Computer Age

Lou Reed
Transformer
RCA 1972

The Velvet Underground when they decided to separate it was still not clear enough to see where it would influence the band in New York, now considered one of the pillars of modern rock, and all its members launched parallel paths without going too much to contemplate what they had done. Lou Reed was the first who started his career as a solo, something slightly odd considering that the weight in the composite Velvet almost always rested on him.
After a rather uneven first album titled simply "Lou Reed" was pretty clear that Reed's intentions were not to revive the pioneering experiments of his previous band, but this album is not clearly sensed the direction he wanted to print his compositions if they really wanted to print some (which is still a mystery).
The fact is that his second solo album, entitled "Transformer" if that would be a tremendous shock to all who believe and know that the musician was, never better, an almost total transformation.
Much has been written about the friendship between Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and David Bowie, often described relations based more on assumptions that the protagonists of their own statements, without going into details here is the fact that David Bowie was actively involved in the "transformation" of Lou Reed, acting as producer of this record and provide an opportunity for the services of his guitarist Mars, Mr Mick Ronson.
The touch of Bowie in "Transformer" is more than evident, there are numerous references to the records of the most decisive British music, mainly marked by arsonists in Ronson riffs of songs like "Vicious", "Andy's Chest" and "Hangin 'Around "although it would be totally unfair to give all the credit of a disc like this so crucial to the collaboration of Bowie and Ronson.
"Transformer" contains some of the most popular and mythical Reed, perfectly recognizable themes like "Satellite of Love," "Perfect Day" or archipopular "Walk on the Wild Side" truly unique and legendary items to put this record among the best of New York musician despite criticism that this has always been a step below a record of later works like "Berlin" (1973), "Coney Island Baby" (1976) and "The Blue Mask" (1980 ).
Lou Reed stated here clearly distinctive signs such as composer, who would always sign beyond any mutation which could suffer its music throughout the years (which were many and severe), Reed tried here and issues such as drug addiction, prostitution or homosexuality stamps portraying ultrarealistas of marginal characters and situations in a way that only he could channel the peculiar way of approaching these and other equally thorny issues is a feature that has maintained throughout his career, completing an unparalleled collection of prints of his time, Reed is no doubt, along with Bob Dylan, the best portrait painter of his era, one of the best composers in the history of rock.