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Transformer review

Posted : 10 years, 5 months ago on 28 October 2013 08:43

Okay , I confess : before you buy " Transformer" not even know who he was, Lou Reed. I have some mitigating circumstances : I was twenty , I was raised in Italian songs until I had received as a gift from an uncle -sighted , " Penny Lane " / " Strawberry Fields Forever" (the single ) and since then I was all Beatles until lap of the decade, when I had fallen in love ( because of Enzo Caffarelli, the reviewer of " Hello 2001"), Genesis , Jethro Tull, Van der Graaf Generator , Gentle Giant , and Audience ( God forgive me ) Amazing Blondel .
Then it happened that huge thing of Ziggy Stardust , so one day I put together many of the pennies pocket money and I bought it, all together, "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust " (of course) by David Bowie, " Roxy Music" Roxy Music , "All the young dudes " by Mott the Hoople , " the human menagerie " of Cockney Rebel and - while I was there - "No pussyfooting " by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp .
Stuff that I have left their mark, and still do not know if it's a good sign or a bad sign. The mark left by " Transformer" , I'm sure of , it was good , because from there started my discovery of the Velvet Underground , which are certainly a cornerstone - although at the time I was not much aware - the history of rock . Oh , it is true that even without buying "Transformer" probably the Velvet Underground I would have come anyway, sooner or later , but , in short, better before , right?
However, in "Transformer" I have gratitude, and I will not be so ungrateful as to deny it. So , it is with some emotion that I put in the player in this edition commemorative CD ( "Transformer" I had never bought it back in Cd; Lou Reed, you already know if you've been following the series of reviews of Rockol dedicated to "large hard rock " , I consider that the most significant work is" Berlin " ) . But the "Transformer" own two vinyl editions : the first is the Italian press , RCA , printed on lightweight , flexible vinyl that was called " Dynaflex " - a beautiful piece of crap , believe me. Do not believe there has ever been a stuff of Dynaflex name ? I think that Alzheimer's has now completely senile ? Here it is: " Dynaflex : Ultra- thin pressings of high -grade virgin vinyl Introduced by RCA Victor in late 1969 . Although crap Considered by most collectors Because they do not seem flat When held , they actually have much quieter surfaces then most of the popular records pressed by RCA in the mid -to -late- 1960s two to the extraordinarily high percentage of re -grind vinyl used in all but its Red Seal , Vintage Series , and Original Cast pressings . Also dynaflex was less prone to breakage and permanent warpage in shipment. Its lighter weight and reduced shipping costs allowed for the use of a higher grade of vinyl Because less material was required. They were supposed to lie flat on the turntable two to Their Own weight , but forgot RCA That many people had changers with 8-inch turntables . "
Now you believe it? Well, back to the disk. That edition of " Transformer" - that of the RCA Italian - had censored the cover : yes, because the guy in the white T-shirt , jeans and biker hat photographed on the back (a kind of " Querelle " ) was performing , clearly visible under jeans, a powerful erection that the Puritans Italian record had not seen fit to show the sensitive public of our country ( and so , while we were there, they took the opportunity to also cover the groin of the transvestite - heels -high - socks- veiled - curls - blacks portrait him well on the back cover ) . These details I've learned later , a few years later, when I bought another copy of the album , all import and this did not have that golden apron with the words " Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson " that was used as protection of the sexual morality of us impressionable young Italians ( " but the guys Italian venivan already on ! " as Ron had to sing in those days , right ) .
