Ian's Music Reviews

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LOU REED - READER COMMENTS

TRANSFORMER (1972)

Chris Pettman - first of all, this particular record reeks of ronson and bowie. to say that this album is a true lou reed album is unfair.  just listen to Lou Reed (1972) to realise that Lou just didn't have the production smarts to cut an album as slick as transformer.   teaming up with bowie and ronson gave lou a direction. he wrote songs for the short lived glam rock spectacle of the 70's.  this isn't necessarily a bad thing.  transformer has more than enough charms to elevate it to a desert island disc category.  however, unless you are actively involved in the gay club scene, transformer may be no more than a speed bump on the highway.
    unfortunately for reed, much of the 70's found him trying to replicate this minor masterpiece. to lesser acclaim both critically and commercially.  it wasn't until he went back to basics with his guitar and voice in the mid 80's that he regained momentum.
    i agree with your rating. Transformer is a much better album when you don't actually listen to it all the time.

Ian's Music Reviews - Thanks for writing again! I agree with your statement that the album is dominated by Ronson and Bowie, and as such is more of a group effort than an actual Reed solo record. That being said, its certainly one of the more enjoyable artifacts from the glam era (although I would argue that anyone interested in exploring the glam movement would be better off starting with early 70's Bowie or T. Rex before seeking out Transformer). Like you said, it's not something that most would feel the need to listen to very often, but it's still got more than its fair share of merits.

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