release date: Nov. 8, 1972
format: vinyl (LSP-4807) / cd (2006 remaster)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,65]
producer: David Bowie, Mick Ronson
label: RCA Records - nationality: USA
2nd solo studio album by Lou Reed following his debut by only 7 months is produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson (then guitarist in Bowie's backing band The Spiders From Mars). Both Bowie and Ronson are credited as musicians - Bowie for backing vocals and keyboards as well as playing acoustic guitar on "Wagon Wheel" and on "Walk on the Wild Side", and Ronson plays lead guitar, keyboards, and he is credited as arranger of all songs.
Nearly half of the songs, or more precisely: four from eleven songs ("Andys' Chest", "Satellite of Love", New York Telephone Conversation" and "Goodnight Ladies"), were actually composed by Reed while playing in The Velvet Underground, and they were then intended for but never released for any studio albums. As contrary to the older 'band' songs that were included on Lou Reed (Apr. 1972), all songs here have been re-arranged in a slower glam rock style adding a distinct singer / songwriter touch, which makes these recordings stand out as superior to earlier drafts.
Transformer is Lou Reed's contribution to the rock & roll Hall of Fame, and it's his most legendary album. Alongside the two T. Rex [Marc Bolan] albums Electric Warrior (1971) and The Slider (1972), Bowie's two albums: Hunky Dory (1971) and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust... (1972) this very album told anyone interested in Western popular music that glam rock was IT. It's regarded as one of the best albums of a decade, and it's Reed's most famous release, enlisted in most of popular music's best of lists comprising the best pop / rock albums, and it's also one of only two of his to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
Imo, Transformer is his acclaimed and most important album of a long fascinating career that put him as an international star for five decades. It's also one of my top-10 favourite rock albums of all-time.
The 2006 cd remaster contains two additional demo recordings as bonus tracks.
Highly recomended and a must have.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4 / 5 stars ]
1972 Favourite releases: 1. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - 2. Lou Reed Transformer - 3. Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick
