Transformer

About

The album cover photo was overexposed, and so, in 1972, was Lou Reed, in all the wrong way. The Velvet Underground had sputtered out, he was strung out and turning weird in interview, and he was trying to find his way as a solo artist. But David Bowie owed him much and loved to help, and so produced his friend at the best possible time: right when glam, which Bowie sort of predicted, was ascendant. The result was Reed’s best-selling album, containing his biggest hit, “Walk on the Wild Side.” On <i>Transformer</i> Reed revisits beloved New York sounds for a new age: cabaret, doo-wop, jazz. And yet he recorded most of this distinctly New York album in London—Marc Bolan, Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, and others were all looting rock 'n' roll of the past like they were raiding the thrift store for as much pose and artifice as they could get their hands on. Reed plays along, sounding playfully cheeky on the opener, “Viciou,” and never looking back. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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