Keith Doughty discusses songs, albums and artists that are unappreciated, unknown, and/or unfairly-maligned by the general public. This is Hidden Tracks.

Lou Reed - "Oh Jim"

All your two-bit friends
they're shootin' you up with pills

Although it is looked back on much more fondly now, Lou Reed’s 3^rd album, Berlin, was largely reviled at the time of its release in 1973. In its review of the album Rolling Stone stated that “there are certain records that are so patently offensive that one wishes to take some kind of physical vengeance on the artists that perpetrate them”. In other words, they did not enjoy it. Coming on the heels of his hit album Transformer, which yielded the top twenty single “Walk on the Wild Side”, Berlin is certainly not what audiences were expecting. Despite being released only one year apart, the two albums are very different.

Reed replaced Transformer producers (and glam rock extraordinaires) David Bowie and Mick Ronson with Bob Ezrin, who at that time was best known for producing Alice Cooper records and would go on to produce Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Instead of utilizing the more traditional rock instrumentation he did on Transformer (such as his own electric guitar playing), Reed brought in a slew of session musicians including such notable names as Jack Bruce (Cream bassist), Steve Winwood (Traffic, Blind Faith organist), Aynsley Dunbar (Journey drummer). The combination of Bob Ezrin and the session musicians leads Berlin to have a very full, theatrical sound although it can also be too polished and overbearing.

But the thing that people found most strange and off-putting about Berlin was Reed’s songwriting. Whereas Transformer was filled with fun, largely upbeat songs, Berlin is a downright depressing album. The songs form a loose storyline about the downfall of two lovers in Berlin. Typical song topics include drug addiction, physical abuse, childhood trauma and suicide.

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