So fun and exciting! Such a great insight and very informative in the most interesting way. Excited to hand sell this is out music side of our store. I definitely know many will want to read this!

A thoughtful history, analysis, and cultural history of Loud Reed's Transformer album with a dash of memoir from Doonan. Fascinating!

I read Transformer A Story of Glitter, Glam Rock, and Loving Lou Reed a few months ago, and loved it so much I couldn’t resist buying the audio version. I’m so glad I did. The narrator, Nigel Pilkington, channels every ounce of Simon Doonan's humor, wit, and verve. Pilkington performs it all with just the right amount of camp*, and brings it all to life in the best way possible.

First thing I’ve got to tell you, don’t be misled by the title of this book. Simon Doonan gives us his take on a variety of pivotal events of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, and makes everything so entertaining. His anecdotes are fascinating, and the background info he pulls together sheds light on many important aspects of this time in our history.

Regarding Lou Reed’s classic album, Simon Doonan does go through track by track, sharing his thoughts. He’s got a boatload of inside scoops on the characters who inspired some of these gems. Plus Doonan’s clever, witty, and doesn’t shy away from dishing the dirt!

The thing that struck me over and over while reading Transformer, is what an incredible memory Simon Doonan has! TBH, I lived through many of the same events, but would be hard pressed to remember them all as vividly as Doonan does. (Though who knows, maybe I did run into an incognito David Bowie and Iman pushing a stroller in the Village, *sigh* I’ll never know.)

Transformer A Story of Glitter, Glam Rock, and Loving Lou Reed is an entertaining and poignant walk down memory lane. Thank you Simon Doonan, for sharing your memories of the events surrounding the production, release, and aftermath of Lou Reed’s amazing album.

*Camp - the lie that tells the truth (definition courtesy of Mr. Doonan)

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher HarperOne for an advanced copy of this memoir and study of the cultural impact of Lou Reed on the life of another gifted artist.

There are a lot of things said about the Velvet Underground. One of the most famous is and I paraphrase, "The Velvet Underground's first album didn't sell much, but everyone who bought one started a band." Many cite Lou Reed, founding member, singer, songwriter, unpleasant person, as a seminal influence on art, rock and being cool, not caring what others think, and letting them know it. Many claim to have been saved by rock & roll, Simon Doonan, writer, artist and fashionista has written about it. Transformer: A Story of Glitter, Glam Rock, and Loving Lou Reed is a memoir of a young man finding the courage to be who he was from the music, the scene, and the styles that Lou Reed helped influence.

Simon Doonan was born and raised in Reading, England, a working-class town, which always left Doonan with a sense of not belonging. At the time being gay was illegal, and for a young man growing up and coming out, this made life a bit difficult. Being accepted by his parents, his father's discussion with him is most poignant, but still the future was bleak. Until London came calling and the fashion, the style and the music of David Bowie, and Marc Bolan began to play. And finally Lou Reed. His Transformer album was a gift he said, because "Dreary for gay people to have to listen to straight people’s love songs". It was here that Doonan began a lifelong love of Lou Reed, and what his music meant.

A wonderful book about growing up, and growing in confidence, talent and art. Not just a memoir about Simon Doonan but a look at the cultural impact of Glam, Bowie, and a world that was finally a little more accepting of other people. Not that this is a hagiography about Lou Reed. No, Doonan is honest in that Reed could be a little, no lot of a jerk, and is quick to point that out. Maybe it was all the years of having to hide who he was, or all the years Reed knew that he had talent, but couldn't let it out, but yes Reed had a lot of problems. And yet he made an album that made people feel accepted. The writing is quite good, very personal and full of details that give a real sense to life in these United States to gays in the 70's to the 90's, Doonan's stories about AIDS really drive home the fear and the uncertainty.

A short book, but with plenty of impact and lots of stories, both about the scene and Doonan's experiences. Recommended for music fans, fans of creative people and maybe for people who don't know what they are, or even afraid of what they are. This world is making it harder and harder to be what are, it is good to read stories about people making it through, and finding allies in the strangest of places. Or in a song.

