Lou Reed’s Transformer

“Transformer” is Velvet Underground co-founder Lou Reed’s second solo album and was released in December 1972. It features some of his best-known songs such as “Walk On The Wild Side”, “Perfect Day” and “Satellite Of Love”and was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, who had been heavily influenced by Reed’s work with his former band.

This sophomore release by Reed is hailed by many as one of the cornerstones of the punk and alternative eras that followed and it took him from cult hero of The Velvet Underground to international superstar status. The cover art for the album is by Mick Rock, best known for his legendary shots of glam rock icons of the 1970s such as Queen, Bowie, Ronson, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Ramones and Blondie.
Unlike its predecessor “Lou Reed”, eight songs of which were left over from his Velvet Underground days, this album contains mainly new material. Reinforcing the literary idea of “write what you know”, Reed portrays an alternately detached/debauched portrait of the drag-and-drugs-soaked underground of alternative artist Andy Warhol’s New York; a place, time and mindset so compelling it has had a tendency to overshadow the rest of the singer-songwriter’s career. That the album would also give Reed an unlikely pop hit with the teasing, twisted sexuality of “Walk on the Wild Side” is pure irony. He would write about people that most of society preferred to pretend didn’t exist – gay people, cross dressers, drug addicts and other outcasts and ne’er-do-wells. Everyone in “Walk On The Wild Side” was real; they were all people who had been involved with Andy Warhol’s Factory, a safe place for creative expression (whatever form that would take) and a drop-in centre for New York’s underground artistic scene.

“Satellite of Love” had been demoed for the band’s 1970 album “Loaded” and “Andy’s Chest” had been recorded in 1969 for The Velvet Underground’s “lost fourth album” (the best cuts of those particular sessions being released on 1985’s “VU”), but neither had been used. For “Transformer”, the original poppy feel of these songs was slowed down to turn them into ballads. Although there are no known performances of “Vicious” by the Velvet Underground, the song apparently dates from Reed’s time in the band and its association with Warhol. According to Reed, Warhol told Reed he should write a song about someone vicious. Reed inquired what he meant by that, and Warhol replied, “Oh, you know, vicious like I hit you with a flower”. “Satellite of Love” was issued as the second single from the album in February 1973 and thought it became a fan favourite, the first single from and probably the best known track on the album, “Walk on the Wild Side”, was an international hit, despite its adult subject matter. It was edited in some countries and banned in others but is now generally regarded as Reed’s signature tune. All songs on the album are credited to Reed, though it has long been rumoured that “Wagon Wheel” is in actual fact a David Bowie composition.

This most accessible album of Reed’s was a deserved commercial success and spawned many a copycat. “Transformer” is an 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.

1. “Vicious”
2. “Andy’s Chest”
3. “Perfect Day”
4. “Hangin’ ‘Round”
5. “Walk on the Wild Side”
6. “Make Up”
7. “Satellite of Love”
8. “Wagon Wheel”
9. “New York Telephone Conversation”
10. “I'm So Free”
11. “Goodnight Ladies”