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Transformer (Lou Reed album)

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For the 2007 Transformers soundtrack, see Transformers: The Album.
Untitled

Transformer is the second studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in November 1972.

Conception

Background

Unlike its predecessor, Lou Reed, eight songs of which were written during his Velvet Underground days, Transformer contains mainly new material. However, there are four songs that date from his VU days: "Andy's Chest" and "Satellite of Love" (Velvet Underground demos of which surfaced in 1985 and 1995, respectively), "Goodnight Ladies" had been played by the Velvets live in 1970, and "New York Telephone Conversation" had been played in rehearsals during the band's summer 1970 residency at Max's Kansas City.

Production

Transformer was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, both of whom had been strongly influenced by Reed's work with the Velvet Underground. Bowie had obliquely referenced the Velvet Underground in the cover notes for his album Hunky Dory and regularly performed both "White Light/White Heat" and "Waiting for the Man" in concerts and on the BBC during 1971-1973. He even began recording "White Light/White Heat" for inclusion on Pin-Ups[citation needed], but it was never completed; Ronson ended up using the backing track for his solo album Play Don't Worry in 1974.

Mick Ronson who was at the time the lead guitarist with Bowie's band, The Spiders from Mars, played a major role in the recording of the album, serving as the co-producer and primary session musician (contributing guitar, piano, recorder and backing vocals) and arranger, notably the lush string arrangement for "Perfect Day". Reed lauded Ronson's contribution in the Transformer episode of the documentary series Classic Albums, praising the beauty of his work and fading out the vocal to highlight the strings. The songs on the LP are now among Reed's best-known works, including "Walk on the Wild Side", "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love", and the album's commercial success elevated him from cult status to become an international star.

"Andy's Chest" had been recorded in 1969 for The Velvet Underground's "lost fourth album" (see VU and Another View) and demos of "Satellite of Love" had been produced for the band's 1970 album Loaded, but neither had been used. For Transformer, the up-tempo pace of these songs was slowed down. Although all songs on the album were credited to Reed, it has long been rumored that "Wagon Wheel" is actually a David Bowie composition.[1] 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 Andy Warhol. According to Reed, Warhol told Reed he should write a song about someone vicious. When Reed asked what he meant by that, Warhol replied, "Oh, you know, vicious, like I hit you with a flower."[2]

The cover art was from a Mick Rock photograph.[3]

Reception

In 1997, Transformer was named the 44th greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. Transformer is also ranked number 55 on NME 's list of "Greatest Albums of All Time." In 2003, the album was ranked number 194 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[4] It is also on Q Magazine's list of "100 Greatest Albums Ever".

Track listing

All songs written by Lou Reed.

Side one

  1. "Vicious" – 2:58
  2. "Andy's Chest" – 3:20
  3. "Perfect Day" – 3:46
  4. "Hangin' 'Round" – 3:35
  5. "Walk on the Wild Side" – 4:15

Side two

  2. "Make Up" – 3:00
  3. "Satellite of Love"– 3:42
  4. "Wagon Wheel" – 3:19
  5. "New York Telephone Conversation" – 1:33
  6. "I'm So Free" – 3:09
  7. "Goodnight Ladies" – 4:31

Personnel

Additional personnel

Chart History

The first single from the album, "Walk on the Wild Side", became an international success, despite its adult subject matter (it was edited in some countries and banned in others). It is now generally regarded as Reed's signature tune. "Satellite of Love" was issued as the second single in February 1973. In 2002, a 30th anniversary edition of the album was released; in addition to demos of "Hangin' Round" and "Perfect Day", it includes a hidden track featuring an advert for the album.

Album

Year Chart Position
1972 Billboard 200 29
1973 UK Albums Chart 13

Single

Year Single Chart Position
1973 "Walk on the Wild Side" Billboard Pop Singles 16
1973 "Walk on the Wild Side" UK Singles Chart 10

Notes

  1. ^ Allmusic "Wagon Wheel" review
  2. ^ Velvet Underground - Quotes
  3. ^ Photographer lives the Rock dream BBC News. Retrieved May 26, 2011
  4. ^ Rolling Stone 500 Albums review
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