This is what you need to know......

I am not a fan of The Velvet Underground but I am a fan of Lou Reed and of Simon Doonan. I love Transformer as an album and as a concept. The David Bowie impact on the album is the stuff of legend and that's most likely why it's part of MY little glam rock heart.

Transformer is Simon's story of Lou Reed and the...transforming album. There's Bowie, there's Marc Bolan (insert my heart eyes here), there's fashion, there's sex, there's rock 'n roll, there's drugs and magic and life and art and drag and everything wonderful and awful about the 1970s.

This book is everything I want and need. I love Simon Doonan for writing it. I hope he has a release part because I need to get on a dance floor with him soon.

Satellite's gone way up to Mars
Soon it'll be filled with parkin' cars
I watched it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love

Simon Doonan parallels his life with Lou Reeds ‘Transformer’ LP in this often humorous and revealing read.
Simon never found himself ‘fitting in’ with the machismo of rock n’ roll but then came Lou Reed. His ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ gave a nod to gender noncompliance. The glitz and prisms of glam rock, the drag queens, the drugs, the sense of belonging and longing outlined the lives of Simon and his friends as they journey to find out who they are.
Lou Reed, working with David Bowie on this groundbreaking album, found songs banned from radio station airplay and received negative commentary of his nail polished fingers and mascara’d eyes but gave a voice to those that needed it the most.
Taking place during an experimental period in music and in the world in general, this is a story built on truth. Being true to one self, to take a risk in fighting to overcome the odds and knowing that there was someone listening, someone who understood, makes ‘Transformer’ a remarkable and perceptive coming of age story.
Thanks to NetGalley, Simon Doonan and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review.

I really loved this book. I obviously knew Lou Reed, and Transformer is one of my favorite albums of all time. So it was great to dive into the album and the world surrounding it through the lens of one of the most iconic window designers ever and, more specifically, a gay man. I'd probably read anything Simon would write, and I plan now to go back through his bibliography.

I knew vaguely of Doonan from his work at Barney's. He tells stories with his windows, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that he can tell stories with words with equal depth and evocativeness. What a fascinating story this was! I knew the song Walk on the Wild Side of course, but didn't know the full impact of the album on society. Doonan offers readers a delicious tale written in a voice that is dishy and informative and entertaining all at once. I wasn't familiar with all the songs and/or artists he referenced, but enjoyed looking them up - and now I have a slew of new artists and songs to listen to!

This was such a fun read! A walk down memory lane full of glam rock and Velvet Underground Nostalgia -- it is also (excuse the pun) a walk on the wild side in such an enjoyable trip! Look - any book that makes reference to Florence Henderson and "Wessonality" gets an A plus. Doonan's book is a blend of memoir of his life centered around Lou Reed and his album "Transformer.. We learn the author was in a Kim Carnes'' video for Bette Davis Eyes wearing a pirate shirt. We venture down many a rabbit hole in a good way and come back to Lou Reed. I loved his writing and had my other devices close by so I could pull up songs and videos he referenced along the way. I highly recommend this book for lovers of pop culture, glam rock, Velvet Underground, LGBTQ+ history, Andy Warhol, and of course Lou Reed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper One for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So, Simon Doonan wrote a book about Lou Reed's album Transformer, glam rock, Bowie, and the 70s. And it is fabulous. I mean, really quite fabulous.

Doonan explores the creation of Transformer and the swirling mélange of fashion, celebrity, and social change that preceded and resulted from the recording of this interesting work. Doonan doesn't write from above, he revels in sharing how he felt, what he wanted, and how it impacted him. This is a work made by someone who is both a fan of the subject and a canny narrator of oral history.

The book is short, to the point, and any digressions come back around to the point.

I devoured this book and I love it to pieces. It absolutely succeeds as a testimony to a particular time.