Take a walk on the wild side

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Q.� Which album would make a good introduction to Lou Reed

A.� Lou Reed has released a steady stream of solo albums since his days with The Velvet Underground, and all have maintained his uncompromising attitude to all his work�- with varying critical and commercial responses. As a newcomer to his work, it may be best to begin with his most successful, and musically accessible album, Transformer.

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Q.� What makes this album accessible and successful

A.� It's accessible because it's the nearest Lou Reed has managed to get to 'pop' music. The songs are standard three-minute formats, with verses and choruses, and omit any of the heavyweight fuzz guitar and doomy lyrics that have characterised some of Reed's work. It's successful because it contains Perfect Day and the standout song Walk On The Wild Side which has become a pop classic, and radio staple, despite its lyrics, which must be sufficiently obscure to have slipped past the censors who usually put a block on such content.

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Q.� What content is that

A.� The song refers to a number of the characters that populated The Factory, the New York arts collective that was created and managed by Andy Warhol, pop artist and patron of Reed's art house legend band The Velvet Underground. The song is famous for the acoustic bass line, which accompanies the standard electric bass line, and underpins Reed's drawling vocals to perfection. The bass was played by session musician Herbie Flowers, who went on to write Clive Dunn's Grandad.

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Q.� Who was behind this shift into mainstream popularity

A.� David Bowie, who has always acknowledged the influence of The Velvet Underground on his own career, and was keen to return the favour. With Spiders From Mars guitarist Mick Ronson, Bowie ensured that the album enjoyed a lightness of touch that did not compromise Reed's artistic reputation.

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Q.� Are there any great tracks on this album

A.� Virtually all the songs are up to standard, although personal favourites include Satellite of Love with Ronson and Bowie crooning on background vocals, and the peerless Walk On The Wild Side that suits Reed's slightly worn New York vocal drawl perfectly. It includes the immortal line 'And the coloured girls go doo doo doo...' even though the 'coloured girls' weren't� - they were session singers The Thunderthighs, one half of which, Helen Terry, joined Culture Club for a while. The sax solo was performed, not as many thought by Bowie, but by Bowie's sax teacher from his teenage years, Ronnie Ross.

Perfect Day, which surfaced on the BBC tribute album a few years ago, and in Irvine Welsh's heroin flick Trainspotting manages to fit both soundscapes perfectly. It sounds on first hearing like a simple love song�- boy spends day with girl in the park, nice time had by all�- but this is Lou Reed, nothing can be so simple. Take the line 'I thought I was someone else, someone good' and the final chilling 'You're gonna reap just what you sow', it's probably chosen as a wedding anthem by couples who have singularly failed to listen to it closely, and see the dark side of Lou Reed that surfaces by the end of the song, whilst never deviating from the slow drawl and romantic musical setting with which it began.

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Q.� Did Lou Reed continue in this pop vein

A.� No, being Lou Reed, it would have been too easy to continue making Transformer Part Two and so on, for his next album Reed recorded Berlin, which carried on with some of the lounge-style vocals and arrangements, but steered away from the obvious pop sensibilities that guaranteed continued chart success.

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Q.� But he wasn't bothered

A.� Probably not. Transformer remains an album of its time�- which is 1972, and the mutually rewarding working relationship with Bowie and Ronson did no-one's careers any harm at all. Reed doubtless enjoyed the novelty of being a chart star for the short time it lasted, and probably to this day enjoys a wry smile every time Walk On The Wild Side enjoys an airing on mainstream radio, but his artistic credibility, already well established before the release of this album, ensured that he would have to continue making records in his own particular style, of which this sound was only a small part.

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Q.� Does the album stand up well today

A.� It does, although it could never be labelled as typical of Lou Reed's work, it gives an insight into the areas of recording that Reed, and indeed Bowie, were exploring at the time. The songs have aged well, and although both artists have ploughed significantly different artistic furrows in their future careers, this represents an intriguing mixture of the strengths of both. Listen carefully to the lyrics of Walk On The Wild Side, and wonder how the BBC managed to get in such a tizzy over Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Relax, then smile along with Lou, and head into The Velvet Underground back catalogue, which is entirely another story.

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Andy Hughes