by the recent deaths by cancer of two friends and apparently also the AIDS epidemic.

The majority of songs are mellow, with soft, sweet guitar riffs, allowing us to focus on Lou's very strong lyrics. There are also five strong rockers: the opener (effectively), "What's Good"; the acoustic "Sword of Damocles"; "Warrior King"; "Gassed and Stoked"; and "Power and Glory Part II." The first two are marked by crisp, pretty definition in the rhythm guitars, smooth strokes, in contrast to the guitars in the others, which have the edge, and a bit of the fuzziness and distortion, often seen in Lou's work. "What's Good" and "Warrior King," the CD's most potent tune, are the two best songs. The softer, mostly slower songs are good too. My only problem is that there are too many of them: six of seven between the opener and "Warrior King."

There is a positive spin to Magic and Loss, witness the album title and the concluding title cut: "There's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even things out." Lou sees things both ways, focusing heavily on hardship and death, but also dignity.

This is my personal choice for the best album Reed has ever released. I think its something one has to listen to in order to appreciate, not read a review about it. The level of emotional intensity reached hear is extremely rare in popular music.

This is not easy listening, especially for anyone who has experienced the untimely loss of a loved one. Every song on this - a true concept album if there ever was one - has a purpose, as Lou takes us through his personal experience of grieving. Most listeners will find much to relate to.

I think you have to have hurt some, lost someone, suffered with someone dying, or had some sort of dramatic compromise in your life to really get into this album. This album is just total cosmic blues, and it is stark. If you haven't experienced a loss, you will not have some of the emotional triggers and tacit information that fills the songs in emotionally what they lack in orchestration. Basically, pain is the orchestra in this CD.

It is easy to be put off by this CD because in some spots it sounds like a precious garage band spoken word, and there are some weak spots in the album that make it an easy target from a critical standpoint (there are some ugly noodling guitar solos). But from a feeling standpoint, the starkness of the album is soothing. The instruments, chorusy guitars and fretless bass, create an ambience. If you can relate to the feeling, you have some emotional information to plug into the soft spots, and it becomes a whole experience.

There is clarity and reckoning in the songs, and the weak spots to me signify just exactly how hard it is to capture the loss. Lou Reed sometimes errs while daring to do something very hard, and that is far more valuable than succeding at something mundane and predictable (to loosely paraphrase Roosevelt.) The magic, although not consistent from song to song, is really there and amazing, trancendant, crystalline in some spots, and not in a highly stylized or cliched way that taps into your pop-music programming (you know, like in soundtracks that get really tense when you are supposed to be scared--music can be programmed to trick you into feeling a certain way).

The album is really solid in the first half, especially Creamation, Magician, Power and Glory, and What's Good, and spottier toward the end IMO, especially Harry's Circumcision, Gassed and Stoked, and Power and Glory Part II.

Magic and Loss was another concept album from Lou Reed. I wished he made more of them because he's quite good and making song cycle discs. The story of this album is about the cycle of life and death, magic and loss of life and how they intwine with each other. Lou Reed lost to friends to cancer and his thoughts and expressions were put to music. A lot of interesting ideas here (how radiation can cause cancer but it's used to treat it at the same time)
that are executed very well.

A depressing album that has a small light at the end of the tunnel. Just like life, in order for it to continue we have to accept loss along with the magic. One hand washing the other. Great stuff from Lou Reed. Check out New York, Songs for Drella, Berlin and Blue Mask for other great concept albums from the New Yorck City Man himself, Lou Reed.

Highly recommended.