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actually it was the original version of the song Berlin on Lou’s first solo album ( before Transformer)
that Bob Ezrin told Lou that he should expand on and follow a character through the whole album, and so with Bob Ezrin’s brilliant suggestion Berlin a concept album was born.
there is also the early demo a
song called ‘Oh Gin’ which became Oh Jim ....
What came to my mind were two things: I remember reading that Ezrin(?) commented on Lou's song writing saying his songs had very strong beginnings but also very weak endings. He wanted him to change that. Could imagine that this being a concept album gave rise to certain concerns if he would be able to close it meaningfully, and one solution would have been to put the cart before the horse and not the other way round. What I actually wanted to say, and felt like I wasnt heard, was that "Sad Song" is defo the most emotionally powerful and pathbreaking song on the album. This alone could have been a strong inspiration and power source for creating the rest of the album.
But, secondly, now that I am at it, Berlin having been such an unusual musical approach for Lou that it would certainly scare off not a small percentage of his fans, made them look for an official explanation of how the idea was conceived, and it had to be rooted in his older work, so that his longtime fans would still feel included in the departure for new musical expressions. Not saying your theory, which has become the standard explanation, I assume, is wrong, but I am a bit sceptical about it. I mean, these albums have to be marketed somehow.