Once every decade the ice-cold, bug-eyed Lou Reed gets all soft and mushy--he falls in love and feels like singing to the world. Back in 1976 he made Coney Island Baby, a warm and tender love letter to his transvestite partner, Rachel. In 1984 it was New Sensations, about rediscovery, adulthood, and hetero love with wife Sylvia. In 1996, though, Reed may have met his ultimate match in his new girlfriend and obsession: performance artist Laurie Anderson. Set the Twilight Reeling bubbles with a whole batch of new sensations, making it one of Reed's brightest and friendliest records in years. More often than not on Reed's albums, the subject matter is dour and he decides to talk his way through, as if singing would distract from the heaviness of it all. But on Set the Twilight Reeling (as with his past love-puppy albums), melodies abound: "NYC Man," "Trade In," "Hold On to Your Emotions," and the title track are all touchy-feely pop songs (by Reed's standards), complete with acoustic-guitar or jazz chords and aw-shucks lines like "I want to make her my wife" and "I accept the newfound man." Of course, it's not all goo-goo and ga-ga. Reed also takes a vicious--albeit viciously funny--stab at the GOP's prudish hypocrisy ("Sex with Your Parents") and remembers his late Velvet Underground cohort Sterling Morrison in a stark elegy that would have fit well on his elegiac Magic & Loss ("Finish Line"). But by the end of Twilight, with songs as sweet as "Egg Cream" and goofy as "HookyWooky," we're simply left kvelling over Reed's true and lasting love. And though we may not really care, Reed's romantic discovery--after all--cuts to the essence of what rock & roll's all about. --Roni Sarig