Celebrating
half a century of walking on the wild side, it’s the sophomore solo LP
from Velvet Underground main man, Lou Reed, with Transformer being
released on this day, November 8th, 1972. It’s the album which would
secure his place as a rock ’n’ roll legend and break him out from the
shackles of cult obscurity into the realm of commercial accessibility.
After
his years fronting The Velvet Underground, Reed had become infamous in
certain circles, though his record sales would belie the far reach of
his influence on the next generation of music makers who were starting
to shape the decade of the 1970s. Principal among these was no less
than the “Starman” himself, David Bowie, who had embraced Lou’s work and
incorporated a number of VU songs into his live repertoire, including
White Light/White Heat and I’m Waiting for My Man. Bowie had made
reference to Reed on the liner notes for Hunky Dory and had struck up a
friendship with him on his visits to NYC. After the failure of Reed’s
eponymous debut to make any kind of commercial impact, Bowie and fellow
Spider from Mars, Mick Ronson, offered to produce Lou’s next album and
duly packed him off to London to record.
The duo proved to be the
perfect conduit for Reed’s music and Ronson, in particular, ended up
offering much more than production as he contributed session guitar,
keyboards, recorder and, along with Bowie, backing vocals. Their
prowess at the studio console was equally matched by the quality of the
songs Reed brought to the table, several of which had been lurking
around since the VU days. Andy’s Chest, Satellite of Love, New York
Telephone Conversation and Goodnight Ladies had all been performed or
demoed by the Velvets before they found their place on Transformer.
Overall,
the album boasts a host songs which would become quintessential for
Reed like Satellite, Vicious & Perfect Day, but the most significant
of all has to be Walk on the Wild Side. It was released as a single
and became a major hit and Lou’s most successful single ever. Over the
years, it’s been used repeatedly in soundtracks for feature films and TV
and become the most iconic piece of music Lou ever produced. It’s also
one of his most controversial and prophetic songs. Given the evolution
of transgender identity in the last 50 years, it can legitimately be
seen as a flashpoint for igniting awareness of the culture within the
minds of the mainstream. It’s gender bending was so unsettling for some
that the single was edited in some markets and outright banned in
others because of its reference to what was perceived as sexual
depravity.
The cover for the album utilizes an image by
legendary photographer, Mick Rock. The look of the photo was a total
accident, however, as it came about when Rock overexposed the negatives.
Lou loved the look and it ended up becoming the perfect image to
represent the album.
At the time of its release, it became an
immediate pillar within the “glam rock” scene of the early 1970s. Along
with Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Bolan’s Electric Warrior, it was an
album that was a must-have if you were part of that movement. Since
then, it has become one of Reed’s most essential albums. Personally, my
opinion is that, if you’re gonna have two Reed albums, you should have
Transformer and Metal Machine Music though for entirely opposing
reasons.