Well, the CD version restores the original photograph while leaving the macho smoking - in the sense that it has the obligatory pack of cigarettes tucked into the left sleeve T-shirt - alone in the back of the CD , and by moving the nervous disguised inside, the back cover of the book (OK , I wanted to keep him for the final but I'll tell you now : the macho and the transvestite are the same person , Ernst Thormahlen . and while you are there tell you something else , which I learned from the book cd : it seems that Lou Reed himself has revealed that " the massive erection " above was simply " a banana, a big banana " tucked into jeans Ernst ) . Side A of the album, and the booklet , instead remains as it was in its original form : the face of Lou Reed photographed in black and white by Mick Rock , with dark eyes and an astonished ( a Frankenstein effeminate ) , and under him the shape of a guitar profiled in orange and green. Impossible not to notice the resemblance to Lou Reed, in this photo , with the Frank'n'Furter of Tim Curry in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" - and before some smartass raise the finger to specify that "Rocky Horror Picture Show " the film is 1975, and that " if anything, then it was Tim Curry copy by Lou Reed ," specifically that Tim Curry in 1973 already carrying around for years the "Rocky Horror Picture Show " in theaters first in London and then Broadway.
Anyway. When Lou Reed, in the early seventies , he left New York to London, as the first solo album released folkeggiante " Lou Reed " and then, came into contact with David Bowie, then about to explode with " Ziggy Stardust " , you was persuaded to get produce from him a second job (the meeting , for the history , took place in New York, Bowie recalled, " I stood aghast when Lou accepted me to work with him as a producer : I was terribly intimidated because I knew that great things had done before then . ") Then , in fact , Bowie made โ€‹โ€‹it abundantly assist in the task by Mick Ronson - and did well , I think.
Now perhaps you would like to know something about the music and the songs on this record, after I 've done it with long memories of childhood , the cover photo and details of historiography . But I have a little ' afraid to tell you my thoughts " as critical " ( ha ha! ) To " Transformer" . And fear came to me rereading two reviews (of different hand , of course) appeared sull'autorevolissimo "Rolling Stone" . In the first , released in January 1973 Nick Tosches writes : "I think the album is not even remotely express the potential of Lou Reed, who should set aside this arty stuff about homosexuality and begin to spit out his visionary " . In the second , released in March 2002 Rob Sheffield writes: " A poster of glam , outrageous in its entirety as it is the same Lou Reed , Bowie and he no longer worked for any other disc, but ' Transformer ' stands legendary careers of both . "
So , in the space of three decades "Rolling Stone" has completely revised its opinion on the disc. Here , it is the same thing happened to me , but (I say this with regret ) in the opposite direction : the "Transformer" I liked it and was curious and " intrigued " ( verb then this was not so fashionable) thirty years ago, so today I sound unnerved and slombato , artifact and overall insincere . This does not mean that I do not recognize the greatness of " Walk on the wild side ," unquestionably one of the great rock songs of all time: I'm happy to pass it dozens of times a radio province of right-thinking and tail ( so no one understood that " but she never lost her head / Even when She Was giving head" means " but she never lost control / even when it was a blowjob " had not understood even those of the BBC British, who in fact passed on the track in the original version - not like the Americans, who had demanded for a single expurgated version ) . With his title stolen from a novel by Nelson Algren set in New Orleans, with the riambientazione on the sidewalks of New York and its parade of characters such as figurines of an album - collection dedicated to Andy Warhol's Factory - Holly Woodlawn , Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling , Sugarplum Fairy - the song is explicit and didactic as "Trash ," the documentary film by Paul Morrissey in whose cast includes all the above mentioned and many others ( yes , I saw the film , I'm just giving me airs of intellectual : If you want you can also see you in Italy is released on video by RaroVideo , www.rarovideo.com ), even if for a detailed and dispassionate sarcastic and more accurate description of the characters ( " Little Joe was an idiot ! " ) I refer to the version of " Walk on the wild side " published on the double live album "Take no prisoners " - taken from one of the four concerts in May 1978 at the Bottom Line in New York , one night when Reed was particularly good mood and had want to talk.
