Veteran rocker Lou Reed has certainly earned the right to do whatever he wants. Though he’s been spotty ever since the demise of the Velvet Underground, somehow Reed still commands undivided attention.

Maybe that’s because some of his records, like Berlin, disgust us at first, but then grow into something great over time. Others, like 2000’s Ecstasy, are brilliant from start to finish. But sadly, with The Raven, our commitments to overlook his missteps and prod further into his patience-tuggers have been severely crippled. File this one under “use once and destroy.”

His latest double album is based on POEtry, the musical he performed with Robert Wilson in Brooklyn. Essentially, it’s a bunch of poems set to music: some of them Reed’s, some of them Edgar Allen Poe’s. Definitely ambitious, and perhaps interesting, but it’s unlistenable nonetheless.

And when the occasional rock instrumental does come along, with grinding guitar and blaring horns, we’re left with a feeling of skepticism, knowing that tedious readings of jargon are just a track away. Even the most patient of listeners will find this hard to sit through.

“Edgar Allen Poe” features Reed belting out insightful nuggets like, “If you haven’t heard of him you must be deaf or blind.” Like those words, The Raven seems too elementary for a man of Reed’s status. This record is Lou Reed’s Tin Machine.

Given that, we should point out that Bowie does in fact appear on The Raven, along with other legitimates in Ornette Coleman, Laurie Anderson and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Actors Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe turn up as well, but that only increases the already high level of pretension. And when we get to a reworking of “Perfect Day,” sung by a warbley voiced singer called Antony, we thank Christ that POEtry never went out on tour. The record is quite enough, thank you.

We’ll let the bird speak for us. How often are we going to listen to this record? “Nevermore.”