{"product_id":"reed_trans_2607","title":"Reed, Lou - Transformer - White Hot Stamper (Quiet Vinyl)","description":"\u003cp\u003eTransformer is an absolute tour de force of 70s Glam Rock \/ Classic Rock \/ Alternative Rock. You've got Lou Reed teamed up with David Bowie (in the producer's chair!), Mick Ronson, Herbie Flowers and Klaus Voorman, and on top of that the album was recorded at Trident and mixed by the great Ken Scott.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrow in the fact that this is the best set of post-Velvets material Lou would ever write and it is a recipe for success. There are so many good songs on here I won't bother to list them one by one. \"Satellite Of Love\" is especially good though, if you ask me. If you agree, and you've never heard the VU demo version, make sure to seek it out. It's completely different and very fun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vintage UK pressing has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern records can barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn't showing signs of coming back. If you love hearing INTO a recording, actually being able to \"see\" the performers, and feeling as if you are sitting in the studio with the band, this is the record for you. It's what vintage all analog recordings are known for -- \u003ci\u003ethis sound\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you exclusively play modern repressings of vintage recordings, I can say without fear of contradiction that you have never heard this kind of sound on vinyl. Old records have it -- not often, and certainly not always -- but maybe one out of a hundred new records do, and those are some pretty long odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Transformer Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221972%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1972\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. \u003ci\u003ePlaying the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above,\u003c\/i\u003e and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Transformer\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnergy\u003c\/strong\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen: \u003cstrong\u003epresence and immediacy\u003c\/strong\u003e. The vocals aren't \"back there\" somewhere, lost in the mix. They're front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt would put them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/strong\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cstrong\u003etransient information\u003c\/strong\u003e -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTight punchy bass\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cstrong\u003etransparency\u003c\/strong\u003e -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003ci\u003evoila\u003c\/i\u003e, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Players and Personnel\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdapted from the Transformer liner notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLou Reed – lead vocals; rhythm guitar\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMick Ronson – lead guitar; piano; recorder; string arrangements\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHerbie Flowers – bass guitar; double bass; tuba on \"Goodnight Ladies\" and \"Make Up\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Halsey – drums\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdditional personnel\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDavid Bowie – keyboards; backing vocals; acoustic guitar on \"Wagon Wheel\" and \"Walk on the Wild Side\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTrevor Bolder – trumpet\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRonnie Ross – soprano saxophone on \"Goodnight Ladies\" and baritone saxophone \"Walk on the Wild Side\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Thunder Thighs – backing vocals\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBarry DeSouza – drums\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRitchie Dharma – drums\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKlaus Voormann – bass guitar on \"Perfect Day,\" \"Goodnight Ladies,\" \"Satellite of Love,\" and \"Make Up\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProduction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDavid Bowie – producer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMick Ronson – producer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKen Scott – engineer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Must Own Rock Record\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this album Lou Reed's \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22rock-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMasterpiece\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. It's a recording that belongs in any serious rock music collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\nOthers that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22core-rock-collection%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.","brand":"Reed, Lou","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52056345870632,"sku":"reed_trans","price":1199.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/files\/reed_trans.jpg?v=1767830106","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/reed_trans_2607","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}