Lou Reed

ROLLING STONE magazine contributor Anthony DeCurtis has written a subtly drawn portrait of Lou Reed, the man generally credited to have created alternative rock. Narrator Peter Coleman delivers a nuanced, passionate performance, and the overall listening experience is as dark, jagged, and contradictory as Reed himself. Reed died at age 71 in 2013. The iconic, complex musician who encouraged listeners to "take a walk on the wild side" reinvented his personal and performance lives many times. There's pain, beauty, and drug-induced illness in both the words and timbre of the listening experience. Without doubt, this is a must for Reed's fans, but others will need a strong interest in rock as art to appreciate the decadence and decay of Reed's story. W.A.G. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

July 10, 2017
In this engaging yet uneven biography, Rolling Stone contributing editor DeCurtis (In Other Words) explores the life of a troubled kid from Long Island who transformed American music. A child of postwar suburbia, Lou Reed embraced rock and roll and the low life in his teens, and these two obsessions would fuel his career. In college, a close friendship with poet Delmore Schwartz marked his rejection of the mainstream. While songwriting at Pickwick Records not long after graduating, he met avant-garde Welsh musician John Cale and together they formed the Velvet Underground. Adopted by Warhol as the house band for his Factory, the Velvet Underground failed commercially even as they were creating a new musical paradigm. After leaving the band, Reed scored an unlikely hit with “Walk on the Wild Side,” but his uneven solo output and louche proclivities kept him from stardom. Nevertheless, before his death in 2013 Reed was celebrated as godfather of rock’s underground and had found domestic contentment with artist Laurie Anderson. While DeCurtis touches on Reed’s violent behavior, substance abuse, and complex sexuality, the icon remains distinct but quite distant, and DeCurtis’s takes on Reed’s musical output are equally lacking. The 500-plus pages pass swiftly but leave the impression that when it comes to Reed, much remains to be said. Agent: Sarah Lazin, Sarah Lazin Books.

January 1, 2018

No accurate portrait of Lou Reed could leave the reader with the impression that the notoriously prickly rock artist, known for his impatience with journalists and the volatility of his personal relationships, was a saint, but DeCurtis provides a nuanced view of a complicated man. The Reed portrayed here is a paranoid perfectionist, a fearless experimental artist, and an adventurer who dug deep into every facet of American culture that engaged him, both in his work and his private life. The Velvet Underground years are thoroughly examined, but at least as interesting is DeCurtis's treatment of Reed's ceaseless work inventing and reinventing himself as a continually original solo artist over most of his career. A close reading of each of Reed's albums punctuates the story. This biography of iconic musician Reed by a Rolling Stone journalist who knew him for decades will satisfy the curiosity of any fan of the man and his music. Narrator Peter Coleman gives a crisp, quality reading, providing character voices for Reed himself and others quoted that are distinctive without becoming celebrity impressions (his John Cale is notably good). VERDICT Recommended for fans of the artist himself, of course, for readers who enjoy quality music biographies such as Pete Townshend's Who I Am, or of thoughtful rock music criticism. ["Reed's art (and life) were often groundbreaking, occasionally maddening, and consistently fascinating, and this volume captures all of those aspects": LJ 8/17 starred review of the Little, Brown hc.]--Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.