Album: Transformer
Artist: Lou Reed
Born: Brooklyn, New York
Released: November 1972
Genre: Glam Rock
Influenced: Television, Nick Cave, A Tribe Called Quest, Antony & The Johnsons, The Strokes
Lou Reed was one of rock & roll's icons, as shown by the reaction to his death late last year. Of the many tributes he received, the most touching was Patti Smith's in the New Yorker. As is often the case when a major musical figure dies, I tend to re-listen to and reappraise their work, and this process only served to emphasise my love for Transformer. Reed would go on to make more experimental records, such as the dark & magnificently depressing Berlin, and what I consider to be the masterpiece of his solo recording career, Street Hassle (the song, not the album). He also took heavy metal to its natural conclusion of distorted guitars on 1975's Metal Machine Music. This was Reed making a statement (you weren't supposed to actually listen to the music) and it should have been the death knell for metal, but sadly the genre has limped on in ever more ridiculous guises (from KISS to Cannibal Corpse to Limp Bizkit). But when I think about the Reed album that I treasure most, not just for the quality of the songs but for the way it distills his creative vision, Transformer is still the one.
There's also something magical about the meeting of two musical geniuses, Lou Reed and David Bowie. Recorded in London, Transformer is partly the result of Bowie persuading one of his heroes to try his hand at glam rock, which Reed pulled off by not only creating the defining album of that genre but an album that retains his unique personality. Lou Reed being Lou Reed, of course, he transcends glam rock and infuses it with a whole new level of poetic intensity and edgy songwriting. Building on I'm Waiting For The Man, the album is the full realisation of his theatrical vision of New York and an enduring ode to misfits and after-hours decadence. Walk On The Wild Side was one of the most thrilling songs I heard as a teenager, while Perfect Day (which for my generation is hard not to associate with Trainspotting) never loses its wonder. Another of my favourite songs on the album is Satellite Of Love (from Reed's Velvet Underground days), which manages to hide its sentiments of bitter jealousy behind a beautiful melody. I also love the changing moods of Wagon Wheel, the camp themes and power chords of Vicious and the smoky cabaret feel of closer Goodnight Ladies. This remains his best, most enduring collection of songs.
Lou Reed was one of rock & roll's icons, as shown by the reaction to his death late last year. Of the many tributes he received, the most touching was Patti Smith's in the New Yorker. As is often the case when a major musical figure dies, I tend to re-listen to and reappraise their work, and this process only served to emphasise my love for Transformer. Reed would go on to make more experimental records, such as the dark & magnificently depressing Berlin, and what I consider to be the masterpiece of his solo recording career, Street Hassle (the song, not the album). He also took heavy metal to its natural conclusion of distorted guitars on 1975's Metal Machine Music. This was Reed making a statement (you weren't supposed to actually listen to the music) and it should have been the death knell for metal, but sadly the genre has limped on in ever more ridiculous guises (from KISS to Cannibal Corpse to Limp Bizkit). But when I think about the Reed album that I treasure most, not just for the quality of the songs but for the way it distills his creative vision, Transformer is still the one.
There's also something magical about the meeting of two musical geniuses, Lou Reed and David Bowie. Recorded in London, Transformer is partly the result of Bowie persuading one of his heroes to try his hand at glam rock, which Reed pulled off by not only creating the defining album of that genre but an album that retains his unique personality. Lou Reed being Lou Reed, of course, he transcends glam rock and infuses it with a whole new level of poetic intensity and edgy songwriting. Building on I'm Waiting For The Man, the album is the full realisation of his theatrical vision of New York and an enduring ode to misfits and after-hours decadence. Walk On The Wild Side was one of the most thrilling songs I heard as a teenager, while Perfect Day (which for my generation is hard not to associate with Trainspotting) never loses its wonder. Another of my favourite songs on the album is Satellite Of Love (from Reed's Velvet Underground days), which manages to hide its sentiments of bitter jealousy behind a beautiful melody. I also love the changing moods of Wagon Wheel, the camp themes and power chords of Vicious and the smoky cabaret feel of closer Goodnight Ladies. This remains his best, most enduring collection of songs.
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