I would like recommendations for stuff he did. I have heard a bit of Velvet Underground but nothing much else
the obvious: + Nico and WL/WH are both as essential as any music recorded by anyone anywhere ever. they are the primordial ooze from which, in one way or another, virtually any later interesting guitar music springs. the 3rd LP is great but not quite on that level. Loaded is half great and half meh.
there are a million VU bootlegs and live recordings, many of which overlap. essential: 1969, The Quine Tapes and Legendary Guitar Amp. also great: 1966, Sweet Sister Ray, La Cave 1968, and so on.
not nearly as big a fan of LR solo, but still: Transformer, Berlin, MMM + R'n'R Animal. MMM my fav of those but don't make sense to compare it to his other work, just a different thing.
in general his best work was w/Cale, which works the other way round too. Cale's post-La Monte Young avant drone thing with Lou's pop instincts and songwriting was the ultimate combination. this is one of the best examples (and one of my favorite songs ever) pre-VU Reed/Cale laying down the drone + melody blueprint
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