Classic Albums – Lou Reed’s Transformer
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C+ Main Program: B-
The importance of The Velvet Underground cannot be
understated, even though Nico’s role is disputed (we like her too) to this day
on the first album. With that said,
after several more albums, founder Lou Reed went out on his own with what
looked like a career that would stay limited and too challenging in its music
content for commercial success. Then,
in one of the great twists in record industry history, Reed went to England to
produce an album with red-hot David Bowie and the result was Transformer. This 2001 installment of Classic Albums
takes on covering the making of the album and its influence with the usual mix
of great interviews, classic footage, stills and breaking down of the tracks.
Bowie looked like he would become The Beatles of the 1970s
and became far more experimental than anyone could have imagined. Elton John overtook him in the commercial
success department, but he still had his hits and his production work with Mick
Ronson helped make Reed’s 1973 album a Top 30 hit. What helped to generate that success for what is still one of
Reed’s greatest successes was the most unexpected of hits, a Top 20 classic in Walk
On The Wild Side. Many stations
picked it up before they realized what the lyrics really meant, but it made
Reed a “one-hit-wonder” by default and continues to endure today. The other well-known songs to fans covered
here include Vicious, Satellite Of Love, Andy’s Chest, New
York Telephone Conversation, Make Up, Perfect Day, and Goodnight
Ladies.
The main program runs for about 50 minutes, with about 40
minutes of extra footage in the extras section. It helps the main program
immensely, as the length of the main program just does not cover the album
thoroughly enough, and that has always been the benefit of having these
programs on DVD with their extra footage.
Transformer is a great album that is often ignored or even
treated (even by some Reed fans) as an aberration on his career. It instead captures the Warhol era, a great
moment in early 1970s Pop and Rock music and marks a great collaboration
between Bowie, Reed, Ronson and some very talented musicians who knew how to
make great music about something.
The anamorphically enhanced 16 X 9 (1.78 X 1) image is
once again decent, though a touch soft, but not with some of the problems that
plagued previous titles in this series.
Nicer still, the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo decodes nicely in Pro Logic
surround for a change. Of course, that
will never stand up to the inevitable high definition DSD signal on a SACD, now
that label RCA is poised to support the format in their merger with Sony
Music. These are the original mixes of
the songs, which accounts for something, but the remastered CD that is going
out of print had two bonus tracks.
Until its reissue, this Classic Albums installment will make fans
and music lovers happy.
- Nicholas Sheffo
