If anyone has earned the right to the title NYC Man, Lou Reed is the one. This collection – compiled by the man himself – gathers material from his entire career including the Velvet Underground days up to his most recent album.

Like almost anything Reed has ever done, it’s a mixed bag, but what emerges in the end is a fascinating, compelling portrait of one of the most important artists of the last 30 years.

Disc one opens with a re-mixed version of ‘Who Am I’ from his current album The Raven. An introspective, contempletative look at life, it’s arguably as good as anything he’s done. Then it’s right back to the unbridled primitivism of the classic Velvet Underground era with, ‘Sweet Jane’, ‘Waiting For The Man’ and ‘White Light/White Heat’.

Four tracks from Transformer, his most successful album commercially include the sublime ‘Perfect Day’ the inevitable ‘Walk On The Wild Side’, and ‘Satellite of Love’. These soft sensitive ballads contrast sharply with the harder-edged ‘Vicious’ and the full throttle assault of ‘The Blue Mask’ though disc one winds down with ‘Magic And Loss’ his gorgeous dedication to Doc Pomus.

Disc two is even stronger with 15 more Reed favourites including the evocative, ballad ‘Coney Island Baby’ and other gems like ‘Sally Can’t Dance’ ‘Heroin’ ‘The Bells’ ‘Legendary Hearts’ Also included is a ‘Kill Your Sons’ from his Live In Italy album, ‘Dirty Boulevard’ from New York and a new mix of The Velvets ‘Pale Blue Eyes’

The liner notes written by Mr Reed are revealing too; we discover that he had never been to Berlin when he wrote the album of the same name; that Bruce Springsteen who appears on the monologue at the end of ‘Street Hassle’ asked not to be credited; and that ‘Temporary Thing’ is his favourite drug song!