The
following comments on BJ’s contribution to Lou Reeds’ Berlin (1973) –
an album that seems to feature the BJ Wilson band! – are found in Steven L
Hamelman’s
But is it garbage? On rock and trash, Athens, GA: University of
Georgia Press, 2004, p. 171.
‘Lest readers forget who deserves much of the credit for the atmosphere of tension/release on Berlin, I advise them to heed BJ Wilson’s drumming on The Kids. The cut’s half-ponderous, half-lilting 12/8 time signature offers a canvas on which to inscribe a spectrum of triplets, press rolls, syncopated footwork, well-timed crashes to punctuate vocal end lines, and half-choked hi-hat hisses executed between passages of bone-shaking backbeat. Wilson and company keep it up as the kids begin wailing and continue wailing for another twelve measures. Suddenly Wilson and his ensemble truncate the texture on last cry of “Mother!”’
Many thanks to our valued correspondent Wilfried van Damme for sending this. He adds, 'I just found that the author (b 1952) is apparently a drummer himself, which explains at least some of his admiration and high-quality description:'
Thanks, Willfried