{"id":40868,"date":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/transformer\/"},"modified":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-05T00:00:00","slug":"transformer","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/transformer\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformer"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, I\u2019m about thirty years too late to be having this revelation, but just in case there\u2019s anyone else out there who hasn\u2019t been enlightened: Lou Reed is awesome. Really, really maddeningly awesome, and there\u2019s probably no better evidence of this than his breakthrough second solo album (released following his now legendary years as part of the Velvet Underground from 1965-1970), Transformer, <\/i>which unlike his self-titled debut, contains primarily new material. And when it comes to slick rock n\u2019 roll with a tongue-in-cheek humor and an eagerness to push the envelope and explore the genre\u2019s seedier underbelly, there\u2019s few who do it better than Reed. Throw in some spot-on, experimental production from Mick Ronson and David Bowie and an overtly salacious lead single that somehow managed to evade radio censors (\u201cWalk On The Wild Side\u201d) and you\u2019ve got the signature release from one of glam\u2019s founding fathers.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Transformer <\/i>launches out on a solid note with \u201cVicious,\u201d whose opening line (\u201cVicious \u2013 you hit me with a flower\u201d) was lifted straight from Andy Warhol. With crunching stabs of electric guitar and Reed\u2019s blissed-out, distinctive vocals, this punchy opener is instantly catchy and its sharp-edged lyrics are a nice contrast to the crackling instrumentation.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Both \u201cAndy\u2019s Chest\u201d and \u201cSatellite Of Love\u201d (which was notably featured in a hilarious scene in Todd Haynes love-letter to glam rock, Velvet Goldmine, <\/i>in which the two leads are literally coasting in a satellite of love) are holdovers from Reed\u2019s Velvet Underground days. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The former is a lilting odyssey of intriguingly odd lyrics (\u201cInstead of a denatured ocelot on a leash\/I\u2019d rather be a kite and be tied to the end of your string\u201d and \u201cAnd just like in a movie her hands became her feet\/her belly button was her mouth\/Which meant she tasted what she\u2019d speak\u201d are a few choice lines), while \u201cSatellite Of Love\u201d is really nothing short of lovely, and not just because I\u2019m so enamored with the deliciously over-the-top Velvet Goldmine <\/i>from which, incidentally, I was first introduced to Reed. With David Bowie on backing vocals and a sweeping jauntiness to the instrumentation, the song \u2013 which Reed once described as being about \u201cthe worst kind of jealousy\u201d towards an unfaithful girlfriend \u2013 is bizarrely poignant and, of course, addictingly catchy.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the standout of the album, for me at least, has to be \u201cPerfect Day.\u201d\u00a0 A marked departure from the rest of the album\u2019s blackhearted irony and whirlwind pace, this track instead couples sweeping strings and devotedly yearning lyrics with a soaring, sensitive vocal from Reed to make this a stunning, powerful ode and an interesting segue way into the upbeat, guitar-driven \u201cHangin\u2019 Round\u201d and the gender-bending \u201cWalk On The Wild Side,\u201d which, by now, needs no introduction. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

For a fast-moving, fascinatingly varied collection of tracks, look no further than Transformer<\/i>; Reed on this release is at his most gleeful and bizarre and the music itself is at once hard-edged with a pop sensibility which makes it nearly impossible to resist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":29318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6848],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40868","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lou-reed","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40868"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}