The Raven is the most ambitious project of Lou Reed's late career: a double concept album inspired by the texts of Edgar Allan Poe, with actors of the caliber of Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi, and Fisher Stevens lending their voices to the characters. Reed found in Poe a mirror of his own obsessions — death, madness, love as destruction — and constructed a work that combines rock, spoken word, and musical theater.
The album is the result of a theatrical show Reed presented at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, and retains the texture of that immersive experience. Poe's songs coexist with reinterpretations of Reed's classic tracks — 'Perfect Day' and 'The Bed' appear transformed — creating unexpected dialogues between his work and the American writer's.
The Raven was received with divisions: too long and ambitious for some, a masterpiece of synthesis for others. Over time it has gained respect as the great final project of an artist who never stopped experimenting. Reed's death in 2013 transformed his last great artistic statement into a testament.