Transformer and "Walk on the Wild Side" were both major hits in 1972, to the surprise of both
Lou Reed and the music industry, and with
Reed suddenly a hot commodity, he used his newly won clout to make the most ambitious album of his career,
Berlin.
Berlin was the musical equivalent of a drug-addled kid set loose in a candy store; the album's songs, which form a loose story line about a doomed romance between two chemically fueled bohemians, were fleshed out with a huge, boomy production (
Bob Ezrin at his most grandiose) and arrangements overloaded with guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and any other kitchen sink that was handy (the session band included
Jack Bruce,
Steve Winwood,
Aynsley Dunbar, and
Tony Levin). And while
Reed had often been accused of focusing on the dark side of life, he and
Ezrin approached
Berlin as their opportunity to make The Most Depressing Album of All Time, and they hardly missed a trick. This all seemed a bit much for an artist who made such superb use of the two-guitars/bass/drums lineup with
the Velvet Underground, especially since
Reed doesn't even play electric guitar on the album; the sheer size of
Berlin ultimately overpowers both
Reed and his material. But if
Berlin is largely a failure of ambition, that sets it apart from the vast majority of
Reed's lesser works;
Lou's vocals are both precise and impassioned, and though a few of the songs are little more than sketches, the best -- "How Do You Think It Feels," "Oh, Jim," "The Kids," and "Sad Song" -- are powerful, bitter stuff. It's hard not to be impressed by
Berlin, given the sheer scope of the project, but while it earns an A for effort, the actual execution merits more of a B-.