Lou Reed: The Stories Behind the Songs (Softcover) (Book) (Paperback)

~ Various (Author)
Key Phrases: animal serenade, set the twilight reeling, faggot junkie, Lou Reed, New York, Street Hassle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Lou Reed has been art-rocker, iconoclast, contrary noise merchant, and junkie, yet he's always been fascinating. Only David Bowie, arguably, has re-invented himself as many times as Reed, while ensuring that each image was potent, edgy and dangerous. It's a tribute to Reed's standing that even punk rockers, with their scorched earth policy towards all pre-punk music, had a healthy respect and regard for him. Velvet Underground is one of the all-time greats; but in many people's eyes, Reed has produced his best work solo, after the demise of that band. This groundbreaking book analyzes and celebrates the willful intellect, fierce intelligence, and literary merits of Lou Reed's post-Velvet Underground music. Chris Roberts has written about music for fifteen years for The Guardian, Melody Maker, Sounds, and Uncut. He was also the editor of Idol Worship (Harper Collins), a collection of writings by pop stars (Bono, Thurston Moore, etc.) that has been hailed in some quarters as "The best book about rock 'n' roll ever."

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corp (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634080326
• ISBN-13: 978-0634080326
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #787,800 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars an okay thing, August 26, 2005

By	susan "suzanneswhothegoat" - See all my reviews

this is a decent book i guess. the only reason to buy it is to see some rare lou reed pictures. the author's writing is cliched and boring. he sucks up to lou reed so badly that it's embarassing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Few stories and only his early stuff (pre-1980), June 17, 2009

By	Sean Wormuth (Napa, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author states in his introduction that he only likes LR's early albums and the text bears it out. Anything beyond 1980 is panned or barely mentioned. As a fan of his later work(Songs for Drella, Magic and Loss), I was particularly disappointed.

Even the early albums get generic music writer reviews like "the guitars are too aggressive" rather than actual "Stories Behind the Songs." The book bascially follows the format "This album was good, Song 1 was really good, Song 2 was a little better...The next album sucked, the first song sucked a lot, the second song sucked more..."

As another reviewer said, there are some good shots(some lacking any caption or context) of Lou and his various acquaintances through the years. Aside from that, there's not much substance. It reads more like an anthology of Rolling Stone album reviews than a "Behind the Music" documentary.

I could only recommend it to someone particularly interested in Transformer, Coney Island Baby or Sally Can't Dance.