Transformer

Just a perfect album Drink sangria in the park And then later, when it gets dark We go home Just a perfect album Feed animals in the zoo Then later a movie, too And then home Oh, it's such a perfect album I'm glad I spent it with you Oh, such a perfect album You just keep me hanging on You just keep me hanging on

I've found that pretty much anything David Bowie touched as a producer turned out to be among the best, if not the best, material that artist would ever put out. This album is no exception. Some nearly timeless and beautiful songwriting here presented with the perfect atmosphere and arrangements. Such a tight little package that still manages to cover many moods. Bowie does such a good job of sweetening Lou up without completely removing his bitter edge. Sounds effortlessly brilliant.

Such a wonderful, cozy album. Makes me want to stay inside with friends and kiss a boy and dance around.

I'm guessing it's considered a great because of the lyrics and the people involved, but purely musically, it's an absolute borefest.

Cool glam rock album. I liked it when he rhymed 'nose' with 'toes'. 7/10

I was familiar with Lou Reed to an extent, but hadn't listened to this entire album before. I was really blown away by it. Perfect Day is a perfect example of what makes Lou Reed great. On the surface it's a nice, pleasant sounding song, but there is this dark, ominous feeling that pervades it. Lou Reed lets us take a walk on the wild side just by listening to his music. I wasn't expecting to going into it, but I'm going with 5 stars for this one.

Totally seductive. Somehow he makes living on the wild side feel glamorous. I thought I’d get tired of his delivery which almost sounds bored, but it fits the music and lyrics well

David Bowie has never been shy about acknowledging his influences, and since the boho decadence and sexual ambiguity of the Velvet Underground's music had a major impact on Bowie's work, it was only fitting that as Ziggy Stardust mania was reaching its peak, Bowie would offer Lou Reed some much needed help with his career, which was stuck in neutral after his first solo album came and went. Musically, Reed's work didn't have too much in common with the sonic bombast of the glam scene, but at least it was a place where his eccentricities could find a comfortable home, and on Transformer Bowie and his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, crafted a new sound for Reed that was better fitting (and more commercially astute) than the ambivalent tone of his first solo album. Ronson adds some guitar raunch to "Vicious" and "Hangin' Round" that's a lot flashier than what Reed cranked out with the Velvets, but still honors Lou's strengths in guitar-driven hard rock, while the imaginative arrangements Ronson cooked up for "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "Goodnight Ladies" blend pop polish with musical thinking just as distinctive as Reed's lyrical conceits. And while Reed occasionally overplays his hand in writing stuff he figured the glam kids wanted ("Make Up" and "I'm So Free" being the most obvious examples), "Perfect Day," "Walk on the Wild Side," and "New York Telephone Conversation" proved he could still write about the demimonde with both perception and respect. The sound and style of Transformer would in many ways define Reed's career in the 1970s, and while it led him into a style that proved to be a dead end, you can't deny that Bowie and Ronson gave their hero a new lease on life -- and a solid album in the bargain.

TransFOURmer

Lou Reed made better records before and after, but ‘Transformer’ has a hold of my heart. From the stellar glam rock production contributions of David Bowie and Mick Ronson to Lou’s subversive tales of the early 70s glam/gay scene, this album is a landmark in queer art.

I'd say this is actually a bad album. It's quite arch, and a lot of the songs are stupid. Two bangers though.

I dislike him so so much I have no idea why

Is this the most technically proficient album ever made? The most beautiful? Is it even that good musically? No, not really. But that doesn’t matter. I love this album for its unique NY charm and sense of detached cool, carried a lot by the awkward vocals. “Perfect Day” is the song that, for most people, rises above the rest of the tracks, but for me, it’s just part of the suite. Reed certainly had a knack for writing a melody, especially when it came to the chorus. If you haven’t yet, babe, take a walk on the wild side.