Obviously, the reference version is that of "Transformer " with acoustic guitar by Lou Reed, the choruses " du - du du - du du - du du du du ," the phrase sax Ronnie Ross pilfered to " Mr. Big Stuff "by Jean Knight. And with the bass Herbie Flowers , indeed, with " the" lows : Why Herbie , which quell'ipnotica sentence had played acoustic double bass , electric bass with suggested doubling it ( not for artistic reasons : he wanted to earn the pay of an second round of study, 12 pounds - and it is a malignancy : he told him, in the documentary " Classic albums - Transformer" ) . It is obvious that " Walk on the wild side " is a great song : just a great song can unscathed a cover Italian Monti- Dossena signed and titled " The Kensington Gardens " ( with all due respect to Patty Pravo who has sung she knows how to do ), the use of a commercial for Honda ( " do not settle for walking ..."), and a version of Tori Spelling ( in the serial "Beverly Hills 90120 ) .
And it's a great rock song (especially the arrangement is great , Mick Ronson ) also "Vicious " which opens side A of the disc ( " Vicious , you hit me with a flower ..."), and that would look in a record of the Velvet Underground . And it's a good song "Satellite of Love" , all things considered. But - excuse the brutality - " Perfect Day ", now risen to excessive levels of popularity that have distorted the languid perversion (after version beneficial " all-stars " of the BBC, and after entering the soundtrack of " Trainspotting " ) , heard again today looks very little, a little song -sweet romantic - decadent bowiana "Letter to Hermione " - I'm curious to hear the new album by Lou Reed, "The raven" , the voice of the freak of nature that responds to Antony 's name (it is curious but not revealing, if not decisive intervention dell'effeminata production bowiana and some changes in the text - which originally spoke of " summer day" and not " perfect day " - the acoustic demo of " perfect day " which is one of two bonus tracks of this CD reissue ) .
The other ? " Andy's Chest " seems an outtake of " Hunky Dory ", " Hangin 'round " I would have liked to hear rather by Mott the Hoople (even in this there is an acoustic demo CD as a bonus track ) , " Make-up " - with the insistent tuba Herbie Flowers - is a kind of pale anticipation of " Caroline says" ( that appears, there beautiful , in "Berlin "), " Wagon wheel " and " I'm so free " are , as they say the Anglo-Saxons , " disposables " - in short , if you can safely do without, as they are massacred by irritating choruses , " New York telephone conversation" is a joke vaudeville or so ( so that you know it : it is the sigletta of "Brand new " the MTV program ), and " Goodnight ladies " , the song that closed the tracklist of the album , it seems written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for the soundtrack of the film "Cabaret " by Bob Fosse, released just the year before - but Joel Grey , " master of ceremonies " of the film alongside Liza Minnelli, would make it much more sparkling and mischievous ( listen for yourself " Two ladies " and " Tiller girls " ) .
But I would not have spent so much time and so many words and so much attention to talk about this album, if you do not ritenessi still important . Maybe it is ( was) , rather than for its intrinsic merits , for the consequences that led to: Lou Reed has brought to the fore, he did it again become a character (even by ranking ) , and probably served to give him full confidence in their ability after the eclipse period following the release by the Velvet Underground. Not surprisingly, after "Transformer" Lou Reed wrote an indisputable masterpiece as " Berlin " (if you want , I find the review in the archive of Rockol ) , not by chance , after politely take pride although the distances by the music and songs of "Transformer" ( " I am the best imitator of myself. so , since all were making money imitating , I thought there was no reason not to do it too . Why not? Did I create Lou Reed. Personally I have very little in common with the character Lou Reed, but I can impersonate him well, very well. "
So , "Transformer" is for several reasons a disc - poster : because it symbolizes the best the public image of Lou Reed early seventies, because it is the fruit of a joint effort of three of the most important figures of the time - the same Lou , David Bowie and perhaps not as widely revalued Mick Ronson - and why , with its obvious insist on gay issues (but a very gaysmo camp , today we would say platinettiano ) , embodies the spirit of his time, as long as the glam rock lived his short but great season . Can listen to it in part to leave unsatisfied , own it's practically mandatory.

(Franco Zanetti)

TRACKLIST :
"Vicious"
" Andy's Chest "
" Perfect day "
" Hangin ' Round "
" Walk on the wild side "
" Make up "
"Satellite of Love"
" Wagon Wheel "
" New York telephone conversation"
" I'm so free "
" Goodnight ladies"
bonus tracks :
" Hangin 'round (acoustic demo"
" Perfect Day (acoustic demo)


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