If Reed had never made any solo records, his work as the principal lead singer and songwriter for the Velvets would have still ensured his stature as one of the greatest rock visionaries of all time. Although Reed achieved his greatest success as a solo artist, his most enduring accomplishments were as the leader of the Velvet Underground in the '60s. It's often overlooked, though, that he's equally skilled at celebrating romantic joy, and rock & roll itself, as he is at depicting harrowing urban realities. For these reasons, he's often cited as punk's most important ancestor. By and large, he's taken on these challenging duties with uncompromising honesty and a high degree of realism. As has been pointed out less often, he remained (and remains) committed to using rock & roll as a forum for literary, mature expression well into middle age, without growing lyrically soft or musically complacent. As has often been written, he expanded the vocabulary of rock & roll lyrics into the previously forbidden territory of kinky sex, drug use (and abuse), decadence, transvestites, homosexuality, and suicidal depression. Few would deny Reed's immense importance and considerable achievements, however. Liking one Lou Reed LP, or several, or all of the ones he did in a particular era, is no guarantee that you'll like all of them, or even most of them. Yet his catalog is extremely inconsistent, in both quality and stylistic orientation. A firmer grasp of rock's earthier qualities has ensured a more consistent career path than Bowie's, particularly in his latter years.
Like David Bowie (whom Reed directly inspired in many ways), he has made over his image many times, mutating from theatrical glam-rocker to scary looking junkie to avant-garde noiseman to straight rock & roller to your average guy. T he career of Lou Reed defies capsule summarization.
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