Berlin

After the success of his glam-rockish TRANSFORMER, the expectation was that Lou Reed would plough deeper into commercial territory. As usual, Reed delighted in confounding expectations. BERLIN is a song cycle that uses the decadence of its namesake and some Brecht/Weill-esque orchestrations to tell a story of two psychically damaged people and their doomed relationship. (Aided by Berlin producer Bob Ezrin, Pink Floyd would attempt a similar feat several years later on THE WALL). more...

Far from the rock-star poses of TRANSFORMER, BERLIN is lyrically and musically frank and blunt. The arrangements move from sophisticated, arch orchestration to naked-sounding acoustic sparseness, but the words are uniformly unflinching in their depiction of violence, addiction, and desperation. Not for the faint of heart, BERLIN is a harrowing journey through the aforementioned tribulations, and one of Reed's most unusual, demanding, but ultimately rewarding albums.

NME (9/18/93, p.19)
- Ranked #33 among The Greatest Albums Of The '70s.

NME (8/12/00, p.29)
- Ranked #28 in The NME "Top 30 Heartbreak Albums" - "...Heartbreak. Heroin. Dubonnet on ice. Reed poured all this badness into this bitter and twisted masterpiece..."

Q (5/92, p.103)
- 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...a melancholy masterpiece...places Reed's dry narrative in sophisticated settings..."

The Wire (6/00, p.37)
- "...Fascinating....Detailing a couple's breakup, a woman's breakdown and her eventual suicide.....succeeding despite itself..."