Anthony DeCurtis

This book was hard to enjoy. Lou Reed was complex, and this book doesn't spend a lot of time looking deeply into his soul and flakes out or is at least a little thin at critical junctures--his residual anger toward his family, his interior life in early days before he became an icon, and most especially his final illness and death. It does do a fine job of tracking him musically. Unfortunately, I was a casual admirer of his music, knew the major songs, and little more. A musician myself, I admired his reputed individualism, but never regarded him as a personal musical inspiration. The book has 469 pages, and that's about 169 more than I probably wanted to know.… (altro)

It's quite a challenge to think of any rock musician greater than Reed, or more than a handful of equals. Legendarily difficult (after his liver transplant, The Onion headlined "New liver reports difficulty working with Lou Reed"), this abrasive, controlling man is a hard genius to like. The author is an outstanding writer who knew his subject and seemingly was able to access every major person in Reed's life. And given Reed's passion for substance abuse, sexual aberration, and knack for leaving a trail of angry colleagues in his wake, he has no shortage of colorful opinions to draw on to depict Reed, for the man was clearly also able to inspire deep affection; Steve Goodman's line about Richard Daley ("There never was a man alive who could inspire such love and hate") seems appropriate here. De Curtis has many worthwhile critical insights; this may be the first time I've ever read a rock biography in which the author didn't trash one of my favorite songs, and he often added interpretations or identified allusions which had not occurred to me. I wish the book had been a little shorter--though it's not easy to think of significant chunks which could be excised, and, especially at the book's beginning, letting us know what year it was would have been appreciated, those are quibbles about a masterpiece of the biographical form.… (altro)

This is the consummate biography of this musical pioneer that many give credit to for all manner of alternative music. After a troubled youth during which his parents make him undergo electroshock treatments. He uses his rage and musical talents to found the Velvet Underground and later his solo career. We meet many characters in his life including Andy Warhol.(his mentor of sorts) David Bowie and Metallica with which they jointly put out an album. Never mainstream with limited album sales he remains a musical icon for many. If you are into rock you will learn a lot.… (altro)