release date: Feb. 23, 1982
format: digital (1999 remaster) / vinyl (2017 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: Lou Reed, Sean Fullan
label: RCA Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "Women" (4 / 5) - 3. "Underneath the Bottle" (4 / 5) (live) - 7. "The Heroine" - 8. "Waves of Fear" (live) - 9. "The Day John Kennedy Died" - 10. "Heavenly Arms" (4 / 5)
11th studio album by Lou Reed is his return to RCA Records. The return to the label that released his most famous album Transformer (1972) is subtly commented in the cover art - being a retouched image from that album.
This is a more than just fine return to shape and form, and in some ways it continues more succesfully where the predecessor, Growing Up in Public (1980) left us. On this, things are much more focused with several strong compositions where "Heavenly Arms" underline the man's true potential, and it brings about a sensation of Lou Reed being back on the right track with something to say, and something to offer. The album may even be his most coherent album and it's rightfully considered by many fans one of his absolute best studio albums.
Highly recommended.
EDIT 2017:
The 2017 reissue is "remastered under Lou’s direct personal supervision" - it sounds amazing and the pressing reveals superb dynamics.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]
