Album of the Day

Lou Reed and John Cale had rarely crossed paths after their Velvet Underground days but teamed up again to make SONGS FOR DRELLA in memory of their mentor, Andy Warhol. A contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, “Drella” was a nickname for the pop art icon, and the 1990 Sire collection paints pictures of his life and milieu from multiple perspectives and in roughly chronological order. With Reed's guitar and Cale's keyboards and viola accompanying their unmistakable voices, songs like “Style It Takes,” “Trouble with Classicists” and “Nobody But You” have an insight and empathy that will resonate with listeners even if they know little of Warhol. Reed was born on this day in 1942, and SONGS FOR DRELLA stands with the very best of his post-VU recordings.