Street Hassle

Street Hassle is the first commercially released pop album to use binaural recording, in which a mannequin head with a microphone in each ear stands in for the listener. The system was developed by Manfred Schunke of Delta Acoustics. The album combines live concert tapes recorded in West Germany, with the audience muted from the mix, and studio recordings. Arista told Reed in August 1977 that releasing a live album was not an option, which began the studio phase in New York.

Arista president Clive Davis encouraged him to expand the title song into a three-part suite of 10:53. Bruce Springsteen, who was working downstairs, sang the line "Tramps like us, we were born to pay" at Reed's request in one or two takes, and was not credited because of his own label's policy. Rolling Stone's Tom Carson called the album the best solo record Reed had made. Robert Christgau was lukewarm, and the Record Mirror's Tim Lott called it a creative nadir.