Product Description

'Transformer' was Lou Reed's second solo album, and is rightly regarded as a classic amongst music critics and fans alike. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, the album is a melodic yet dark trip through the life of one of rock music's most enigmantic characters. Includes the tracks 'Walk On The Wild Side', 'Perfect Day' and 'Satellite Of Love'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115625 in Music
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Transformer, Lou Reed's second post- Velvet Underground album, was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson (Bowie's guitarist) in 1972. It features such classics as "Vicious" and "Walk On The Wild Side", as well as a bopping, subdued version of "Andy's Chest", which the Velvet Underground had already recorded. The album's consistently goofy and great back-up vocals are courtesy of Bowie and Ronson. Lou's usual cast of characters are present throughout: transvestites, junkies, weirdoes, Holly, Candy, Little Joe, Sugar, Jacki--even Harry, Mark and John, who stop by to say hi in the middle of "Satellite Of Love". "Goodnight Ladies" features a rocking tuba downbeat and a baritone sax that will wail you away to la-la land. Other than that, it is packed with Reed's raw guitar and rah-rah lyrics, like, "The tinsel light of starbreak/Is all that's left to applaud my heartbreak/And at 11 o'clock I watch the network news". --Dan Leone

Customer Reviews

Reed's glamrock masterpiece
Over these eleven perfectly crafted tracks, Lou showed us various little panoramas of Andy Warhol and The Factory, transvestitism, New York's gay scene, urban decadence, drug use and more in a wonderful blend of humour and irony and in a brilliantly diverse musical setting. The guitar-driven hard rock of Hangin' Round and Vicious is balanced by the subdued power of the poetic Perfect Day and the imaginative arrangements of Walk On The Wild side and Goodnight Ladies. Transformer is a literate, intelligent and enduring statement of an era and is one of the few albums of the glam-rock movement that has survived with its artistic integrity intact and that still has something to say today. David Bowie and Mick Ronson produced it with all the expertise they lent to the Ziggy Stardust album. But its varied styles, broader subject matter and feel of personal experience make it a better album than Ziggy Stardust. Unlike on most of Reed's other albums, there is great melodic variety too, and classic pop like the poignant Satellite of Love which by the way, is beautifully covered by Eurythmics on their Sweet Dreams video. It ought to have been as great a hit as Walk On The Wide Side! This most accessible album of Reed's was a deserved commercial success and spawned a million dreams.

Very Fine Music
No bad tracks on this album, which is a pretty rare thing. For me, it is Lou Reed through and through - simple cut down instrumental layers, thoughtful poetry and touches that really are the hallmark of someone in their prime (clarinet and other jazz instruments on Goodnight Ladies perfectly capture the mood and setting of the lyrics).

Yes, if you have 50+ CDs and rock music is in there, this should be too.

Transformer - Lou Reed
Probably Lou Reed's most popular recording, if not his best. Great songs introducing us to an alternative New York (drugs, sex, prostitution, transvestites to name but a few topics), and backed off with perfect production from David Bowie & Mick Ronson, as well as Bowie's distinctive backing vocals on Satellite of Love, Wagon Wheel and others. Lou timed this album perfectly, taking full advantage of the new 'Glam Rock' sound sweeping the market at the time, whilst not committing himself whole-heartedly in this direction (I give you 'Berlin' the following year!). The Reed/Bowie vocal duet on 'New York Telephone Conversation' is perfectly camp for the time, and this helped introduce Lou to a whole new audience who might otherwise have remained in ignorance. Memorable also for the fact of the BBC not fully understanding certain 'Americanisms' in the lyrics, hence 'Walk On The Wildside' becoming a hit single here. Still stands the test of time today. A true classic album. 5 Stars for sure.