Lou Reed
Transformer
Play Transformer
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AMG Review of Transformer
Mark Deming
All Music GuideDavid Bowie has never been shy about acknowledging his influences, and since the boho decadence and sexual ambiguity of the Velvet Underground's music had a major impact on Bowie's work, it was only fitting that as Ziggy Stardust mania was reaching its peak, Bowie would offer Lou Reed some much needed help with his career, which was stuck in neutral after his first solo album came and went. Musically, Reed's work didn't have too much in common with the sonic bombast of the glam scene, but at least it was a place where his eccentricities could find a comfortable home, and on Transformer Bowie and his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, crafted a new sound for Reed that was better fitting (and more commercially astute) than the ambivalent tone of his first solo album. Ronson adds some guitar raunch to "Vicious" and "Hangin' Round" that's a lot flashier than what Reed cranked out with the Velvets, but still honors Lou's strengths in guitar-driven hard rock, while the imaginative arrangements Ronson cooked up for "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "Goodnight Ladies" blend pop polish with musical thinking just as distinctive as Reed's lyrical conceits. And while Reed occasionally overplays his hand in writing stuff he figured the glam kids wanted ("Make Up" and "I'm So Free" being the most obvious examples), "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "New York Telephone Conversation" proved he could still write about the demimonde with both perception and respect. The sound and style of Transformer would in many ways define Reed's career in the 1970s, and while it led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can't deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on life -- and a solid album in the bargain.
drink sangria in the park
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there are few songs that run far and wide across everything, and i mean everything in my life. but i've always been in love with lou reed. no, not the mullet, and not the shock therapy inability to remember what happened before he was 31, but the ambling across the background of warhol's factory going to vaseline bars with billy name and the fucking VU. and more than that, just his shit. i thin...
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From Lou to You
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"a remix of Walk on the Wild Side":http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/02/from-lou-to-you/, unreleased and done in opposition to Bushit
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Hangin’ ‘Round Hipsters
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My friends and I have begun a psuedo book club. I say “psuedo” because we discuss more than books and in fact have yet to discuss. Rather, our topics have included, justifying the absence of god to methodists, deconstructing environmentalism from a purely biological viewpoint, and discussing Douglas Haddow’s “Hipster: The Dead End of Western [...]
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I've Got Dandruff...
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...it keep's falling into my keyboard.("This mogpost is a work of fiction and is intended for learning purposes only. Any similarity to real persons either living or dead, places, events, or other material is coincidental and unintentional and that's not a picture of my scalp.")
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Lou Reed or John Cale?
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I say John Cale. If you're inclined to disagree, watch this first. Or watch it anyway - for comic value.Ouch.
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drink sangria in the park
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there are few songs that run far and wide across everything, and i mean everything in my life. but i've always been in love with lou reed. no, not the mullet, and not the shock therapy inability to remember what happened before he was 31, but the ambling across the background of warhol's factory going to vaseline bars with billy name and the fucking VU. and more than that, just his shit. i thin...
More >
From Lou to You
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"a remix of Walk on the Wild Side":http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/02/from-lou-to-you/, unreleased and done in opposition to Bushit
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Lou Reed – Walk On The Wild Side
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Most of you will recognize this song as the sample for Tribe Called Quest’s Can I Kick It; while I think the Tribe song is an creative and energetic reinvention, it’s pale in comparison to the quaint and haunting original. Take A Walk On The Wild Side was the surprise hit single from Lou Reed’s [...]Related posts:The Velvet Underground – I’m Waiting For The ManPete & The Pirates – Mr.
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 "Transformer")