The high water mark for glam. clever tunes, smart lyrics dealing with the underbelly of society and Bowie on production duties. One of my favourite albums of all time

So many stunning tracks. I think I held off on Lou Teed because of the hype around how he was the start of indie… but it’s all there. The Strokes, Radiohead, Jack White… I can hear so many garage rack bands in this album. And hearing Perfect Day in its original environment (rather than the Trainspotting soundtrack) was fun. This was a LOT better than expected.

Has anything aged worse than the cabaret and music hall inspired songs that rock bands liked to record in the late 60’s and early 70’s? Other than those two or three detours, this is a pretty great rock record.

It’s alright. Lou Reed is very lucky to have been famous cause he can’t sing and some of his lyrics are questionable. However the music is pretty good over all. I can see why people like it but don’t think it quite deserves the hype.

I expected to like this as I'm generally a fan of the Lou Reed-fronted Velvet Underground. But I didn't. Reed's performances here are utterly boring and uninspired, the lyrics are extremely repetitive, and there's a saxophone solo (automatic one-star deduction). And then a tuba solo (there goes another star). And then there are jazz flutes... it's just an unredeemable mess, to be honest. Which is a shame because I had such high hopes.

Super stuff and a worthy addition to anyone's vinyl collection. So many classics on this one. Produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson you can really hear Bowies' influence on his own influencer. Without Lou and the Velvet's their would be no Ziggy, Punk or Grunge I believe. Where so I start with favourite tracks here? "Viscious", "Perfect Day" The Jaques Brel-like "Make Up" "Walk On the Wild Side" "Satellite of Love" and "New York Telephone Conversation" are highlights for me. Definitely worthy of this list and in the top 100 I think. Love it!

Yep, good one

It's a perfect day to listen to Transformer. This was one of my more informative albums coming up. It taught me what glam rock could be, and what good songwriting actually looked like. I don't collect a ton of vinyl, only albums that I feel are going to be be consistently important to me in 10+ years...I bought this record in 2011. It's still important to me. Obviously the big tracks here are, well, perfect. Perfect Day and Walk On the Wild Side are pretty untouchable in rock history, but I'd challenge you to dig deeper into some of the lesser known tracks like Andy's Chest or I'm So Free.

What's this, are you allowed to include Greatest Hits albums?

How am I only hearing this album now? I've heard the hits, but this is fantastic. I expected VU kinda stuff. But this really good.

Man, there's just something about this album that made me fall in love with Lou Reed. So many great songs that are just catchy and meaningful and... comforting? His voice sounds totally disassociated from what he's singing, but he makes it work. The instrumentals are nice and varied and used perfectly. Just one of those albums that comes together in its entirety and clicks on every level.

Transformer is a huge departure from Lou Reed’s work with the Velvet Underground. While it still focuses on the transgressive elements of New York City, this album is driven by a very camp aesthetic that reminds me of the Kinks more experimental work. Perhaps this can be explained by its British production and recording. David Bowie’s production lends a glam rock feel, but there are jazzy American elements here as well that ground it as definable Lou Reed.

Wow just wow!!!!

I had thought this was gonna be just another velvet underground kinda sludgy mess - but I actually loved it - Satellite of Love is still crap thouhh

Some incoming personal bias here... I've long been a fan of "Transformer", which sees Lou Reed getting his act together for the first time since leaving Velvet Underground and channelling Bowie's Ziggy-era glam rock (with Bowie and his guitarist Mick Ronson handling production duties). Bowie and Ronson's production is married perfectly to Reed's laconic delivery, to the point where I find myself singing along to a string, piano or guitar part just as often as Reed's vocal. Listen to the acoustic demos (Perfect Day and Hanging Round) and you can hear the impact Bowie and Ronson had on Reed's songs. Without the full production, the songs lack finesse, accentuation- but fully arranged, they are exquisite and often beautiful. The end result is Lou Reed at his most accessible, whether through the out-and-out glam rock of "Hangin' Round", "I'm So Free" and "Wagon Wheel", the effortlessly cool "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Andy's Chest", or the heart-aching ballads of "Perfect Day" and "Satellite of Love". The latter, one of the most plaintive and sweet songs Reed ever wrote, is my highlight on this record: its outro is sheer magic. "Make Up" and "New York Telephone Conversation" are the experiments that don't quite land, but I can't fault Reed for trying something different: at least they stretch the album's sonic mould in an unexpected way with tuba and music-hall piano. "Goodnight Ladies" is a delicious ending track, using the above to full effect for a lounging curtain call off-Broadway. The songs zip by and the whole ride is so enjoyable, so effortless, that it's hard for me to put this anywhere below "classic".

