Lou Reed – Transformer (1972/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Lou Reed – Transformer (1972/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:04 minutes | 774 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA – Legacy

Released in 1972, Transformer is Lou Reed’s second studio album. It was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and was ranked number 194 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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. –Mark Deming

Tracklist:
01. Lou Reed – Vicious (02:59)
02. Lou Reed – Andy’s Chest (03:20)
03. Lou Reed – Perfect Day (03:46)
04. Lou Reed – Hangin’ ‘Round (03:35)
05. Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side (04:15)
06. Lou Reed – Make Up (03:00)
07. Lou Reed – Satellite of Love (03:42)
08. Lou Reed – Wagon Wheel (03:19)
09. Lou Reed – New York Telephone Conversation (01:34)
10. Lou Reed – I’m So Free (03:09)
11. Lou Reed – Goodnight Ladies (04:20)

Personnel:
Lou Reed – guitar, vocals
Herbie Flowers – bass guitar, double-bass, tuba on “Goodnight Ladies” and “Make Up”
Mick Ronson – lead guitar, piano, recorder, backing vocals, string arrangements
John Halsey – drums
Additional:
Ronnie Ross – baritone saxophone on “Goodnight Ladies” and “Walk on the Wild Side”
The Thunder Thighs – backing vocals
Barry DeSouza – drums
Ritchie Dharma – drums
Klaus Voormann – bass

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