Transformer by Ezra Furman

I'm a casual fan of music. I'm glad music exists and I have bad/good/odd taste in it. Music isn't something I'm passionate about but reading about music, well, I can get on board with that. Ezra Furman wrote a 33 1/3 book about Lou Reed's Transformer and since I really love Ezra's music and Lou Reed confuses me, I gave the book a try.

I still love Ezra but I question the hero worship of a guy who is racist/abusive but...I get Ezra's point about paying attention to the other pieces. Still, I have trouble overlooking the negative pieces. And Lou Reed still confuses me a bit but it seems like I'm not alone in that.

33 1/3 books by Bloomsbury are small little books that go in-depth into albums, track by track, taking apart the artist behind the music. There are over 100 books ranging from Dusty Springfield and Johnny Cash to...New Kids on the Block? Hmm... ok.

Ezra starts out trying to piece together the personas of Reed: Lou the Queer, Lou the Failure, Lou and Bowie. The he dives in, one track at a time, and gives his ideas on what it all means. I had no idea that Transformer was so out there. On first listen, without knowing much else, it doesn't sound unusual. After understanding some backstory, the next several listens strike me as odd.

This little book is well worth reading, even if you aren't a huge Lou Reed fan. It took me some time to read because, after each track dissection, I listened to the track a few times. I might just learn to appreciate music as something other than sound in the background.

Full Transformer Playlist

Ezra Furman's new album. I put this here because it's amazing and so is Ezra