Is the 'Transformer' album overrated (or rated accurately)?

Wondering what the consensus is, if any, on Lou Reed's Transformer album.

It undoubtedly helped put his solo career on the map, and contains some of his best-known songs.

The first side is a classic, and contains one of Mick Ronson's best string arrangements on "Perfect Day". I like the version of "Andy's Chest" better than the Velvet Underground version.

I think the second side has quite a bit more filler, and the Reed / Bowie / Ronson collaboration doesn't come off quite as well. What say you? And how does it stack up overall to the rest of Reed's solo work?

 

Over-rated, nowhere near as good as Berlin, Songs For Drella, New York, Magic & Loss, possibly The Blue Mask, Coney Island Baby. I even prefer New Sensations and Legendary Hearts. It's Lou Does Bowie Doing Velvets-lite.

 

Have yet to listen to the entire catalog, but I haven't disliked anything I've heard (including Metal Machine Music). I don't feel the need to defend an album as underrated or overrated when it's ****ing perfect though. Overshadows other stuff? Sure. Not a great representation of his diversity? Okay. But to try to dismiss it as "overrated" when it's great from beginning to end? Uh... no.

 

I think New York, and certainly The Blue Mask, give Transformer a run for its money, at least in the consistency department. But they're all such different animals as albums.

 

So says you.

 

It's a great album IMO - reveals more of itself with repeated listening

 

You better get yer ears checked.

Then again, I have listened to MMM three times, all voluntarily, in the past year... maybe I'm the delusional one.

 

It's a good album but he has released better.

 

How is Transformer even rated? If it is rated as "Ken's favorite Lou Reed solo album, just a tad behind that monster live album and New York," then I'd say it is perfectly rated.

 

Same as 'Ziggy Stardust'. Put the artist on the map and the album is a stone cold classic. But both artists has released way better material.

 

It's brilliant compared to most other artist's output.
For a Lou Reed record, it's middle of the pack.

 

I keep asking everybody where the ratings are kept so I can refer to them with the same airy confidence so many people seem to have.

In the meantime I’ll continue to rely on my own taste, which is perfect, like Transformer.

 

AllMusic rate it very highly, for one.

Transformer - Lou Reed | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic »

 

Transformer seems to be 75% Lou and 25% Bowie assistance/interference, however you want to look at it. And a little Ronson guitar is always a good thing. It's at the top of Lou's discography for me, along with New York.

 

It's a great album. The problem is the rest of Lou's solo catalogue is very much underrated, except New York which does get praise.
Was happy to see a feature on Street Hassle in the latest issue of Uncut.

 

Rated accurately. Vicious...Hit me with a flower!

 

Ronson's contributions are as brilliant and distinctive as ever on Transformer.

"The distinctive piano work on Perfect Day is Ronson's, while he also orchestrated the soaring strings on the song, as well as others on the album.

Many years later, in an episode of the television documentary series Classic Albums, Reed was quick to praise the beauty of Ronson's work.

In a clip of him listening back to the strings and piano at the end of Perfect Day, he smiles at the gently fading music on the track.

"Isn't that beautiful? Wow! Boy! Ronson's good! Wow!

"Isn't that amazing?," he says to the camera with a smile."


How Hull's Transformer Mick Ronson helped Lou Reed walk on the wild side »

 

I don't mind SH, but I think that one is overrated, compared to Sally Can't Dance and Coney Island Baby.

 

I kind of agree, though at least half the album is stellar. Sally is the most underrated album in Lou's canon.

 

Sally Can't Dance is lower tier Lou, IMO. Still good, though.

 

It seems Mick Ronson did most of the work, while Bowie contributed some backing vocals and his hot-hot name and goodwill.

 

It's an okay album, and provided needed commercial validation. I think it also helped continued to build Lou's reputation outside the US as an American original ala Iggy, Waits, Zappa, Beefheart, etc.,

 

I prefer
Street Hassle
The Bells
Rock n Roll Animal, a damn fine album

With the other two I really like the music and how it sounds, some parts of The Bells sounds awesome,
I love all 3 of those albums with Berlin right behind

 

Wouldn't that be "Metal Machine Music"?

 

You mean Mick Ronson's solo album, (featuring songs by Lou Reed and David Bowie)?