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His musical choices often rank between the bewildering and the outright irritating. Even when touched with genius – Metal Machine Music must be one of the most intriguing major label albums ever released – he’s done little to endear himself to critics and consumers alike. This, and a notoriously aggressive interview technique, caused a sense of frustration amongst fans that can be summed up handily by Sam Moore’s exasperated cry of “Sing it Lou!” on their joint single Soul Man – which caused the curmudgeon to do little other than carry on croaking.
But before most of this unpleasantness took place there was his 1972 breakthrough album Transformer – to this day, probably the most universally loved collection of songs he has recorded as a solo artist. As with many classic albums, the stars were aligned for this one. Unlike the tracks that made up his patchy self-titled debut, he didn’t have any material left over from the VU days. This forced him to get to work writing.
And what songs these are. The supposed ode to his drug habit, Perfect Day, only works because, no matter who the song is dedicated to, it is a beautiful ballad. Then there is the epic, neon-drenched goodbye to his association with Andy Warhol and his factory acolytes, Walk on the Wild Side. (This much parodied and sampled song had its signature double bass line composed by Herbie Flowers, who scored a much bigger UK hit by penning Grandad for Clive Dunn.) The proto punk swagger of Vicious, the snarky brass parp of New York Telephone Conversation: every track is a classic of the era.
Of course, having his number one fan David Bowie (along with future Spider, Mick Ronson) trying out production techniques for the still putative Ziggy Stardust phase of his career didn’t hurt. Some saw the lack of NYC/VU sleaze as a sell-out, but they lacked the clarity of foresight to see that Reed’s opus of cross-dressing, open homosexuality and discussion of drug use was set to pervert generations of pop fans to come, and was not just preaching to an already converted hipster rock underground. --John Doran
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A big, big recommendation to get this album coming from this reviewer!
If my theory is correct, it's interesting to remember there was once a time back in the early 70's, where Lou didn't have to resort to absurd gimmicks to get people listening (Metal Machine Music aside). He just hooked up with the most popular rock musician at the time David bowie (you might of heard of him ) who opted to produce "Transformer" purely on the strength of his groundbreaking work with the Velvet Underground. Lou took the oppurtunity to release a great record that rightfully earned him a new audience for his tales of NYC debauchery.
The Albums two obvious highlights "Perfect Day" seen by some to be Reed's romantacization of his own heroin addiction and "Walk on the Wild Side" a more overt tale of gender bending prostitution hardly need any elaboration. These two songs are probably known by everybody with only a passing interest in rock music never mind Lou Reed and thats not because they've been arbitrarily over played since their release 40 years ago, they have effortlessly stood the test of time quite simply because they're brilliant songs. If they were the only higlights on Transformer than it would probably still be worth owning, fortunately there's also "Vicious" a rollicking opener, with an engaging pulse and sassy attitude that bears a passing resemblance to the VU classic "Sweet Jane". "Satelelite of Love" is another glam rock gem and still a popular favourite with it's alluringly unique melody and memorable coda of backing vocals courtesy of Mr Bowie.
The album slightly falls short of masterpiece status for me though, mainly because of the more insouciant moments throughout it's 37 minutes. Like "Make Up" which is delightfully understated yet a touch too whimsical and "Goodnight Ladies" suffers from a similar problem despite it's charmingly vaudevillian New orleans instrumentation. It's pedantic to focus on some of the minor pitfalls on here though, as everything else sounds great including the two bonus tracks that come with this particular release of the album. If you don't yet have this in your collection you really should not only because it's massively influentual it's also one of the best collections of rock and roll songs you're likely to listen to.
Needing a boost after the failure of his patchy 'Lou Reed' debut for RCA Reed agreed to allow Bowie to co-produce with guitarist extraordinaire and current Spider, Mick Ronson (this edition of the CD allows you to see how the team turned Reeds rough masters into polished classics with the addition of the acoustic demo versions of 'Hangin' Round' and 'Perfect Day')and what a meeting of minds it was.
Each of the eleven original tracks is a stunner the stand outs being the Herbie Flowers bass dominated 'Walk On The Wild Side' (the title was stolen from the Nelson Algren's novel but the lyrics were about the Factory Set), Reed is quoted as saying that this song was so edited in the States that only the 'Doo, Doo Doo's were left)), the simply orchestrated and beautiful 'Perfect Day', the chugging mettle that is the angst ridden 'Vicious', the joyful menace that is Hangin' Round' and the fabulously camp 'Satellite Of Love'.
If you already have a copy of this album buy it for the extra tracks, if you don't have it, start your Lou Reed collection here.
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