Transformer
	Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson
	Released on November 1972
	US CHART POSITION #29 . . . UK CHART POSITION #13 . . . UK CHART POSITION #91 (1982)
	Find it at GEMM
44541-2 cover

With David Bowie as the young impresario, Lou Reed was re-modeled into a glam punk star for Transformer. It’s arguably Reed’s best solo record, tapping into the VU vibe to showcase the singer’s bored, angry observations from the strung-out sexual culture of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Transformer contains Reed’s biggest hit, “Walk on the Wild Side,” as well as lesser known but equally loved tracks like “Vicious” (a cousin to “Sweet Jane”) and “Satellite of Love” (the best Bowie song that Ziggy never wrote). Though the references to bisexuality belong to a bygone era, the impact of Reed’s lapses of clarity are still powerful today. “Andy’s Chest,” “Perfect Day” and “Wagon Wheel” hover in a hazy understanding punctuated by moments of piercing lucidity; only Reed can make the rhyming of “lazy” and “crazy” seem profound. The backing musicians, led by Mick Ronson, provide arrangements that are spare but inventive. The music doesn’t always work; Reed’s Muswell Hillbillies impression on “Make Up” and “Goodnight Ladies” sounds out of it, but re-casting the vocalist in a variety of lights does give the material a lot of character. Song for song, Transformer is as good an album as Reed has made. Calling this glam is a stretch, since Reed lacks the requisite feyness crucial to glam, yet it is spacey at times. The artwork is also in, er, questionable taste, but as its title suggests, Transformer at least partly sought to celebrate the transvestite/bisexual culture. Reed’s status as a self-standing star was established with this record, and it remains a must-own for his fans.

44541-2 picture disc

TRACK LISTING

1. VICIOUS    2:55
2. ANDY'S CHEST    3:17
3. PERFECT DAY    3:43
4. HANGIN' 'ROUND    3:39
5. WALK ON THE WILD SIDE    4:12
6. MAKE UP    2:58
7. SATELLITE OF LOVE    3:40
8. WAGON WHEEL    3:19
9. NEW YORK TELEPHONE CONVERSATION    1:31
10. I'M SO FREE    3:07
11. GOODNIGHT LADIES    4:19
    
    All songs written by Lou Reed
    Song arrangements: Lou Reed, David Bowie & Mick Ronson. String and Brass arrangements: Mick Ronson.

CREDITS

LOU REED -- vocals, guitars, mixing
DAVID BOWIE -- vocal backings, mixing
BARRY DESOUZA -- drums
RITCHIE DHARMA -- drums
HERBIE FLOWERS -- bass guitar, string bass, arrangement (11), tuba
JOHN HALZEY -- drums
MICK RONSON -- guitars, vocal backings, piano, recorders, mixing
RONNIE ROSS -- baritone sax
THE THUNDER THIGHS -- vocal backings
KLAUS VOORMAN -- bass guitar
Ken Scott -- mixing

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