Berlin: Limited Edition White Vinyl LP

After the success of ‘Transformer’, the expectation was that Lou Reed would plow 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. 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.