The LP was a rock opera in an era of rock operas and thematic experimentation with the album format. Although the disc was decidedly of its time — and featured the core of guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter who would record the classic Rock 'n' Roll Animal with Reed the next year — it was panned by Rolling Stone upon its release in July 1973.

Nonetheless, Berlin expanded Reed's following and his reputation as a chronicler of the demimonde and has come to be recognized as a classic in the 40 years since it was recorded. Ironically, it scored at 344 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums in 2003.

Reed's third solo album remains challenging listening to the casual rock fan. Less challenging than Reed's 1975 Metal Machine Music, his experiment with electronic noise collage, of course, but Berlin's narrative isn't always clear and it's a radical departure from the raw vitality of the Velvet Underground, which he'd left in 1970, with orchestral arrangements and the horns that would spill into the next year's Sally Can't Dance. Reed also capitulated his gnashing guitar, playing only acoustic six-string and leaving the heavy lifting to the über-capable team of Hunter and Wagner.

Berlin 's story line was also incredibly dark, even for fans of Reed's grittiest Velvet Underground songs like "Kill Your Sons" and "Heroin." Once again his characters were drug addicts — Caroline and Jim, a couple in the throes of horrible dysfunction. Jim is a meth addict who beats Caroline. She is also a drug user and cheats on him with other men as she becomes increasingly withdrawn. After her children are taken away by the state, she commits suicide, and Jim reacts with numb nihilism in the set's concluding "Sad Song," writing off their relationship as a waste of his time and opining that another lover would have broken both of her arms. Not cheerful.