Inspired by Albumism, I’m doing my own version of Flying Solo with individual tracks. Band breakups and hiatuses are never fun, but these solo jams were defining moments in my life’s soundtrack.

The best thing about Transformer and “Satellite of Love” is that they’re strikingly similar to the Velvet Underground aesthetic. In fact, the track was previously recorded as a Velvet Underground demo for Loaded. And then it was rerecorded for Transformer while the band was technically still together at the time.

What “Satellite” did, as many Lou Reed songs do, was take a simple rock song with a relatively simple song construction and add elements that gave it an air of unfamiliarity and uniqueness. That was Reed’s magical formula. And the potion for this one was an unusual story, a bridge that seems to come out of nowhere and the bubbly falsetto backing vocal.

“I've been told that you've been bold with Harry, Mark and John. Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday through Thursday with Harry, Mark and John.”