I’ve been listening to different tracks from Lou Reed recently and found that many are catchy and likeable in one listen. He has many more songs than Walk on the Wild Side. I’ve never explored him like I should have, and I’ve been doing that along with Frank Zappa. It took me a while to pick a song to cover because I couldn’t decide on one.
This song is on his 1972 great album called Transformer. I love Lou’s delivery, half sung, half tossed off, like he’s talking to you from the corner of the room. It’s not a grand hit centerpiece like Walk on the Wild Side, but it shows what the Transformer sessions were really about. Taking Lou’s New York voice and framing it so the world couldn’t miss it.
It was recorded during the Transformer sessions in London in 1972, with David Bowie and Mick Ronson producing and helping shape the sound. Lou came in with the songs, but Bowie and Ronson gave the album a tighter sound than the rougher Velvet Underground days. Cleaner takes and separation between instruments. They gave the songs more of a punch. Ronson wasn’t just producing, he was also arranging and playing as well.
Transformer peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #12 in Canada, and #13 in the UK in 1972. Transformer was Lou Reed’s most commercially successful and iconic solo album. The first single, Walk on the Wild Side became a Top Forty hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Within a year, Lou Reed transformed from a cult artist to an international star.
Lou Reed – There was this whole glam thing going on so I just put myself in that head. Its not like I had to go very far to do it. I have about a thousand selves running around. It’s easy.
Demo from 1971. Also my friend at thepressmusicreviews reviewed the RCA demos a while back.
I’m So Free
Yes, I am Mother Nature’s son (uh, uh)And I’m the only oneI do what I want, and I want what I see (uh, uh)Could only happen to me
I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)
Oh, please, St. Germaine (uh, uh)I have come this wayDo you remember the shape I was in? (Uh, uh)I had horns that bent
I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)
Do you remember the silver walks?You used to shiver and I used to talkThen we went down to Times SquareAnd ever since I’ve been hangin’ ’round there
I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)
Yes, I am Mother Nature’s son (uh, uh)And I’m the only oneI do what I want, and I want what I see (uh, uh)Could only happen to me
I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)I’m so free (uh, uh, uh, uh)Oh-oh, I’m so freeOh-oh, I’m so freeOh-oh, I’m so free
In the morning, I’m so freeLate in the evening, I’m so freeYeah, yeah, yeah, I’m so freeWhen I feel good, I’m so free
And when it’s in the morning, I’m so freeAnd when it’s in the evening, I’m so freeI’m so free, I’m so freeI’m so free, I’m so free
Feel so good now, I’m so freeOh-oh, I’m so freeYeah, yeah, yeah, I’m so freeOh-oh, I’m so free
Feel so free now, I’m so freeFeel a little nice, I’m so freeFeel a little down now, I’m so freeYou’re so free, I’m so free
I’m so free, I’m so freeI’m so free, I’m so freeI’m so free, I’m so freeI’m so free, I’m so free
…
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That’s one of the Lou Reeds I like. Every song in Transformer are worth listening to.
It really is a great album. I’m now going through his catalog…why it took me so long I don’t know!
I like the ‘Berlin’ album very much too, and far later New York.
I hope for a review about Metal Machine Music, it could be fun 😉
lol…ah yes! That was the one with the sound effects and feedback right? I’ve never listened to it but I’ve read some about it.
Exactly. It was a new kind of symphony, something like a John Cage performance with guitars. Lester Bangs was a huge fan of that punk and provocative art gesture.
I did listen to some…some was intriguing…too much though was too much!
A review on Metal Machine Music? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
😄
love Lou
Love me some Lou Reed! ❤️✨
Transformer is a fav of mine. I bought it with four other early albums by Lou Reed that were released in a slip-case with the discs in card sleeves.
That was the album that I knew him by the most…and now I’m digging into his other music…but yes it is a great album.
Lou’s voice & delivery, as you said, really give his music a distinctive and interesting air.
On many of those demos…he was singing really well. I haven’t heard that side of him as much…although I like his delivery regardless.
I was always aware of Lou Reed, but it wasn’t until the New Sensations album and I Love You Suzanne that I really started listening, and then worked my way backwards towards the Velvet Underground. I’ll listen to I’m so free today before football starts. his story is pretty horrible, electroshock therapy did a huge number on his head, and presented him with a lot of challenges throughout his life, but he’s such a huge part f that New York sound…along with people like David Johansen and the New York Dolls and others, oh to have been there in the 70s and the beginning of time….Legs McNeil’s book Please Kill Me has become like my bible
I can’t imagine what it was like in New York at that time. You gave some good examples…when I think of that period I think of the New York Dolls.
