Lou Reed
by Lou Reed
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Lou Reed bestography
Lou Reed is ranked 9th best out of 37 albums by Lou Reed on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Lou Reed is Transformer which is ranked number 144 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,295.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Lou Reed track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Lou Reed rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 1 hour ago).
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Lou Reed ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 111 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/15/2026 07:31 | classicjoe | 507 | 78/100 |
| ! | 05/29/2026 20:31 |  Sandrof1969 | 2,719 | 68/100 |
| ! | 04/20/2026 12:31 | TheSink | 1,477 | 67/100 |
| ! | 02/16/2026 02:46 |  Brandon8 | 1,048 | 88/100 |
| ! | 01/03/2026 04:57 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,327 | 70/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 72.3/100, a mean average of 71.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.2.
Lou Reed favourites
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Lou Reed comments
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Brandon8 11/07/2017 03:58 | #200879 | TOP COMMENT
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Lou’s debut kind of falls flat due to the backing band and production not doing justice to some great songs a lot of them written while with the VU. On its own it’s still a pretty decent record but lacks the punch expected.
Definitely underappreciated. Some really great songs on there. Does not matter that they are vu leftovers.I can't get enough of Ride into the Sun and Lisa Says.
I've never understood why people disregard this album, it's one of my favorites. It's all about rock & roll, romance and optimism. I just love the attitude of turning his post-velvet bitterness into fun loving rock music. The songs are brilliantly written with help from great musicians. This record is one of Lou's best vocal performances, he sings so overwhelmed with emotion. It's interesting to me to listen to this album knowing full well that back in 1971/72 Lou wasn't sure which direction his career should turn. 'Lou Reed' is the work of an artist playing his heart out, knowing he could crash any second.
"When things start getting bad, I just play my music louder"
TOP 3:
-Lisa Says
-Berlin
-Wild Child
tgarritsen 10/28/2016 11:04 | #177620 | TOP COMMENT
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Certainly not his best, he was stil getting adjusted to his new solo-carreer. But you see glimpses of what would become and still a lot of incredible moments aswell on this album.
Some Velvet Underground leftovers, some new stuff too, but it's just missing something. Enjoyable tracks with, wild child, the best. One of Reed's greatest songs. It just seems Reed through whatever he had onto the record. Still, not bad.
Easy to forget how bizarre this solo debut is, with the super-tight UK musicians and female backing vocals. Most of it is Velvet Underground left-overs, and every single one was done better in the demo/outtake versions by them. And what the hell is going on on the album cover?
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