Sally Can't Dance

This article is about the Lou Reed album. For the Con Air character, see Con Air.

Sally Can't Dance is the fourth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in September 1974 by RCA Records.^[5] Steve Katz and Reed produced the album. It remains Reed's highest-charting album in the United States, having peaked at #10 during a 14-week stay on the Billboard 200 album chart in October 1974.^[6] It is also the first solo Lou Reed album not to feature any songs originally recorded by Reed's earlier band, the Velvet Underground, as well as the first of Reed's solo studio albums to be recorded in the United States (Reed's previous three albums were all recorded in the United Kingdom). The album art was designed by noted Fillmore and Broadway poster artist David Edward Byrd and was one of the few album covers he ever designed.

Sally Can't Dance
Studio album by Lou Reed
Released	September 1974
Recorded	18 March – 26 April 1974
Studio	Electric Lady Studios (Greenwich Village, New York City)
Genre	Glam rock
Length	32:58
Label	RCA Victor
Producer	Steve Katz Lou Reed
Lou Reed chronology
Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974) Sally Can't Dance (1974) Lou Reed Live (1975)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[3]
Tom Hull	C+[4]

Background

Aside from the title song, Sally Can't Dance includes "N.Y. Stars" (in which Reed pokes fun at "fourth-rate imitators" who tried to impress him by copying his style), "Kill Your Sons" (a reflection of his stay in a psychiatric hospital at his parents' insistence, during his teen years), and "Billy," about the fate of a schoolmate with more "normal" ambitions than he'd had. The latter track reunited Reed with erstwhile Velvet Underground bandmate Doug Yule, playing bass guitar. According to an interview with Yule, the call from Reed was "out of the blue", because Reed thought Yule's bass playing style would work well on the song "Billy", and Yule agreed to play on the song saying he "liked it" and that he had enjoyed the session.^[7] More tracks featuring Yule have emerged on a CD re-issue. The title song reached #88 in Canada, ^[8] while the album itself was #22 for 3 weeks.^[9]

The album's tour featured Danny Weis, on guitar; Michael Fonfara, on keyboards; Prakash John, on bass and Pentti "Whitey" Glan, on drums on the European leg. Eric "Mouse" Johnson played drums on the Australian and U.S. sections. The sound engineer for all the live shows was Robin Mayhew, who had previously worked with David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust period. The following year, Reed contacted Doug Yule again to play guitar on his 1975 world tour.^[10]

While the record was a hit and elevated Reed's status as a star, he reportedly was disappointed in its production (in which he took a largely passive role) and the treatment of the songs. Reed remarked, "It seems like the less I'm involved with a record, the bigger a hit it becomes. If I weren't on the record at all next time around, it might go to Number One." In a 1976 interview, Reed stated that Sally Can't Dance was "a piece of shit from beginning to end."^[11]

Following the relative critical successes of Transformer, Berlin and Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Sally Can't Dance received largely negative reviews.^[12]

Cash Box said of the title song "a bluesy narrative type of vocal singing has made Reed as distinctive a performer as any" that has "the same hit feel" as "Take a Walk on the Wild Side."^[13]

In 1974, however, RCA insisted on a rapid follow-up album while Reed's career appeared to be peaking. Tiring of the pressure put on him, and with his contract requiring RCA to release whatever record he gave them, Reed handed over the master tape of Metal Machine Music—an hour of feedback and noise, with no chance of becoming a hit.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lou Reed.

Side one

1. "Ride Sally Ride" – 4:06
2. "Animal Language" – 3:05
3. "Baby Face" – 5:06
4. "N.Y. Stars" – 4:02

Side two

1. "Kill Your Sons" – 3:40
2. "Ennui" – 3:43
3. "Sally Can't Dance" – 4:12
4. "Billy" – 5:10

Bonus tracks

1. "Good Taste" – 3:30
2. "Sally Can't Dance" (single version) – 2:56

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Sally Can't Dance liner notes.^[14]

Musicians

• Lou Reed – vocals, acoustic guitar on "Billy"
• Danny Weis – guitar, tambourine, backing vocals, horn arrangement
• Paul Fleisher – saxophone on "Billy"
• David Taylor, Lou Marini, Trevor Koehler, Jon Faddis, Alan Rubin, Alex Foster, Lew Soloff – horns
• Steve Katz – harmonica, horn arrangement
• Michael Fonfara – piano, keyboards, Mellotron on "Ennui"
• Prakash John – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Doug Yule – bass guitar on "Billy"
• Ritchie Dharma – drums on "Kill Your Sons" and "Ennui"
• Pentti "Whitey" Glan – drums
• Doug Bartenfeld – guitar
• Michael Wendroff – backing vocals
• Joanne Vent – backing vocals
• Lew Soloff and Martin Sheller - horn arrangements

Production and artwork

• Steve Katz – producer
• Lou Reed – producer
• Mike Stone – recording engineer
• Ralph Moss – remix engineer
• Dennis Katz – cover concept
• Acy Lehman – art direction
• David Edward Byrd – cover art
• Mick Rock – photography

Charts

Chart(1973–1974)	Peak Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[15]	14
Dutch Albums Chart	18
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[16]	10

See also

• List of albums released in 1974
• Lou Reed's discography

References

1. Deming, Mark. Sally Can't Dance at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
2. Kot, Greg (January 12, 1992). "Lou Reed's Recordings: 25 Years Of Path-breaking Music". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 10, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
4. Hull, Tom (April 1975). "The Rekord Report: Second Card". Overdose. Retrieved June 26, 2020 – via tomhull.com.
5. Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 681. ISBN 9780862415419.
6. "Lou Reed - Chart history | Billboard". www.billboard.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-10.
7. "Doug Yule interview- Perfect Sound Forever".
8. "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 30, 1974" (PDF).
9. "RPM Top 100 Albums - November 23, 1974" (PDF).
10. "Lou Reed - Live & Alive 1975".
11. "Lou Reed speaks: is this man punk of the year?". The Varsity. March 24, 1976. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
12. DeCurtis, Anthony (2017). "Sally Can't Dance". Lou Reed: A Life. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 978-0316376549.
13. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 12, 1974. p. 20. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
14. Sally Can't Dance (CD booklet). Lou Reed. RCA Records. 1974.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
15. 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.
16. "Lou Reed > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2010-09-02.

External links

• Sally Can't Dance at Discogs (list of releases)