Ecstasy is the eighteenth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released on April 4, 2000 by Reprise Records. A concept album about Reed's personal experiences with marriage and relationships, it is his final rock album that is not a collaboration. The cover photography is by Stefan Sagmeister, who instructed Reed to masturbate behind a curtain to express the feeling of unashamed ecstasy. Songs The album begins with "Paranoia in the Key of E" which alternates between the I-IV chords in E major. Patrick Stickies for Stereogum writes that the song "gives way to a swaggering strut more effective and danceable than anything the Rolling Stones could manage in the same century." The song explores themes of marriage, decadence, and debauchery. "Mystic Child" is based around the A chord and follows a straightforward rock beat, much like its predecessor on the album, "Paranoia in the Key of E". The lyrics reference alcohol ("Liquor shifting through the brain"), insanity ("The manic depressive goes insane"), and "Situation X". The album continues with "Mad," hailed by critic Robert Christgau as "the most original song on the record" and in a review for Rolling Stone, he referred to it as "amazing." The song is told from the perspective of a man cheating on his partner. The lyrics may reference a previous song by Lou Reed dating back to his time in the Velvet Underground: "Pale Blue Eyes," and the lyrics "But mostly you just make me mad, baby you just make me mad." Both songs describe illicit affairs in Reed's life. The title track "Ecstasy" explores themes of masochism and obsession. The melody is unusual compared to most of the album which is in the genre of straightforward rock. The song alternates between the F and E major chords commonly associated with the E Phrygian dominant scale, used regularly in flamenco. "Modern Dance", described by Christgau as an "existentialist joke," reflects on Reed's past decisions, musing over whether he should live somewhere else: "Maybe its time to see Tangiers, A different life-style, some different fears, And maybe I should be in Edinburgh, In a kilt in Edinburgh." Reed also references pollution (The smell of exhaust, the smell of strife) and ponders over past relationships ("It's all downhill after the first kiss"). The song follows a I-II-IV chord progression in A major before the D major becomes a D minor chord. "Tatters" is