In 1972,
Lou Reed was a minor cult hero to a handful of rock critics and left-of-center music fans who championed his former band, the
Velvet Underground,
but he was unknown to the mainstream music audience. By 1986, Reed was a
rock & roll icon, widely hailed as a master songwriter and one of
the founding fathers of punk, glam, noise rock, and any number of other
vital rock subgenres; he even scored a few hits along the way. If you
want to know what happened during those 14 years to make such a
difference, the answer can be found in
The RCA & Arista Album Collection,
a 16-disc box set that brings together nearly all of Reed’s recorded
work from this period.