There are two examples on this album where, rather than finding words that rhyme, Lou just uses the same word twice. The first everyone knows: “But she never lost her head even when she was giving head” and the other from Vicious: “Hey, why don't you swallow razor blades? You must think that I'm some kind of gay blade I understand he would write lyrics very quickly and not go back to make any changes. This is consistent with his persona of not taking himself too seriously. Why not use the same words? They rhyme with each other - lol. Anyway, both are excellent songs from this excellent album and the title is fitting since it transformed Lou.

Znany album artysty niezbyt znanego ze swojego samodzielnego dorobku artystycznego, bo jednak najwiekszym komercyjnym suksesem muzycznym pana Reeda byl velvet undergound, zwlaszcza z niko, po rozpadze bandy Reed musial jakos zrestartowac kariere, debiutancki solowy albmers nie przyjal sie zbyt dobrze, tym bardziej sprzedal, ale jak czesto w takich sytuacjach pojawia sie aniol stroz w postaci bowiego, ktory postanowil wykerowac Reeda jako fan velvetow, tak w wielkim skrocie wyglada orgin story transformera, nazwa calkowicie na miejscu, bo pod dowodctwem bowiego zostal stworzony kolejny album bedacy ikona rokowosci, w tym wypadku jest to dosc glamowe brzmienie, mocno nawiazujace do stylu boweigo, a czas nagraniowy pokryl sie z ziggowa faza, wiec jak dla mnie zloty okres jego tworczosci, slychac to nie tylko na produkcji i typowych zabiegach, jak zabawy tonami, uciekajacy przy napychjacymi na twarz dzwiekami, ale nawet w samych instrumentalach, czy wokalach, bo samego boweigo mozna uslyszec na niejednym chorku jak na Im so free, ale pajaki z ksiezyca rowniez sie tu pojawiaja, a nawet sam ronson uzyczyl gitarki i skilsow pianinowych, tak bardzo spiderowych, kontent liryczny mozna interpretowac jako punkt zwrotny w karierze i ucieczke przed velvetowym famem czy niefamem, o wiele mniej perwersyjne i kontrowersyjne tektsty, kilka bezposrednich aluzji do warhola i jego wplywu na wczesniejsza tworczosc, dodatkowo wspolnym mianownikiem bedzie kobieta, bo jakas zawsze sie pojawia posrednio lub bezposrednio jako adresat liryki badz glowna postac balladowania, jak na traku walk on the wild side, gdzie przejawia sie kilka portretow roznych ludzi w roznych sytuacjach, dziwnym uczuciem jest to ze ta produkcja bowiego o wiele lepiej sie zestarzala, niz niektorego jego wlasne albumy, mniej skomplikowane aranzacje, nieraz na dwa instrumenty i spokojny baryton Reeda z instynktem studyjnym boweigo stworzylo cos unikalnego jak na album lat 70, polowe albumu juz mam na plejce, wiec dodam tylko Im so free, cala plyta ma tylko 36 minut, wiec i tak po pierwszym traku ciezko wylaczyc przed koncem

One of the greatest albums of all time, whimsical, fun and whilst on the surface seeming like a well packaged pop-album it takes on a range of sounds to create a unique sonic texture with masterful production from Ronson and Bowie.

