Lou Reed's solo career is notoriously erratic, and for anyone looking for a good introduction or a good summary, this is your best choice. A three CD set over three hours long, it has almost everything going for it. Everything's been remastered by Bob Ludwig from the original sources (in many cases, much better than other currently available CD's), the extensive liner notes by Rob Bowman is very well-written, incorporating a great deal of input by Lou himself, and the track selection by Lou and Bowman is very good. Every studio Lp recorded from 1972 (Lou's self-titled solo debut) to 1986 (MISTRIAL, his final Lp with RCA) is covered as well as a handful of choice live cuts and rarities. Every important aspect is given equal representation, from tender confessionals ("Think It Over"), raging confessionals ("The Blue Mask," "The Last Shot") political anthems ("Voices Of Freedom"), avant-garde experiments ("The Bells"), and even expert pop ("My Friend George").

This is almost everything you'd want from Lou Reed's RCA/Arista output (later Sire/WB albums like NEW YORK and MAGIC AND LOSS are worth owning), but it's not definitive. A few key tracks are missing, at very least, "Perfect Day" from TRANSFORMER, "I Wanna Be Black" from STREET HASSLE which Lou was hesitant to include, "Families" or "All Through The Night" from THE BELLS, a few more tracks from THE BLUE MASK and LEGENDARY HEARTS, and "I Love You Suzanne" from NEW SENSATIONS (his finest pop hit ever).

It's a minor complaint, because TRANSFORMER is a popular album, THE BELLS is love-it-or-hate-it (some think it's one of his best, others think it's a career killer), and THE BLUE MASK, LEGENDARY HEARTS, and NEW SENSATIONS are three rock-solid albums, arguably Lou's best run, so anyone who misses those tracks will probably buy the albums.

Normally I wouldn't recommend a three-CD box set as a first purchase, but in used condition, this set can be found CHEAP. Look around on ebay, or better yet here (as of this writing, there are THREE complete sets selling here for less than $10). Why pay $12 for one of Lou's subpar single disc collections, or a two-disc "NYC Man" when you can get this set for less? A nice introduction, after this set, check out THE BLUE MASK and NEW YORK, and if you still want more, check out TRANSFORMER, LEGENDARY HEARTS, and NEW SENSATIONS for Lou's more accessible side, and THE BELLS, BERLIN, and MAGIC AND LOSS for Lou's darker, somewhat more experimental side.

Lou Reed's recorded catalog is frustrating for the average music buyer. He has plenty of great songs that are buried onto mediocre or ill-conceived albums. Fortunately, "Between Thought and Expression" contains many of his best moments from before the release of 1989's "New York" album. The best part is that it contains six cuts from his best 1970s album "Berlin" and mercifully contains only a short snippet from the atrocious double disc "Metal Machine Music" album that nearly destroyed his career. His biggest hit single "Walk on the Wild Side" is here along with his smokin' extended live version of "Sweet Jane." The only truly regrettable exclusion is "Wild Child" which is one of his best songs. Overall, this is a fine anthology album from one of rock's most eccentric figures.

Lou Reed hand picked the cuts on this compilation, and where one could nit-pick over the selection presented it stands up as a whole quite well. If Lou thought the songs worthy of inclusion in a retrospective of his career he had good reason. Collectively these performances create a considerable statement. Where Lou had his down moments, his brilliance is what perseveres. Slumps are unavoidable when one succumbs to the temptations of drug addiction. Still, the artist, like his music, has survived well. There are a number of unreleased cuts here that make it worthwhile for the fan(atic)s who have much of his work. Lou Reed, like Patti Smith, is one of the greatest voices of New York/American rock and roll. Voices of the street, voices of depth, integrity, and power. Highly recommended...Simon

"Between Thought and Expression" is an uneven and disappointing collection that catalogs the wildly uneven and disappointing career of Lou Reed. Which is to say, it's an accurate representation, I guess. Which is too bad, really, because the high points of Reed's career are indeed very high, but the lows are almost unplummable.

Song selection is very strange: disc one features six, count 'em, SIX songs from "Berlin"--why didn't they just throw the whole damn thing on? Beginning to understand the uneven factor? On the plus side, the best three songs from "Transformer" are here: "Vicious", "Satellite of Love", and, of course, "Walk on the Wild Side". Also a plus, the live version of "Sweet Jane" is kept intact with Steve Hunter's intro. But where is "Sally Can't Dance"?

Disc two features the best cross-section of Reed's output, concentrating on the drug-addled 70s. Some of the tunes are presented in edited versions, which is always frustrating, but there is an interesting assortment of previously unreleased tracks which is great--the first time you hear them, anyway. The inclusion of a snippet from everybody's fave desert island disc, "Metal Machine Music", is a ballsy maneuver.

The third disc, though it has a nice collection of tunes from "The Blue Mask" and "Legendary Hearts"--two of Reed's better albums--slips badly into mediocre crap like "My Friend George" (in lieu of "I Love You, Suzanne"!??!), "The Original Wrapper", and "Tell it To Your Heart".

All in all, this is Lou Reed for better AND worse. Maybe a tighter two-CD set would have been a better, and less revealing, idea. See John Cale's "Seducing Down the Door" for the right career retrospective recipe.

"Between Thought and Expression" is a good starting point or survey of Lou Reed's career while on the RCA and Arista labels, but much like the man himself it can be erratic and challenging and is far from a complete picture. Reed has made a career out of challenging people's perceptions of him as a vocalist, songwriter, and musician and if anything this box set will reaffirm that! Reed played an active role is the song selections and sequencing rather than having outside individuals tamper with how he is projected to the world; typically him isn't it? Many of Reed's most memorable tracks (I can't really call them hits; he never had that many) are all here and included are many other surprises including "Metal Machine Music" from the widely panned eponymous release. Along the way "Between Though..." shows Lou Reed's (dare I say) maturity as an artist and showcases his considerable songwriting talents. Daresay that "The Original Wrapper" is no "Sweet Jane" but then again Lou was, and is, all about challenging who you perceive him to be. Yes, there are tracks I'd like to have had included here and others I could do without, but this is good enough for a start. Prepare to be challenged!