I may check that book out
Lou Reed was a one of a kind embracing the dark, avant-garde form of rock music.
Been forever since I listened to this album. Not one of his songs I remember well. Great quote in there from Reed. It was “easy”. Nobody loved Lou Reed more than Lou Reed.
LOL…yours is a good quote. I love this album…I was going review it but this flu I have…is kicking me.
Thanks Max. Have some chicken soup! And rest.
Funny enough…I just ate some and a grilled cheese…
The comfort of comfort foods.
The other half of the Reed/Cale team. Gotta like Lou. Mick Ronson? An Unsung hero of rocknroll
I talk about tone a lot…and Mick Ronson had it in spades. Him with Hunter and Bowie…some great guitar.
He knew his way around the studio and around rocknroll. Funny when I thing of Reed a lot of thigs come to mind. One of them is football. He loved the game. Both hi and Steve Earl make reference to it in song and say the same thing about being to small.
I never knew that he was a football fan or even wanting to play. Thats something I never picked up from him. I love when sports are name checked in songs.
Its the title cut off of Coney Island Baby. He does a talk intro talking about the coach. I got a kick out of it but there is a longing in his voice
Listening to it now…that is cool… I almost picked a song called Charley’s Girl off that album for today.
I love that record.
Love it too
It was years later that I found out that he really was a football fan.
totally agree on Ronson, CB
Common ground Lisa.
The dude (as in all the young) was everywhere back in the day.
I have been in an Ian Hunter / Mott the Hoople binge lately and Hunter talks alot about his respect for his talent & his love of the man, Mick Ronson…Very underrated, under-appreciated Rn’R hero. I think Bowie/Ziggy Stardust does not approach his level of super-stardom w/out the hard work & talent of Mick Ronson. Lots of really cool stuff w/ him & Ian Hunter. And Hunter’s tribute to Mick after his death, “Michael Picasso”, real good song…
Agree with the comment and I also go on the Hunter/Ronson trip when it grabs me. I wore out ‘Welcome To The Club’
He was a one off. The cool factor can’t be manufactured.
I have dabbled here and there with Lou, but do not know tons of his music. This is good, like it. Sorry to hear you’re under the weather. There’s been a lot of Flu and Covid at the hospital ever since Christmas. It settled down for a few days, but now back up again.
Yea…Jennifer got it last week and I picked it up Friday morning…I’m ready to put it back down again. thank you
excellent. completely understand the many versions of yourself…
I’ve never really listened to Lou’s solo work but huge fan of The Velvet Underground. At one point I listened to The Velvet Underground & Nico in its entirety daily over a six month period. I think I need to check out Transformer.
I’ve always leaned more toward them also…but this album IS really good. That was a good binge!
Catchy tune. I could see where Reed, Bowie, and Ronson would pal around.
Cool song! I think I’m in the same you are/were. I know there’s more to Lou Reed like “Walk On the Wild Side,” but I’ve only heard a few other his other songs like “Vicious” and “Sweet Jane.” As such, I really ought to explore him more. He had a distinct vocal style that was part singing, part speaking.
If you listen to those demos…he is really singing…I’ve never heard him like that before.
I liked late 80s/early 90s Lou also. The “New York” album, then his loss of a friend to cancer tribute, “Magic & Loss”. I had a beer w/ Lou once around that time in East Village of Manhattan, he was just hanging at some bar, happy hour’ish I think. I was almost scared to approach him, thinking I might get a “get the F*ck away from me kid”, but I summoned up the courage, said hello, talked a little music and then left him alone…I gotta go back and fully investigate his Transformer album…
That is so cool that you got to talk with him a little big and he didn’t shoo you away. I like hearing those kind of stories.
I still haven’t dig into his solo stuff much, Transformer is a really good, accessible record though.
In spite of my wide ranging musical tastes, I have never been able to get into, much less enjoy Lou Reed. Velvet Underground is even worse to my ears.
That being said, I was just reading a book about the history of Rock-n-Roll based on famous drummers (Breakbeats by John Lingan _ fantastic so far!), and Moe Tucker from VU was one of the featured drummers. Reading about her and her approach kinda piqued my interest in giving them another try. And now this post on Lou Reed – perhaps it’s a sign that it’s time to expand my horizons.
Honestly I have extremely low expectations, but maybe, just maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised
I totally get it. It took me a while to warm up to it but I of course did. The VU I liked a little more earlier because of the dirty sound they got…I didn’t get into the Warhol stuff…but they did have some good rock songs.