Classic rock is classic but goddamn Perfect Day and Walk on the Wild Side are such exquisitely-presented moods. I really enjoyed some of the other lesser-known songs on the album as well, but the real reason that this is a 5 star album for me is the gutsy and healthy gender diversity portrayal (even if grimy).

5.0 + I love the reviews that are like, “Besides ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, ‘Vicious’, ‘Perfect Day’ and ‘Satelite of Love’, this album sucks!” Music critics are such bitches sometimes (myself included). In addition to the aforementioned songs, I’d also add “Goodnight Ladies” and “Andy’s Chest” to the list of standouts. So pretty much all of this is at least good and some of it is downright spectacular. One of the better examples of Lou Reed’s uncanny ability to blend sounds.

One of the best rock albums of all time. End of.

Lou Reed just had a way of writing a great song. I don't want to get too pretentious about it, but I really like Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. Highlights: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 11.

Fivety five stars. Take away (deep breath) Vicious, Perfect Day, Wild Side, Satellite, NY Telephone and play the other six tracks and they are all uniformly amazing. For an artist whose vast solo output can mainly be described with the word patchy, this is an incredibly consistent album. That Bowie, he was quite on it in the seventies wasn't he?

Drags itself over the 5* line, as half of the songs are fabulous and Bowie has never produced a clunker. Hangin' Round is my favorite, somehow, and the whole thing is kinda the evil twin of Hunky Dory

Classic Lou Reed. Quirky, odd, melodic, silly, brilliant

Outstanding, still sounds as cool as you can imagine it did in 1972. Proper forward thinking lyrically as well.

Not enough time to write much. I love this album. :(

always appreciate lou reed's work. it's really hard to sound as ahead of your time as velvet/lou's solo career.

Circa 1974-5 every house I walked into to hang out had this album, the tracks are tattooed on my brain. Mick Ronson is the unsung hero of this record, he had a fine ear and knew how to get the best out of Lou. This record made in the US would have been ok, but in the hands of the English session crew bomb squad, Lou's basic tracks are, pardon the pun, transformed. I love the eclectic mix of players, Klaus with his signature Fender bass lines, Herbie scamming an additional studio fee and laying out the best double bass/electric bass lines ever transposed..Lou is in fine voice and Bowie has got him a beautiful sound. I love every part of this album, songs like Satellite of Love, Goodnight Ladies et al are great tunes, and then there is the classics. He never bettered it.

I thought I wasn't cool enough to like Lou Reed. I was wrong. This album is fantastic.

Ooh come on. Surely everyone's got this one. Complete classic, absolutely 5 stars.

Thought this was really good. I will listen to more of this chap.

I'm going 5 stars on this one. Some of the best NYC rock to come out of the early 70s. 3 of my top 50 songs of all time too

A brilliant solo offering from Lou Reed. I fucking love this record. There’s no denying the amazing Bowie influence and production here, but it still has the dank New York stink of Lou’s piss all over it. It’s spectacular. The clever and biting lyricism meshes beautifully with the vulnerable moments of introspective poetry sprinkled throughout. The musicality steers further into the rock n roll vein but retains elements of the avant-garde Velvet Underground style, and that fusion begets Lou’s acquaintance with early glam rock in a truly glorious way. Oh, it’s such a perfect album! It just keeps me hanging onnnnnnn.

good vibes nice voice

I was pursuing tertiary education in Newcastle but travelling to Sydney by train every Friday afternoon on the so-called Flyer. I still remember rushing from Central to the nearest record shop to buy Transformer, all because I’d heard Walk On The Wildside & just had to have it. I’d heard nothing else on the album & was thrilled when I first played it & realised it was so good. Vicious is one of the great opening tracks. Perfect Day & Satellite Of Love are among Lou’s best. There are only 2 of his albums that I ever play regularly - this and the live album that followed it - Rock & Roll Animal. And further proof of Bowie’s greatness that he brought out the best in Reed. A truly great record.

One of my favourite albums. Pretty much anything Bowie produced was amazing. Love Lou Reed's dry sarcastic wit and lyric delivery. Some of the best glam rock has to offer.

