LOU'S VIEWS: Lou Reed is quite clear that his upcoming album, Ecstasy, is among his finest work to date.

 That in itself shouldn't come as a surprise. Almost all artists say things like that.

 What is interesting is the obvious enthusiasm that Reed -- a notoriously terse interview -- feels for the shimmering guitars of Ecstasy, which comes out April 4.

 "It's an amazing sound," Reed said in a phone interview from New York City yesterday. "We've been working on that so long, almost getting there -- but if you had that you couldn't have this or it would cancel out something else. Here we've got everything I've wanted out of that kind of guitar. It's big, but it doesn't hurt you. All the harmonics that are piled into it are discernible. It's warm and it's huge."

 Reed is joined on Ecstasy by his usual sidemen, guitarist Mike Rathke and Fernando Saunders, with guest violin work by longtime flame Laurie Anderson and Sex Mob horn player Steve Bernstein.

 Among other things, during a relatively friendly 30-minute chat, the legendary singer and Velvet Underground founder talked about the evolution of his songwriting -- detailed in the new Hyperion collection of his lyrics, Pass Thru Fire -- and the current political climate in the U.S. as a source of inspiration.

 "I've kept my (political) cards much closer to my chest lately," he said. "I don't want to write songs about it. Generally, anything I have to say about politics is written in the context of writing about people.

 "The situation in the U.S. speaks for itself. I remember reading some comparison between crime in Detroit with guns and crime in Toronto with guns, and the difference in statistics was amazing.

 "The amount of money they just spent on the primaries is more than most Third World countries have ... and still all the excitement disappeared with (Republican nomination hopeful John) McCain."