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Most everyone on this forum seems to agree that this is not Reed’s best work. But many of these reviewers point out one special song that stands out and it’s often different from anyone else’s favorite. That suggests to me that this album is worth checking out.
I would agree that the music itself is a bit pedestrian, sounding a bit like a run-of-the-mill, somewhat jazzy white-funk bar band at times. But it’s still pretty enjoyable rock n’ roll - certainly nothing objectionable in my book. I personally have *zero* problem with the lack of lyrics in “Banging on my Drum” which is just a fun rocker (even though I love songs that can enhance lyrics that truly have something to say as well). But I would agree with the reviewer that found “Ladies Pay” to be particularly poignant. My personal favorite here would be the wildest track - “Follow the Leader” - which dates back to the Velvet Underground days. There’s a cool version of this song from the “Quine Tapes” (live bootlegs available on CD) that goes on forever. As mentioned elsewhere, “Temporary Thing” is another standout track and it has a great jittery-sort-of-nervous quality.
So clearly this is not the place for the Lou Reed novice to start (that, of course, would be with the Velvet Underground’s music, specifically their debut THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO), but I would recommend ROCK N’ ROLL HEART for anyone who can appreciate some nice, straight-up rock music for its own sake. But the first Lou Reed album I would recommend would have to be TRANSFORMER which, by the way, someone with talent and imagination ought to turn into a Broadway musical. Rock on!
This is Lou pretty much at the height of his wacked-out period, a nice bridge between the slickly bland “Sally Can’t Dance” and “Coney Island Baby” and his hardcore “Live: Take No Prisoners” and “Street Hassle” days just around the corner. “I Believe In Love” is one of those great rare songs where Lou is intentionally trying to be funny and succeeds. For the supposed godfather of punk this ode to “good time music” is cleverly dishonest, with a bouncy mid-tempo, horn driven beat. “Banging On My Drum” takes the joke a little too far, with its insipid, repetitive lyrics, but that’s followed up by the totally insane “Follow The Leader.” I still have nightmares about my friend playing that song and then running at me with the album cover in the dark: just imagine being surrounded by this noise you can’t quite comprehend and having Lou’s big blue head thrust in your face. Maybe you had to be there. Lou’s aspirations toward jazz rock sort of show up here, with staccato, aggressive sax and weird multi-layered drum beats. The title track is a great Lou anthem, with the classic lyrics “I guess I’m just dumb, cause I knows I ain’t smart, but deep down inside I got a rock n’ roll heart.” Beautiful. There’s some other gems on here, and some of the silliness is puncuated by blasts of typical Lou bitterness, in this case the closer “Temporary Thing,” which may be a kiss off to his attempted pop sensibilities on this and some previous records. It wasn’t until the overblown “Growing Up In Public” four years later that he reneged on his promise. “Rock and Roll Heart” benefits from repeated listenings, and it isn’t a bad record if you don’t take it too seriously.