Lou Reed is probably a genius. During his days … with the Velvet Underground, he was responsible for some of the most amazing stuff ever to be etched in vinyl; all those great, grinding, abrasive songs about ambivalence, bonecrushers, Asthmador, toxic psychosis and getting dicked,… and those wonderful cottonmouth lullabies…. His first solo album, Lou Reed, was a bit of a disappointment in light of his work with the Velvets….

[Homosexuality] was always an inherent aspect of the Velvet Underground's ominous and smutsome music, but it was always a pushy, amoral and aggressive kind of sexuality. God knows rock & roll could use, along with a few other things, some good faggot energy, but, with some notable exceptions, the sexuality that Reed proffers on Transformer is timid and flaccid.

"Make Up," a tune about putting on make-up and coming "out of the closets / out on the street," is as corny...