"Quiet ballads this time, with stripped down production values that
vaguely recall the Underground's more low-key stuff (the lengthy, nearly
incoherent "Kicks") but are definitely in the 70's art rock
mainstream ("Crazy Feeling," a relatively energetic and memorable
pop song). Reed mostly just strums his guitar, the rhythm section thumps
and bashes along unobtrusively, and the gimmicks are limited: a lot of
slide guitar, a little piano, backwards percussion, and Reed's mannered
and occasionally sloppy backup vocals. Thematically it's pretty much restricted
to romance, unlike Reed's best records, and stylistically it's just as
narrow: the big exception is the rambling, slow-dance pseudo-soul title
track, complete with a slick R & B guitar part and some swaying female
backup vocals. Nothing here matches the overblown pomp of Transformer
or the avant garde mania of the Underground's records, but the songwriting
is mostly solid and there's nothing really offensive - except possibly
the wearying six-minute remake of "She's My Best Friend," which
doesn't have half the spark of the original. Produced by Godfrey Diamond."
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