After leaving the groundbreaking avant-garde group The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed's solo career took off with 1972's Transformer. Along with the New York Dolls, David Bowie and T-Rex, he indulged in campy makeup and decadent songs about sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. Soon after that fad receded, Reed slowly but surely became elder statesmen of the aging New York hipster crowd with albums like Berlin, The Blue Mask and the tribute to Velvet Underground mentor Andy Warhol Songs For Drella,a 1990 collaboration with former Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale. Spanish Fly:Live In Spain a 90 minute DVD, recorded at a 2004 concert in Benicassim Festival in Spain, features performances of songs from his forty year career. Reed is backed by a stellar quartet of musicians, including cellist Jane Scarpantoni, guitarist Mike Rathke, drummer Tony Smith,and bassist Fernando Saunders. (Saunders has also toured with Marianne Faithfull.)
Modern Dance from Reed's 2000 release Ecstasy sets things off with Reed 's ode to a failing marriage, accompanied by his sparse, distorted rhythm guitar. Other highlights include Jane Scarpantoni 's haunting, tour de force cello during Venus In Furs infuses the S & M saga with an inspired sense of fury. The show's encore Walk On The Wild, brings the loudest reaction from the crowd. Daring in 1973, the song hardly raises an eyebrow now. The song has been edited,however, as the adjective "colored" is omitted and we get "and the girls go..."instead. The ten minute version of Romeo Had Juliette, one of the best cuts off the critically acclaimed New York album, has more swagger and bluster of the original. Reed takes a short guitar solo during this tune, but otherwise stands in place as he plays and doesn't engage in any onstage banter, save for introducing the band. Luckily, the band is somewhat animated. Scarpatoni and drummer Tony Smith look like they're having a great time. Reed is pretty much business as usual, in black jeans and T-shirt looking like a bespectacled accountant on his day off.
Spanish Fly is a straightforward concert film with the songs, not the star, taking precedence. Ninety percent of the excitement on Spanish Fly comes from the audio. The only extra feature on the DVD is a photo gallery of black and white shots of band members, taken by Reed. Spanish Fly would be a welcome addition to a longtime fan's collection, there's not much here, performance-wise, for the novice. The new or casual fan would be better should also check the Transformer Classic Album DVD or the Rock N Roll Heart documentary that was originally broadcast as part of the PBS series American Masters.
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