Lou Reed-Live: Take No Prisoners (1978)

This double live album by Lou Reed, released in late 1978, is one of his most infamous records, and it's so because, more than a conventional live album, it's a long monologue in which he insults, rants, and laughs at everything under the sun, all while smoking and telling sordid jokes brimming with malice and madness. Preceded by the equally twisted "Street Hassle", this concert, recorded at The Bottom Line in New York in May 1978, features Lou Reed revisiting some of his most emblematic songs, which sound unrecognizable here, yet retain their charm thanks to the brilliant musical treatment applied. Songs like "Sweet Jane" contain hurtful interludes, such as insulting the audience. Others, like "I Wanna Be Black", "Satellite of Love", "Pale Blue Eyes", and "Berlin", showcase an excellent backing band that navigates between funk and rock, embellishing the well-oiled rhythm section with electric guitars, piano, saxophone, and backing vocals. In "I'm Waiting for My Man", Reed returns to the attack after warning the audience, "I'll speak when you shut up". Not content with slightly altering the title and presenting the song as a blues track three times longer than the original, it ultimately becomes the prelude to one of his biting songs, "Temporary Thing". However, Reed's harshest and most scathing criticisms are reserved for the nearly seventeen minutes of an unalterable "Walk On The Wild Side", whose riff perpetuates itself as a cold chant over which Lou Reed hurls insults left and right, insulting music critic Robert Christgau, talking about how idiotic Joe Dallesandro was, imitating and ridiculing Barbra Streisand, praising Bruce Springsteen, or improvising on any outlandish idea that crossed his mind during the concert, turning this song into a kind of ceremony of bewilderment and provocation. Without a doubt, we are dealing with a punk album, performed in a way that few, if any, punks would ever dream of.

Lou Reed-Transformer (1972)

After a first debut album that would pass without penalty or glory, Lou Reed achieved his status as a rock icon in 1972 thanks to his album "Transformer", in which he had the considerable help of two geniuses such as David Bowie and Mick Ronson.
They are fundamental pieces in the commercial plus to Reed's music, not far removed from what he had already done with the Velvet Underground.
Also thanks to the "Walk On The Wild Side" theme, it achieves a somewhat unexpected success, but that would define forever the career of this great New York musician.
However, it is the most rock facet with stark and powerful songs that mark the path that Lou Reed will follow in the following years.
Compositions such as "Vicious" or "Hangin´Round" are a good example of this with a powerful sound thanks to the great Mick Ronson's guitar, turning musical references for posterity.

Lou Reed-The Blue Mask (1982)

Once Lou Reed overcame his addictions to drugs and alcohol, a period that marked his most decadent phase but also produced some of his best albums, he returned in 1982 with "The Blue Mask", a magnificent album showcasing a more reflective side of him. Recorded at RCA Studios in New York and produced by Sean Fullen, Reed collaborated with a small group of musicians including Robert Quine (guitars), Fernando Saunders (bass), and Doane Perry (drums). The general tone of this new work (the eleventh chronologically by the American musician) is based on ingenious, easily digestible songs, a concise repertoire dominated by the guitar, which has a great luminous intensity and with a large majority of compositions of relaxed sounds except for the energetic "The Blues Mask", "Average Guy" and "Waves Of Fear", while others such as "My House", "Women", "The Gun", "The Day John Kennedy Died" and "Heavenly Armas", show that complacency, giving great stability to this excellent work.

Lou Reed-Rock´n´Roll Animal (1974)

In 1972, David Bowie entered Lou Reed's career and became one of his greatest influences. The British singer encouraged Reed to emphasize the ambiguous and provocative nature of his lyrics and performances, characteristics typical of the Andy Warhol factory, from which Reed himself emerged. If, until then, the New York musician had been one of the pioneers in highlighting the negative and unsettling aspects of youth subculture, with Bowie's arrival, he gradually transformed into an androgynous figure, appearing on stage with black eye and lip paint and wearing black velvet suits adorned with faux sequins. Already on his album "Transformer" (1972), he deliberately introduced the themes of homosexuality and cross-dressing, with which Reed had previously maintained a distance through irony and theatricality, but which he suddenly seemed to embrace. Bowie and Mick Ronson's collaboration on production, in addition to their participation in the album's recording, gave a great boost, coherence, and balance to a work that contained captivating songs like "Walk On The Wild Side", "Vicious", "Make Up", and "Satellite Of Love". Thanks to this LP, Lou Reed finally became a rock star; however, his consolidation at the top was cut short by his next work, "Berlin" (1973), which was produced by Bob Ezrin and featured an anthology of musicians, including Steve Winwood, Michael Brecker, Aynsley Dunbar, Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, and Jack Bruce, among others. However, this album was scorned by the press and lost public interest, undoubtedly due to its strange music, which alternated intense orchestral passages with uneven acoustic guitar and rock sounds, prompting comparisons to the Velvet Underground's first album. Disgusted by that poor reception, Lou Reed formed a powerful and forceful rock band, which included guitarists Wagner and Hunter, plus bassist Prakash John, drummer Pentti Glan, and keyboardist Ray Colcord, and would release the vigorous and immersive live albums “Rock´n´Roll Animal” (1974) and “Lou Reed Live” (1975) in which he reviewed his classic songs in an almost hard rock style; “Sweet Jane”, “Heroin”, “Lady Day”, “Vicious” or “Walk On The Wild Side”, both albums, memorable sonic documents of the best period, at the same time the most turbulent of the American musician.