Lou Reed
by Lou Reed

Lou Reed by Lou Reed
Year: 1972
Overall rank: 7,368th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 110 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1972 (112th)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (1,127th)
Award Best albums of all time (7,368th)

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Availability

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Lou Reed by Lou Reed (CD, Jan-1990, Bmg/Rca Records Label) ND89842
Condition: Like New


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Lou Reed: Lou Reed Live 1975 Ultrasonically Cleaned
Condition: Used


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Lou Reed Autograph CD "The Lou Reed Anthology"
Condition: Very Good

$250.00


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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 9,487.

Lou Reed album bestography « Higher ranked (4,354th)
Magic And Loss
This album (7,368th)
Lou Reed
Lower ranked (7,754th) »
Ecstasy

(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 rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 7,368th | 1970s rank: 1,127th | 1972 rank: 112th

Lou Reed collection

Lou Reed ratings

Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 110 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 110 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 
04/20/2026 12:31 TheSink  Ratings distribution  1,46568/100
 
55/100
 
02/16/2026 02:46 Brandon8  Ratings distribution  1,04189/100
 
65/100
 
01/03/2026 04:57 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  9,58570/100
 
75/100
 
03/25/2025 22:10 Fabien67  Ratings distribution  39377/100
 
80/100
 
11/26/2024 04:46 slatsheit  Ratings distribution  2,04281/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 72.2/100, a mean average of 71.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.2.

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Lou Reed favourites

Showing all 6 members who have added this album as a favourite

Lou Reed comments

Showing all 6 comments |
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Rating:  
55/100
From 11/07/2017 03:58 | #200879
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 07/16/2017 18:29 | #194412
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/16/2017 19:46 | #189395
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
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 10/28/2016 11:04 | #177620
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 06/26/2016 19:33 | #169931
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 11/12/2015 13:02 | #152831
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?
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1972
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2. Exile On Main St. by The Rolling Stones
3. Pink Moon by Nick Drake
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5. Harvest by Neil Young
6. Transformer by Lou Reed
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