In 1974, after the commercial disaster of his album
Berlin,
Lou Reed needed a hit, and
Rock N' Roll Animal was a rare display of commercial acumen on his part, just the right album at just the right time. Recorded in concert with
Reed's crack road band at the peak of their form,
Rock N' Roll Animal offered a set of his most anthemic songs (most dating from his days with
the Velvet Underground) in arrangements that presented his lean, effective melodies and street-level lyrics in their most user-friendly form (or at least as user friendly as an album with a song called "Heroin" can get). Early-'70s arena rock bombast is often the order of the day, but guitarists
Dick Wagner and
Steve Hunter use their six-string muscle to lift these songs up, not weigh them down, and with
Reed's passionate but controlled vocals riding over the top, "Sweet Jane," "White Light/White Heat," and "Rock 'n' Roll" finally sound like the radio hits they always should have been.
Reed would rarely sound this commercial again, but
Rock N' Roll Animal proves he could please a crowd when he had to. ~ Mark Deming
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