Recorded live in 1973, Rock N Roll Animal is Reed's glam-rock sneer back at his Velvet Underground legacy. Four tracks are VU classics (two about the redemptive power of rock, two about the transformative power of dope) dressed up into slick, flashy twin-guitar noodle-fests, with big riffs and showboating solos and Reed practically phoning in his vocals. It was something of a hit at the time, and it's easy to hear how the simple forcefulness of these songs sounded good on early-1970s radio.
›› read more
