Lou Reed A Life Anthony DeCurtis 9780316376556 Books
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The essential biography of one of music's most influential icons Lou Reed
As lead singer and songwriter for the Velvet Underground and a renowned solo artist, Lou Reed invented alternative rock. His music, at once a source of transcendent beauty and coruscating noise, violated all definitions of genre while speaking to millions of fans and inspiring generations of musicians.
But while his iconic status may be fixed, the man himself was anything but. Lou Reed's life was a transformer's odyssey. Eternally restless and endlessly hungry for new experiences, Reed reinvented his persona, his sound, even his sexuality time and again. A man of contradictions and extremes, he was fiercely independent yet afraid of being alone, artistically fearless yet deeply paranoid, eager for commercial success yet disdainful of his own triumphs. Channeling his jagged energy and literary sensibility into classic songs - like "Walk on the Wild Side" and "Sweet Jane" - and radically experimental albums alike, Reed remained desperately true to his artistic vision, wherever it led him.
Now, just a few years after Reed's death, Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis, who knew Reed and interviewed him extensively, tells the provocative story of his complex and chameleonic life. With unparalleled access to dozens of Reed's friends, family, and collaborators, DeCurtis tracks Reed's five-decade career through the accounts of those who knew him and through Reed's most revealing testimony, his music. We travel deep into his defiantly subterranean world, enter the studio as the Velvet Underground record their groundbreaking work, and revel in Reed's relationships with such legendary figures as Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and Laurie Anderson. Gritty, intimate, and unflinching, Lou Reed is an illuminating tribute to one of the most incendiary artists of our time.
Lou Reed A Life Anthony DeCurtis 9780316376556 Books
When he passed away in 2013, Lou Reed was hailed as an icon of rock and roll, one of the trailblazing artists who made the music what it is today. What's interesting to consider about that is how long it took for Reed's singular talents to be appreciated in the wider world of mainstream rock culture, and how often his records slipped through the cracks of popular tastes. But Reed was too talented to fade away, and he continued to make important artwork until the last couple of decades of his life. Now, in a look back that doesn't pull punches, we see the man in full."Lou Reed: A Life," is a masterpiece of biographical writing. Anthony DeCurtis, longtime writer and editor at Rolling Stone and a music critic with a connection to Reed in life, lays out the highs and lows of Reed's career, the various partners and drugs that entered and exited his life, and the belated but deserved recognition that the Velvet Underground and Reed's solo work received from the gatekeepers of popular culture. It's a tempered warts-and-all portrait, at once a loving appreciation and an honest appraisal of what Reed did in terms of his music and his life.
A child of New York and Long Island, Reed became the symbol of decadence first as the frontman for the Velvets and then on his own, through a solo career of many highs and lows. Recognition never eluded him, but chart success did; besides the punch of 1972's "Transformer," Reed rarely had a song or album in the top of the charts. No matter; as a cult artist, he became an inspiration to countless other bands and artists that followed. Without Lou Reed, we wouldn't have had David Bowie, Joy Division, Suzanne Vega, R.E.M., and so many more. Reed's influence, both as a solo artist and with the VU, is immeasurable.
His life was chaotic at times; it's not for nothing that both Reed and Keith Richards were the poster boys for "too drugged up to survive" the Seventies (though each did, in fact, survive, long after peers with supposedly stronger constitutions perished). His sexuality was always at the forefront of his art; Reed lived openly with a transgender woman in the 1970s, when such things weren't done, and he forever seemed willing to push the boundaries of what constituted "sexuality" in his life and his art. Though he settled down eventually (first with his second wife Sylvia, and then with Laurie Anderson), Reed never lost his edge.
Anyone who loves Lou Reed as an artist probably knows this already, but: he could be quite unpleasant at times. DeCurtis doesn't paper over the times when Reed was rude for the sake of being rude, but he brings an understanding to it that is needed. If you accept the notion that Reed was playing "Lou Reed," a character that kept the media at bay for the sake of his own sanity, then it makes sense. At some point, the role became reality. But in the end, Reed was much more than a quote given in anger to a pushy journalist.
"Lou Reed: A Life" is perfect for the Velvets fan and the lover of Reed's solo work (and of course, for the person who appreciates both). As Reed himself once put it, between thought and expression lies a lifetime. That lifetime is explored here, and it's a masterpiece.
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Lou Reed A Life Anthony DeCurtis 9780316376556 Books Reviews
He simply was closer to Lou than anyone else that wanted to share. I believe he fully shows Lou, flowers and weeds. I do not believe the author was trying to drum up drama, nor controversy anywhere in the book. I find that responsible and respectful to his memory.
4Stars, Only because I live in NEW YORK CITY. Lou Reed died just as NY died, Reading this book will explain how some of us got here and why we stayed. Does not matter where you come from, You loved NY or hated it or just afraid. Decurtis explains the many ways Reed lived his life in NYC and their were many Lou Reeds, If you are already a fan the book is important it will fill in the rumors and the truth. Like how did “WALK ON THE WILD SIDE “ get on the radio play “
You have to apply the Miles Davis rule to Lou -- consider the art and try not to hate the artist. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of both. Lou achieved peace and happiness in his last years. Not sure about Miles.
