Search - Lou Reed :: Golden Collection

Mostly Transformer and Berlin, plus some VU

Pieter | Johannesburg | 01/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

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As far as Lou Reed compilations go - and there are many - the Golden Collection is quite good. It is basically the albums Transformer and Berlin plus some VU tracks from the first three albums.



Disc One contains most of Reed's solo classics from the 1970s, like the poignant Perfect Day, the yearning and tuneful Satellite Of Love, the camp New York Telephone Conversation and the warholesque Vicious with its lovely guitar bursts. Most of these come from his seminal Transformer album, which has become a sort of Best Of by itself. It has stood the test of time very well and remains one of Reed's most stylistically diverse and accessible albums.



Disc Two concentrates on the Velvet Underground and VU-related songs and includes the powerful Sweet Jane, the incomparable Heroin, the heavy metal assault of White Light/White Heat and surprisingly, a version of the gentle Lady Day, tribute to Billy Holiday from the Berlin album. In my opinion, a song like Pale Blue Eyes from the 3rd VU album ought to have been included here, and perhaps the brilliant All Tomorrow's Parties or Femme Fatale from the first (banana) album.



Disc Three is a virtual copy of the bleak but impressive Berlin, one of Reed's most remarkable 1970s albums. Unlike Transformer, however, Berlin was not a commercial success. The disc includes Caroline Says I and II, Men Of Good Fortune, Oh Jim and those lugubrious gems The Bed, Sad Song and the harrowing The Kids. Berlin may not have been popular way back, but it has grown in stature down the decades as these songs are truly memorable.



The Golden Collection is thus a compilation of Reed's most popular 1970s album, a less popular but highly accomplished one from the same era, and some classic tracks from the legendary Velvet Underground. It deserves four and a half stars.

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