This is a good starting point for anyone wishing to investigate Lou Reed's career. It includes his early hit Walk On The Wild Side plus mesmerising versions of Sweet Jane and White Light/White Heat and the tracks come from albums as diverse as Berlin, Transformer, Sally Can't Dance and Coney Island Baby. It's a greart selection of songs, my favourites being Satellite Of Love (why wasn't this one a huge hit single?), the campy New York Telephone Conversation and the aforementioned. Melodic, acidic and original, this is the very best of early Lou Reed.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1938 but raised in Tulsa, OK, Cale played in a variety of rock & roll bands and Western swing groups as a teenager, including one outfit that also featured Leon Russell. In 1959, at the age of 21, he moved to Nashville, where he was hired by the Grand Ole Opry's touring company. After a few years, he returned to Tulsa, where he reunited with Russell and began playing local clubs. In 1964, Cale and Russell moved to Los Angeles with another local Oklahoma musician, Carl Radle.