Anthony DeCurtis presents the Genius of Lou Reed in all his complications, computations and sadness. A deep, penetrating and honest telling of one of the most brilliant, self-destructive survivors of rocknroll in all its various forms. The boy from Long Island with a gift and a curse who escapes to Andy Warhol's factory where he acquires the poses & poetics to rise above the limitations of his field and bring rocknroll into the high ground of Art. The suffering and cruelty inflicted by him and on him is written with understanding, sympathy and clarity. Congratulations, Anthony DeCurtis for writing a biography that tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Lou Reed lives in this book!
I have to admit I'm a huge Lou Reed fan so read any book I can find. That being said...Anthony's book was a great read with some new insights and I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend it to anyone...even the casual fan. After reading it I found the photograph book release video on youtube of Lou and Mick Rock. Lou was there just for Mick and I loved that...even though Lou was very weak...he still had the energy to tell everyone to shut the f up in the back of the room. There will forever be only one Lou...and this book captures it.
Just finished reading Anthony DeCurtis' "Lou Reed A life." I have been a Velvet Underground fan for more than 50 years, since junior high school in the late 60's. But I was totally unaware of everything after "Pale Blue Eyes"--except perhaps Reed's breakout solo hit "Walk on the Wild Side," but that really stands alone without temporal reference, doesn't it? DeCurtis' intimate biography of Reed--including all of the good as well as the bad--is a thoroughly engaging and revealing biography of a phenomenal artist under-appreciated in his own time and only now, following his untimely death in 2013, being fully appreciated for his true contribution within the full spectrum of popular music.
A great read -- I didn't really put it down from start to finish, and it filled in lots of the holes in my Lou Reed knowledge. However, one big question went unanswered Lou puts out albums almost once a year from '78 to '85, and all of them are mixed bags and none in a all-time great album. Then he takes a few years off, and in '89 begins one of the most prolific runs in his career on Sire. I was hoping to get insight into what changed, but the book jumps from Mistrial to New York without a beat in-between. Aside from that, I loved it!
When he passed away in 2013, Lou Reed was hailed as an icon of rock and roll, one of the trailblazing artists who made the music what it is today. What's interesting to consider about that is how long it took for Reed's singular talents to be appreciated in the wider world of mainstream rock culture, and how often his records slipped through the cracks of popular tastes. But Reed was too talented to fade away, and he continued to make important artwork until the last couple of decades of his life. Now, in a look back that doesn't pull punches, we see the man in full.
"Lou Reed A Life," is a masterpiece of biographical writing. Anthony DeCurtis, longtime writer and editor at Rolling Stone and a music critic with a connection to Reed in life, lays out the highs and lows of Reed's career, the various partners and drugs that entered and exited his life, and the belated but deserved recognition that the Velvet Underground and Reed's solo work received from the gatekeepers of popular culture. It's a tempered warts-and-all portrait, at once a loving appreciation and an honest appraisal of what Reed did in terms of his music and his life.
A child of New York and Long Island, Reed became the symbol of decadence first as the frontman for the Velvets and then on his own, through a solo career of many highs and lows. Recognition never eluded him, but chart success did; besides the punch of 1972's "Transformer," Reed rarely had a song or album in the top of the charts. No matter; as a cult artist, he became an inspiration to countless other bands and artists that followed. Without Lou Reed, we wouldn't have had David Bowie, Joy Division, Suzanne Vega, R.E.M., and so many more. Reed's influence, both as a solo artist and with the VU, is immeasurable.
His life was chaotic at times; it's not for nothing that both Reed and Keith Richards were the poster boys for "too drugged up to survive" the Seventies (though each did, in fact, survive, long after peers with supposedly stronger constitutions perished). His sexuality was always at the forefront of his art; Reed lived openly with a transgender woman in the 1970s, when such things weren't done, and he forever seemed willing to push the boundaries of what constituted "sexuality" in his life and his art. Though he settled down eventually (first with his second wife Sylvia, and then with Laurie Anderson), Reed never lost his edge.
Anyone who loves Lou Reed as an artist probably knows this already, but he could be quite unpleasant at times. DeCurtis doesn't paper over the times when Reed was rude for the sake of being rude, but he brings an understanding to it that is needed. If you accept the notion that Reed was playing "Lou Reed," a character that kept the media at bay for the sake of his own sanity, then it makes sense. At some point, the role became reality. But in the end, Reed was much more than a quote given in anger to a pushy journalist.
"Lou Reed A Life" is perfect for the Velvets fan and the lover of Reed's solo work (and of course, for the person who appreciates both). As Reed himself once put it, between thought and expression lies a lifetime. That lifetime is explored here, and it's a masterpiece.
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