Louche and prissy, it's still great.

One of the all-time classics. And Reed’s best. Bowie’s involvement in this is probably no coincidence. A distillation of his best late Velvets sound with some superbly crafted rock n roll songs.The fact he also sidesteps this with songs like Perfect Day and Walk On The Wid Side make this album far from a one-trick pony. I love the different moods and tempos, but it all hangs together beautifully to evoke New York life and style at the time. And Satellite Of Love is one of those recordings that can’t fail to make you feel better, no matter your mood when it starts. A 10/5 for me.

Another perfect album, with banger after banger. Lou Reed (alongside Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan and Leonard Cohen) have produced some of my favourite ever music. Like his Velvet Underground output - this is the epitome of sleaze New York cool, as a solo act a bit more intimate then the whirlwind of the band Lou Reed fronted. Among the gorgeous melodies, arrangements, horns and keys - there's a seedy underbelly while being lucidly open minded lyrically, which puts to shame many other artists for decades after this album was out.

Great snarky lyrics. Groovy.

Biased cos own it

Never have heard this album before, but obviously knew a few of the hits. Apparently all of the Lou Reed songs I know are on this album. When is the last time you've heard a tuba as a bassline? I loved this album.

Great way to jump things off. I have forgotten how much I enjoyed this. This album has created echos in almost everything I have listened to since.

This record is cool as sh!t! Only 2nd listen I believe but forgot how bad ass!

Track 1: Vicious (7/10) Great album opener with a very proto-punk style riff. Not sure how I feel about his vocals yet, it's almost like spoken poetry. Track 2: Andy's Chest (8/10) Loved the guitar in the intro, but the drums and backing vocals kicked it up a notch! Loving these lyrics, very creative and fun. Track 3: Perfect Day (5/10) I've heard this song with better vocals before. The strings are nice, though. Track 4: Hangin' Round (6/10) Pretty good rock track. Feels like it came out of the mid-60s. Track 5: Walk on the Wild Side (10/10) That opening bass slide is so iconic. Lou's lyrics and vocal delivery make this song, it's the first one where I think his voice matches the song perfectly. Absolute classic in my books. Track 6: Make Up (6/10) The tuba is kind of hilarious but adds a lot to the song, I feel like there wouldn't be much here without it. Track 7: Satellite of Love (4/10) Not for me. Sounds like the worst kind of song Paul McCartney would write with terrible vocals. Sorry y'all. Track 8: Wagon Wheel (7/10) Another punky song. I enjoy how upbeat this one is and the drums are on point. Track 9: New York Telephone Conversation (7/10) This is a fun little track that tells a funny story. I feel like Lou thrived writing these type of nonsense songs. Track 10: I'm So Free (7/10) A nice rock song about feeling great! Had my head bobbing along the whole time, really fun! Track 11: Goodnight Ladies (7/10) Imagine this song sung by Frank Sinatra. I like the jazzy feel of this track, one of the better ones on the album. Overall: 7/10 I was hoping to love this due to it's reputation but I'm not a big fan of Lou's vocals for the most part, which brings it down a point. It may grow on me, but for now it's an enjoyable album with some glaring flaws in the middle.

Distinct style, with Perfect Day and Walk on the Wild Side being the standout songs.

Having never listened to "Transformer" before, this was a peculiar one for me as I'd heard most of the songs either in their earlier VU forms, or as the playlist-beloved bangers Vicious, Perfect Day, and Walk on the Wild Side. Taking those for granted left me with the rest: overall, solid, only New York Telephone Conversation and Goodnight Ladies failing for me. Hearing this in the context of the list, Perfect Day now sounds to me like Reed's go at a Brel song, a creditable one. Haven't decided whether Make Up is lovely or annoying - it has more than a brush of a show tunes side to Reed that rivals Macca's music hall tendencies, which I find mostly horrible. I had a double-take when I recognised Bowie's backing vocals. How many records can boast that? This is a great album and a flawed one.

