Hail hail rock and roll! And hail Lou Reed for getting right back to the essence of what it's all about….

This almost perfect album [Lou Reed] has ten cuts—all of them containing some of the grittiest rock sounds being laid down today. It is skeletal rock—sexy, pimply, crude and sophisticated, all at the same time….

Just as arresting as Reed's voice are his lyrics, which combine a New York street punk sensibility and rock song cliches with a powerful poetic gift. On "Lisa Says," Reed sings, "Lisa says hey baby if you stick your tongue in my ear / Then the scene around here will become very clear." That says as much about raw sex as any two lines I can think of in rock literature. On "Wild Child," my favorite cut on the album, [the lyrics are an example] of Reed's brilliantly offhand incisiveness….

Reed's...