photo by Derick Smith
Chicago-based alternative music legend Chris Connelly is back with the sensational single ‘House of 70’s’, the invigorating first offering from his new album ‘Doo Wop In The Dark: A Portrait of Lou Reed’, out in October via Shipwrecked Industries with distribution by Virtual Label.
Produced by Connelly and his Sons of the Silent Age bandmate Alan Berliant, the adrenaline-fuelled video was produced by Someoddpilot Studios and directed by Chris Eichenseer, originator of the Chicago-based creative force Some Odd Pilot, and features artists Kira Leadholm (Madame Reaper) and Jay Drenkula.
‘Doo Wop In The Dark’ echoes Connelly’s critically acclaimed 2022 album ‘Eulogy to Christa: A Tribute to the Music & Mystique of Nico’, a colossal 20-track collection exploring one of the most unique, tragic and misunderstood female artists in the history of modern music.
This new record presents a unique mix, including Lou Reed’s own compositions, spanning his career from the Velvet Underground onwards, and songs penned by Connelly, detailing the creative and often turbulent path of Reed’s life from his teenage years through to his death in 2013.
Chris Connelly explains, “‘House of 70s’ is Lou Reed’s New York of the early- to mid-70s distilled into a rock song. The 1960s hippy dream burned out, Altamont in the rear-view mirror — while the queens, the uppers, the downers, and the streets are brought to life by Lou’s pen and guitar, a remorseless sarcasm cutting down the competition with a switchblade, Taxi Driver in drag, chain-smoking and blasting the radio at 3 am.”
While Connelly and Berliant produced most of the album, four tracks (‘Babyface’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny Viola’, ‘Doin’ The Things That We Want To’, ‘One Too Many Mysteries’) were produced by Chris Bruce (Meshell Ndegeocello, Seal, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, The Waterboys, Sheryl Crow).
Mixed by Berliant and Bruce in Chicago and New York from 2023 to 2026, and mastered by James Scott at Populist Recording & Mastering, this album is dedicated to Chris’ dear friend Zak Boerger (1973 -2025) and also the wildfire, tempestuous spirit of Lewis Allan Reed,
Over four decades of making music, since his days with Fini Tribe in Edinburgh, he has consistently pushed the creative envelope, between his involvement in such projects as Ministry, The Revolting Cocks and Pigface, his own solo work (with over 20 releases) and the four books he has authored.
Connelly’s latest release was for Fini Tribe in 2025 for their colossal 3-disc anthology ‘The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe: 1982-1987’. That same year, Connelly also released ‘The Lives and Loves of the Serial Homesick, Vol. 1’, a personal album rooted firmly in his hometown of Edinburgh, his second recent album dedicated to his beloved Scotland. Prior to that he also released ‘The Birthday Poems’, which features Monica Queen (Belle and Sebastian, Thrum).
As of August 18th, ‘House of 70’s’ is available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp. On October 16th, ‘Doo Wap In The Dark’ will be released digitally and as a limited edition two-CD set, with a selection of tracks also being made available on vinyl.
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