The production sounded interesting, the songs themselves were less so. I think overall it just about gets a 3.

Honestly "Perfect Day" brings this rating up by a full star all by itself.

I love the positive trans messages (how I’m reading the lyrics) in songs like Walk On the Wild Side especially considering that this album is from 1972. Overall it’s a solid album although some of the songs are a little more melancholy than I usually gravitate towards.

No. 180/1001 Vicious 3/5 Andy's Chest 3/5 Perfect Day 4/5 Hangin' Round 3/5 Walk On the Wild Side 5/5 Make Up 3/5 Sattelite of Love 3/5 Wagon Wheel 3/5 New York Telephone Conversation 3/5 I'm So Free 3/5 Goodnight Ladies 2/5 Average: 3,18 Reed is a way better songwriter than he is a vocalist. Still I enjoyed this album.

Great songs horrible voice. Perfect Day is by far the highlight.

This was fine. I liked the production and the extra instrumentation, and I like Reed's voice, but the song writing didn't really grab me.

I guess he was decades ahead of his time. If he came along today people would probably be “Ho hum”, and maybe even notice he can barely sing a note. I mean, seriously if you remove the sound tracks from his recordings you’d realize he’s not singing just talking through the songs. Personally I’m not sure he ever becomes what he did without Bowie’s patronage, and even then only because of his relative shock value for the times.

It’s alright. A couple of classics and a few dogs pencil it out as average. Considered unhip to not worship him. I can live with that.

Rather boring and not particularily good

This is just not good. I do not understand all the 5 star reviews. If Wild Side wasn't on this album it would be a 1 star album. The whole thing sounded low effort. Lou Reed's singing is awful. He really just sounds like he's talking through it.

I've never liked Lou Reed. I don't like this early 70s glam rock stuff in general. This album is no exception to either of those things. 2/5.

Uninteresting

Pretty good. Have heard some of these tracks before, and I know the name Lou Reed, but I wouldn't have been able to put them together before.

Honestly I’m not a fan of this. While I don’t think it’s unlistenable or one of the worst things I’ve ever heard, it’s still sounds dry to me. Nothing really stuck out all that much.

Couple of good tunes but the pseudo poetry and nonsensical lyrics on the other tracks detracted from the overall album.

Frank Black may like Lou Reed, but I don’t. Even the “hit” singles didn’t really grab me. I don’t love Lou’s voice or delivery. I’ve tried over the years with the velvets and Lou solo but it just never clicks. At least A Tribe Called Quest got a great sample out of it (Mr Dinkins will you please be my mayor?).

Great album, classic.

Classic.

Incredible from start to finish, the 70s had so many bangers. Perfect Day is one of my favourite songs of all time I think

Glam rock, producido por david bowie, dos de los mejores temas de la historia y otros dos que se quedarán en tu cabeza al instante escuchadlo

This is the album my Dad would have made. Vicious is maybe the best first track I’ve ever heard - just in how it sets up the rest of the album. Blues, rockabilly, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, beatnick poetry - I heard it all in this one. Music a good, lyric are maybe even better. Great album

Awesome

This has been my favourite one we've had so far. I find it such an original album unlike anything else, even Velvet Underground. It's got some ultimate bangers on it.

Banger

Amo esse álbum <3

Amazing album. Very influential. I can hear why a lot of bands got inspired by his sound.

Classic album. Real good.

What’s left to say? Sublime … everytime … Hit me with a flower …

Una tras otra. Chingón

Done. Short. Good.

Liked it.

Love Lou Reed. It retains some of the sound of the Velvet Underground, and features some of his best songs.

Really liked this. All the way through. 5 stars.

VICIOUSSSSS

Well this was fancy af

Great album, love lou Reed

Mixed feelings about this one. Full of massive tunes but I’ve always found the lyrics to be a bit childish or sort of half though out. Don’t think I can give less than 5 stars though.

Vassar quads, aviators, Luci

Very queer, excellent