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Lou Reed Transformer Release Date: 1972 Running Time: 36:40 Label: RCA Records David 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. Mark Deming, All Music Guide Tracks: Title Composer Time 1 Vicious Reed 2:55 2 Andy's Chest Reed 3:17 3 Perfect Day Reed 3:43 4 Hangin' 'Round Reed 3:39 5 Walk on the Wild Side Reed 4:12 6 Make Up Reed 2:58 7 Satellite of Love Reed 3:40 8 Wagon Wheel Reed 3:19 9 New York Telephone Conversation Reed 1:31 10 I'm So Free Reed 3:07 11 Goodnight Ladies Reed 4:19 Releases: Year Type Label CD RCA Records 2005 LP Simply Vinyl Records 1999 LP Simply Vintage 2004 CD RCA Records 2006 LP Simply 1972 CD Sony UK 2007 LP Sony BMG Music (Canada) 2007 LP Sony BMG Music (Canada) 2002 CD Collectables Records 1995 CD RCA Records 1997 CD BMG Special Products 2007 CD RCA Records 2008 CD BMG

Member Of: The Velvet Underground The Jades The Roughnecks The Primitives More >> Similar Artists: Nico David Bowie New York Dolls Rob Wasserman Iggy Pop More >>

Influenced By: Bob Dylan Chuck Berry Little Richard Andy Warhol Wilson Pickett More >> Followers: Jim Carroll Lloyd Cole Adrian Borland Simple Minds Peter Laughner More >>

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