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Rating: The legendary Lou Reed gives us a small masterpiece of music!
1972 bursts in with extraordinary force: it's the year the Pink Floyd are at the mercy of the wave, thinking about their famous album, or undoubtedly the most famous, "The Dark Side Of The Moon": indeed, this reasoning is flawless.
But going back to Lou, who was the famous guitarist of the Velvet Underground (if you don’t know them, get hold of that album with the banana on the cover or the completely black one which still isn't clear what it represents) and sang about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, as later Iggy Pop, and much later Axl Rose, would also do, he records "Transformer", helped by the David Bowie of those years - no Brian Eno but we have him, just Bowie, with still one of his friends: the three cheerful undead boys (fortunately) make an incredible album, starting from the famous cover, a photo of Lou Reed with a guitar where he has completely white skin.
The album contains delightful songs including the subtle "Walk On The Wild Side" that tells a story where even an old muse of Warhol appears, named Candy, who seems to have had sex with other men in the background; there’s also a very anarchic line for those '70s times, talking about someone who shaves their legs and becomes a woman (a man, who becomes a woman, otherwise poor Lou would have written a senseless line). More could be said about the song, which in fact is rather sparse but still effective, with a very incisive, aggressive, and politically incorrect bass: indeed, the noise might be a bit loud but not enough to cover Lou's voice, plus the song has a noise of women doing a choir that seems to come from heaven: impossible to resist the force of the song.
And then, there's possibly Lou Reed's masterpiece, "Perfect Day", which talks about a perfect day.
It seems Lou wrote it for the wife he had back then, and unfortunately, she divorced Lou over the years: like Bob Dylan’s Sad Eyed Girl, namely his wife Sara, Lou's wife also didn't consider the beautiful songs her husband had written for her, and they separated, which shows that even rock is a somewhat sad story for some.
The title might be due to the fact that Lou wanted to suggest that he would change his sex from male to female, thus leaving enormous doubt about the sexual nature regarding the confused ideas the music public already had, but it seems Lou didn't care and did it anyway, naming his album just as he wanted, even though Bowie would have wanted to call it “Lou Reed The Second”.
Anyway, this album is psychedelic especially in the nonsense of "Vicious", where the singer is struck by another person with a flower, a rather strange event, but since the idea (so I read) came from Andy Warhol, it could have been worse!
A very rock 'n' roll album in its intentions, the final product is more about glam-rock, and anyway you can feel a bit of everything inside the grooves of the vinyl "Transformer": the ghost of the composition of "I'm Waiting For The Man" looms above the album, or there are evident references to the rock world of those years, like guitar riffs very devoted to The Who, see "New York Telephone Conversation", where Bowie also contributes with those persistent moans and squeaks of his that would set a trend among the followers of the American new wave; in fact, there’s nothing punk in this album, something we might notice only in "Rock'n'Roll Animal".
It is certainly not a cheap album; it competes with "The Idiot" by Iggy Pop and "Nevermind The Bollocks" (not in themes, perhaps in sound a little, but in attitude certainly). Indeed, Sid Vicious took his nickname from Lou Reed's song that now, after the review, we all know: this is the real magic of the great rockers, they know how to come from everywhere and influence everyone, seminal or not, original or not.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Vicious (03:00)
Vicious, you hit me with a flower
You do it every hour
Oh, baby you're so vicious
Vicious, you want me to hit you with a stick
But all I've got is a guitar pick
Oh baby, you're so vicious
When I watch you come, baby, I just want to run far away
You're not the kind of person around I want to stay
When I see you walking down the street
I step on your hands and I mangle your feet
You're not the kind of person that I want to meet
Baby, oh you're so vicious, you're so vicious
Vicious, you hit me with a flower
You do it every hour
Oh, baby you're so vicious
Vicious, hey why don't you swallow razor blades
You must think that I'm some kind of gay blade
But baby, you're so vicious
When I see you coming I just have to run
You're not good and you certainly aren't very much fun
When I see you walking down the street
I step on your hand and I mangle your feet
You're not the kind of person that I'd even want to meet
'Cause you're so vicious, baby, you're so vicious
Vicious, vicious...
