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Rating: Reviewing "Transformer", is it possible that no one has done it yet? Okay, I'll take care of it.
I have the honor of presenting one of the albums that (really) left a mark in the history of rock, projected to our present day in a space/time capsule dated 1972, elusive like a meteor but consistent and constant like a satellite. A satellite of love.
It is no coincidence that this gem was the result of a mythical (and this is one of the rare cases where I use this overused adjective) artistic and, um?, sentimental partnership: David Bowie and Lou Reed meeting, arranging a session in London, and creating this psychedelic, bubblegum, metropolitan (therefore absolutely magnificent) hybrid born from British glam and the American underground.
At the time, Reed's career had reached a dead end: the warholian illusion of the Velvet Underground had disappeared forever, the perverse and shining image of that late '60s New York had faded, and our Sunday Morning singer immediately recognized in London the natural heir of that effervescent, creative and regenerative environment that had crashed against a barrier of notable deaths, drug addictions, ostracism from the mainstream audience (VU albums, as we know, sold nothing) and irreparable farewells. Bowie's role, launched toward the Ziggy Stardust epic, was fundamental in the resurrection of our beloved rebellious street crooner.
The result was this album, representing a miracle that has rarely repeated over the years: an album still "on the fringe", created by a "fringe" singer-songwriter that simultaneously achieves success and reaches the masses without betraying his (glorious) past. I am banal in saying that "the people" got to know Lou Reed starting from this work.
Here then is a Reed that recycles himself in the figure of a thug, seasoned by years and years impregnated with artistic dissolution and restlessness, opening up to boisterous rock and sweet-bitter ballads: in this perspective, the production of the White Duke (and the "historical" contribution of Mick Ronson on guitar) gives "substance" to this mask, making this travesty really realistic, in the same way he was able to make Ziggy's existential tale "earthly".
Under the festive and cheeky outfit of classics like "Vicious", "Hanging Around" (the glammest track on the album), and the famous "Walk On The Wild Side" (can anything be said about this piece that hasn't already been written?), there's a universe that, in that precise historical moment, lived in Reed's mind and memory: alienated and eccentric freak artists, prima donnas shamelessly flaunting their insecurity and fragility, prostitutes/exuberant as symbols of unrestrained yet lucid decay, drugs, madness, and despite everything, hope and utopia. This last aspect emerges almost caricature-like in one of the greatest songs ever, that "Perfect Day", modest and dramatic, representing a vignette of sudden (and unexpected) serenity. Similar atmospheres (but more alienated, playful, and ironic) pervade another great classic like "Satellite Of Love": these last two tracks will be, 30 plus years later, transformed into a song suitable for Vatican concerts (Lou Reed singing in front of the Pope...well, in a way it makes sense) and into a dance hit (as much as it's an amusing operation). Of that Lou Reed (much like that Bowie, dear me) today only a small trace remains. That's why I spoke of a "meteor".
But luckily the years pass, and the records remain (even if listening to "Transformer" on vinyl must be a different experience), and so I continue to enjoy the vaudeville jokes of "New York Telephone Conversation" and fall asleep to the jazzy "Goodnight Ladies". Awaiting a new transformation.
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 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."
By sellami
The legendary Lou Reed gives us a small masterpiece of music!
Impossible to resist the force of the song.
