Walk on the Wild Side & Other Hits

by Dave Thompson

An unwieldy title for a collection that could, just as easily, have been titled after "Walk on the Wild Side" alone. That was, after all, the only track in sight that even came within sniffing distance of the Top 40, leaving the rest of this collection's contents to revel only in the reflected glow of Lou Reed's own reputation as the purveyor of mighty rock classics. Drawing its contents from the same pool of RCA-era albums as any number of other Reed collections, Walk on the Wild Side & Other Hits is one more in an absurdly long line of compilations aimed at casual buyers who want enough Lou to sing along with, but not so much that they might have to start making difficult decisions about which of his albums to pick up next. And, as such, it does its job very well. But you can't help thinking that the songs -- and the buyers -- deserve better.