Englands Glory - Legendary Lost Album (CD, Imported)

This CD includes all ten of the demos on the Legendary Lost Recordings album, and adds three songs from somewhat later that feature ex-Pretty Things guitarist Gordon Edwards and some session players. It retains Pete Makowski's Legendary Lost Recordings liner notes, but adds additional notes by England's Glory drummer Jon Newey. This material marks Perrett as the most obsessed, and accurate, Lou Reed imitator ever captured on tape. No doubt the result of endless hours spent kneeling at Reed's 1972 Transformer album as it was spinning round the turntable, Perrett didn't miss a trick in emulating his hero of the moment. Tuneful power chords, sluggish keyboards, vulnerable-to-the-point-of-shaking love songs, and tossed-off, sing-speak vocals -- it's all here, such an uncanny imitation that it could easily fool unwary listeners into believing they've stumbled on a stash of early-'70s Reed outtakes. No, it's not original, but it is pretty good -- not as good as Berlin, but certainly better than some of Transformer, if not up to that album's best songs. Imagine Reed's 1972-1973 work without the orchestration or anonymous session musicians, and you get the picture. Perrett isn't as good a singer or as direct a lyricist as Reed. But looking past the obvious imitation, Reed fans could do worse than check this out, and Only Ones fans will find this a fascinating glimpse into Perrett's beginnings. The three new cuts are consistent with the quality of the ten previously circulated demos, and are perhaps a tad more polished in production; none of the songs were included in different versions on Legendary Lost Recordings. ~ Richie Unterberger