Lou Reed and Kris Kristofferson The Bottom Line Archive Series: In Their Own Words: With Vin Scelsa - A new album captures a rare collaborative performance by Lou Reed and Kris Kristofferson. The artists met up at the New York club the Bottom Line in February 1994 and discussed songwriting and their histories with radio host Vin Scelsa.
Walk on the Wild Side: The Best of Lou Reed was the standard record company "hits" compilation surveying Reed's five-year, eight-album sojourn at RCA from 1972 to 1976. Its 11 songs included two from Lou Reed, three from Transformer (among them, of course, this album's title track, Reed's sole chart hit), one from Berlin, two from Rock N Roll Animal (one of which is "Sweet Jane" minus the introductory fanfare), and the title tracks from Sally Can't Dance and Coney Island Baby, plus the previously non-LP B-side "Nowhere at All." It was a bulletproof selection, as unimaginative as it was dependable, which oddly was why it worked so well. Reed's solo career had seen some extreme tangents, and this album caught them, from the Dylan-ish "Wild Child" to the glam pop of the Transformer material…
Lou Reed is very much an album-oriented artist, and those who think they may develop a serious interest in his work are better advised to seek individual titles than compilations. If you just want some of his best songs around the house, though, this is a well-chosen, economic 17-track survey of his best material from his best period as a solo act (the early to mid-'70s). Drawing most heavily from the Transformer and Berlin albums, this has his most famous/notorious early solo works ("Walk on the Wild Side," "Vicious," "Satellite of Love," "Caroline Says"), some inferior but notably different remakes of songs he recorded with the Velvet Underground ("Lisa Says," "I Can't Stand It," "Sweet Jane"), and other high points like "Kill Your Sons" and "Coney Island Baby.
This 3CD/DVD/2LP Deluxe Edition of the legendary artist’s Sire Records debut features newly remastered sound, unreleased studio and live tracks, plus the DVD debut of “The New York Album” concert video. This limited edition and exclusive bundle also comes with a cassette version of the New York album.