Featuring the 3rd and final Binaural stereo mix that began on the previous "Street Hassle" and "Live-Take No Prisoners" offerings, "The Bells" is something of a cross of innovative composition and experimentation of styles and genres. "Stupid Man" opens the record and is one of 3 songs co-written with ex-Grin, Neil Young and Crazy Horse collaborator, Nils Lofgren, featuring a new wave bent in its upbeat, quirky pop tendencies, its a bit shaky as an opener and the next number, "Disco Mystic" goes for a bizarre, uneasy variation on the current, but slowly fading trend in popular music; credited to the musicians whom make up the recording, this track is definitely a "tongue in cheek" exercise from Lou that makes for an interesting beginning for the record. "I Want to Boogie With You" features the saxophone playing of Marty Fogel and is tied in with R&B overtones accentuated by female backing vocals, taken along at a slumbering pace in spite of its title. "Looking for Love" also has an R&B homage albeit with a more rocking, upbeat tempo and saxophone/guitar driven chugging rhythm melody that sets well as a decent album cut. "All Through the Night" features the overdubbed background conversation banter that was used on the song "Kicks" from "Coney Island Baby", but this number, co-written with trumpeter Don Cherry, has a smooth, laid back groove that gets down pretty good.

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One of the songs that I can't stand is the Lofgren/Reed penned "With You". Lou's vocal style is uncharacteristically high for his range and the musical composition of this number is so hyper-new wave that its just annoyingly unlistenable . "City Lights" succeeds a bit better and is probably the best collaborative song to emerge from the Lofgren/Reed songwriting union. Although not without its awkward tendencies such as accordion, whistles, a funky bass line layering beneath a wash of seemingly out of tune piano and synthesizer arrangements, lyrically, the song has some charm and Lou's spoken vocal delivery fits the mood perfectly. "Families" seems to be plodding and repetitive, despite the ambient, searching intentions with synthesizer and bass driven arrangements, it, like most of the record, remains a strange and curious addition to the collection. The title cut recalls some of the further experimentation that fueled the collaborations of Bowie/Eno on the second halves of the "Low" and "Heroes" sets and Lou has revealed that he made the lyrics up on the spot as the song was being laid down. The song remains another semi-epic Lou Reed composition, but again, the overall feel of the record just seems to be all over the place with its varied styles of musical flavor and lack of cohesiveness within the songs presented. It certainly has an odd feel as a result of these factors and remains one of Lou's mixed releases. Its not a total failure, by any means, but its certainly a challenging and difficult album to like on the whole.

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Rating Grade- B-