Lou Reed has several distinct periods, all of which are somewhat divisive; a person who likes his Velvet Underground period might not like the rest, for example. In particular, he was fond of alternating between straight pop, experimental rock and more ambitious concept albums.

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First, the Velvet Underground period (1960s-1970). The Velvets were highly experimental, but they hit a certain sweet spot thanks to Reed's quirky pop music sensibility. "The Velvet Underground & Nico" is the classic album, although Nico sings on many of the songs. Highlights: "Sunday Morning", "Heroin".

Pre-glam Bowie years: Before the somewhat short glam period, he had several rather beautiful albums heavily influenced by David Bowie: "Lou Reed" is something of a transitional album (it has a bunch of songs from the Velvet period), but "Transformer" and "Berlin" sound rather different and more lyrical than his later work. "Transformer" has something of a cabaret pop aesthetic that he wouldn't often do after; pretty much all of the songs are quirky, cute, flirty little numbers. "Walk on the Wild Side" is from this album, and I wouldn't say it's particularly representative of his style, even if it's probably the song he's most well known for. Highlights: "Perfect Day", "Satellite of Love".

"Berlin" is a rather heavy, heady, adult, depressing concept album about failed marriages and kids. Highlights: "Caroline Says II", "Lady Day".

Glam/noise years: Reed tried to do something new with "Rock 'n Roll Animal" and "Lou Reed Live", singing old songs with a new metal backing band. The albums feature some absurdly good guitar dueling, but they're not great aside from that.

Following this, he segued into a kind of decadent period where he hit peak drug use: "Coney Island Baby" got back to the more poppy, laidback style of "Transformer". (Stories of the recording session for Coney Island Baby paints Reed as barely present and barely able to sing.) Coney is definitely a good album, though. Highlights include the autobiographical "Coney Island Baby", and "Kicks".

"Street Hassle" is Reed seeing some influence from punk, with a rougher, dirtier, looser style than his two preceding albums. It's a kind of concept album about the kinds of deviants and lowlives he tended to populate his songs with. Highlights: "Real Good Time Together", "Street Hassle", "Shooting Star".

The subsequent live album, "Take No Prisoners", is great. It's unusual in that is uses binaural sound, so the effect is a lot like hearing it live.

At the end of the 1970s, Reed cleaned up, settled into something of a stable married life, and started producing somewhat more measured, deliberate work again. The best album from this period is "The Blue Mask", which is quite subdued and lyrical. Highlights: "My House", "Women", "The Gun".

"Legendary Hearts" is also quite good, and the start of several albums where he simply focused on simple, tight rock numbers. "New Sensations" is a bit 1980s, but good.

Continuing from this, his last great album, in my opinion, was "New York", a kind of anthology of songs about NYC. His homage to Andy Warhol, "Songs For Drella", where he plays some very low-key duets with John Cale, is also very good.

His 1990s/2000s albums weren't particularly good, although I quite liked some of the songs on "Magic and Loss".

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Personally, my favourite albums are Transformer, Berlin, The Blue Mask, plus everything from his Velvet Underground days.