Lou Reed – Transformer

Of all the LP's Lou released before he ed this one and The Blue Mask I wasn't so crazy about ... The Speakers Corner I haven't heard in years but the issue with most Speakers Corners releases was they didn't have the masters far from it but the vinyl is the best part of it which is Pallas but if you have a meodicre tape copy doesnt mean very much,,,, The copy that I first bought around 1989 and had the best sound I thought was this budget reissue ... I bought it sealed it wasn't the orange or beige copies although those are very good but many are very over played ... Was in fact this copy ... https://discogs.cinepelis.org/release/2257653-Lou-Reed-Transformer

MarquisSmith mentioned an original/1972 issue sounds bass heavy, while this Best Buy budget line reissue is less so. Well, that might depend on the matrices of the original at hand. Some 1972 issues have 4S, 5S, and 6S matrices, but my crackly 1972 Hollywood pressing is from a later cut, w/7S matrices. I’m guessing the earlier cuts have fatter bass, yet my 7S doesn’t sound bloated at all. Mebbe the lows, while still robust, were tamed ever slightly for this cut? It’s got heft, but it’s realistic, tight, not bombastic, bass.

I just bought and received a sealed copy of this 1985 Best Buy series reissue, with 8S matrices. My copy plays minty, even on the quiet “Perfect Day”, thankfully; the midrange is sweet, and “the air” has been preserved; and surprisingly the whole album sounds exactly like the 1972 7S cut. Disappointingly, though, the “Walk On The Wild Side” track is still annoyingly sibilant. On the Speakers Corner reissue WOTWS is smooth, free of sibilance. (I’ll it that my poor man’s turntable is only a fully automatic Technics SL-Q3 w a decades-old Audio Technica cartridge, so perhaps a better system can track WOTWS without sibilance.)

A more "modern" sound on the mastering than the bass heavy originals and Speakers Corner.