Lou Reed [ tickets ] will release a new album, "Ecstasy" (Reprise), on April 4 and will give fans a taste of the album's street personae and rock sound during a live webcast of an April 2 Knitting Factory show in New York.

Reed is playing three shows at the Knitting Factory in New York this weekend, all of which are sold out. The April 2 show will be webcast live at 10 p.m. (EST).

From mid-April through mid-May, Reed will tour Europe. A U.S. tour is likely to follow, according to his manager. Upcoming dates will be posted to his official site.

Early criticism of "Ecstasy" has been positive, placing the album in the tradition of "Street Hassle" and "The Blue Mask." Like the earlier albums, "Ecstasy" uses a bare-bones guitar band, Reed's fictional and autobiographical commentaries on desires and relationships, and narratives about drug users and sexually subversive criminals.

Reed's collected lyrics, "Pass Thru Fire," were published last February by Hyperion. Reed also wrote lyrics and music for "Poe-Try," a collaboration with theater/visual artist Robert Wilson, who worked with Reed on the music theater piece "Time Rocker." "Poe-Try" is currently being performed by the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Germany.