03 Perfect Day (03:48)
Just a perfect day
drink sangria in the park
And then later when it gets dark
we go home
Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
Then later a movie too
and then home
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
you just keep me hanging on
Just a perfect day
problems all left alone
We can do this on our own
it's such fun
Just a perfect day
you made me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
someone good
Oh, it's such a perfect day
I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
you just keep me hanging on
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
You're going to reap just what you sow
05 Walk on the Wild Side (04:17)
Holly came from Miami, FLA
Hitch-hiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
She said, "Hey honey,
Take a walk on the wild side."
Candy came from out on the Island
In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
Said, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
And the colored girls go:
"Doo do doo do doo do do doo, ...."
Little Joe never once gave it away
Everybody had to pay and pay
A hussle here and a hussle there
New York City's the place where they said, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey Joe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
Lookin' for soul food and a place to eat
Went to the Apollo
You should've seen 'em go, go, go
They said, "Hey sugar,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
All right, huh
Jackie is just speeding away
Thought she was James Dean for a day
Then I guess she had to crash
Valium would have helped that bash
Said, "Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey honey,
Take a walk on the wild side."
And the colored girls say:
"Doo do doo do doo do do doo, ...."
07 Satellite of Love (03:44)
Satellite's gone up to the skies
Things like that drive me out of my mind
I watched it for a little while
I like to watch things on TV
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
Satellite of
Satellite's gone way up to Mars
Soon it'll be filled with parkin' cars
I watched it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
Satellite of
I've been told that you've been bold
With Harry, Mark, and John
Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday through Thursday
With Harry, Mark, and John
Satellite's gone up to the skies
Things like that drive me out of my mind
I watched it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
*BUM BUM BUM* Satellite of love
Satellite of
Satellite of love
08 Wagon Wheel (03:23)
Won't you be my wagon wheel
Won't you tell me, baby, how do you feel
Yeah, you got to live, yeah, your life
as though you're number one
Yeah, you got to live, yeah, your life
and make a point of having some fun
But if you think
that you get kicks from flirting with danger
Danger, ooohhh
just kick her in head and rearrange her
Oh, heavenly father, what can I do
what she's done to me is making me crazy
Oh, heavenly father, I know I have sinned
but look where I've been, it's making me lazy
Won't you be my wagon wheel
Won't you tell me, baby, how does you feel
You got to live, yeah, your life
as though you're number one
Yeah, you got to live, yeah, your life
and make a point of having some fun
But if you think
that you get kicks from flirting with danger
Danger, ooohhh
just kick her in head and rearrange her
And then why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Don't wanna miss it now, wake me, shake me, baby
please don't you let me sleep too long
I wanna know why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Why, why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
Why, why don't you wake me, shake me
please don't you let me sleep too long
09 New York Telephone Conversation (01:35)
I was sleeping, gently napping
when I heard the phone
Who is on the other end talking
am I even home
Did you see what she did to him
did you hear what they said
Just a New York conversation
rattling in my head
Oh, oh, my, and what shall we wear
Oh, oh, my, and who really cares
Just a New York conversation
gossip all of the time
Did you hear who did what to whom
happens all the time
Who has touched and who has dabbled
here in the city of shows
Openings, closings, bad repartee
everybody knows
Oh, how sad and why do we call
Oh, I'm glad to hear from you all
I am calling, yes I am calling
just to speak to you
For I know this night will kill me
if I can't be with you
If I can't be with you
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Other reviews
By francis
An album still 'on the fringe' that simultaneously achieves success and reaches the masses without betraying his glorious past.
Under the festive and cheeky outfit of classics like 'Vicious' and 'Walk On The Wild Side,' there's a universe of alienated and eccentric freak artists, drugs, madness, and despite everything, hope and utopia.
By Giuseppe1
"The first track 'Vicious' can be understood as the manifesto of the entire album."
"Lou Reed represents the stereotype of the modern metropolitan poet."
