In December 1964 Lou Reed released what was effectively a solo single under the name the Primitives. Do the Ostrich wasn’t the first record to bear his name. For a few months he’d been churning out made-to-order songs for Pickwick, a label that specialised in bargain-basement albums ripping off that period’s prevalent pop styles. Before that, his teenage band, the Jades, had released two entirely unexceptional doo-wop tracks in 1958 and two years later he had chanced his arm as a solo singer, recording in the perky, post-rock ’n roll style that predominated in pre-Beatles America.
