White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day (Genuine Jawbone Books) (Paperback)

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Product Description

By turns fiercely confrontational, literate, primitive, and heartbreakingly melodic, The Velvet Underground remain one of the most influential bands in the history of rock, inspiring everyone from David Bowie to The Jesus and Mary Chain. Surprisingly, the group was unsuccessful in its day, selling small numbers of records, largely because its monochrome look and photo-realist lyrics were at odds with the garish colors and peace fantasies of the hippie era. It was only when Bowie started to champion the band in the early ‘70s, after the group had split up, that the VU’s reputation started to spread. In White Light/White Heat, noted rock writer and historian Richie Unterberger analyzes the band’s career and influence in forensic detail, drawing on dozens of new interviews with band members and associates, previously undiscovered archive sources, and a vast knowledge of the music of the times. The result is an articulate, authoritative, immensely detailed history, the most thorough work on the band yet published.

About the Author

Richie Unterberger is an acclaimed author and music historian, renowned for his meticulous research. A regular contributor to the All Music website, Mojo, Record Collector and many other publications, he has also written dozens of liner notes for CD reissues of classic 60s and 70s albums. His previous books include Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll, Eight Miles High and Turn! Turn! Turn!

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Product Details Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Jawbone Press (June 1, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 1906002223 ISBN-13: 978-1906002220 Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #329,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	82% buy the item featured on this page: White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day (Genuine Jawbone Books) 4.3 out of 5 stars (3) $21.86
	6% buy The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side 5.0 out of 5 stars (1) $19.80
	5% buy The Velvet Underground: New York Art $31.50
	3% buy All Yesterdays' Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print, 1966-1971 3.4 out of 5 stars (5) $14.49

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book Ever on the Velvet Underground, June 11, 2009 By  Wheeler W. Dixon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Amazon Verified Purchase While there are many good books out on the Velvet Underground, and it might seem that there's really nothing more to write on this deeply influential band, this book adds a great deal of material to the well known saga on the band's long and often tortured history, with a literal day by day chronicle of their gigs, recordings, film work (with Andy Warhol), and internal struggles. As someone who saw the band during their gigs at The Dom way back in 1966, and also at their last stand at Max's Kansas City in the summer of 1970, I have to say that the superb detail and remarkable research of this volume lifts it above conventional rock and roll biography, into the level of serious musical scholarship. Well written, densely detailed, and carefully considered, and happily missing the tone of the frenzied fan, this is the definitive book on the Velvets, and should remain so for some time to come. It doesn't list the new Gymnasium tapes that recently surfaced, with a previously unknown song included in the set -- "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore", a great song -- but that's probably because it happened so recently. Other than that, which is a minor quibble, this is an incredible piece of work, and an absolute must for anyone interested in the Velvets, rock and roll, or popular music in the 20th century. 12 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Deducting a couple of stars for atrocious editing, June 15, 2009 By  Scott D. Briggs "music, film and literature a... (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Just received this book last week and delved right in to a very eagerly-awaited tome on the Velvets. I'll try to boil down my issues with it as succinctly as possible: Unterberger's a very good writer, his research and attention to detail are excellent, and Jawbone's designers/artists did a bang-up job designing and packaging the volume, but why, oh why, is the proofreading and editing of this book so ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS? It's generally really, really bad, tons and tons of glaring mistakes, misspellings of names (John Cassavettes for John Cassavetes!) that are easily fact-checked online or elsewhere, and repeated text, omitted conjunctive words and phrases, and irritating substitutions like Marsh 5 (!) for an entry on Nico meeting the Roling Stones in London in 1965 that should have been March 5 (obviously). There's no excuse for a commercial publisher to let titles go to press in this sorry a form; the field is getting more and more like this, and it tends to mar an otherwise wonderful project, such as this one. Next time, guys, you have to go against the current trend towards stinginess and austerity and crack open that piggy bank and actually PAY a proofreader/copy editor to go over the manuscript as thoroughly as possible, so this type of thing doesn't keep happening. A few errors wouldn't be so bad, but when it keeps happening, seemingly in every other paragraph, it gets really irritating really fast, and interrupts one's reading experience. It also calls into question the integrity of the writing, editing and research of the author and/or publisher, even though we know in this instance that it's obviously the fault of the publishers/editors and not the author, since Unterberger has clearly delivered a solid book here, it's just that the ball was dropped, editorially-speaking, big time. I'm going to try, as a major Velvet Underground fan and scholar for many years, to keep enjoying this otherwise well-done book, although it's tough at times, given the above glaring issues, to do so. I loved Jawbone's earlier tome by Thomas Jerome Seabrook on David Bowie's Berlin period, Bowie in Berlin, which was likewise excellent but not given, as I recall, to such egregious errors and typos, and shoddy editing. Better luck next time, guys: I'd be praising this book to the skies if not for the total lack of editorial control exhibited herein. As it is, we have a "classic" book with tons of worthy material, let down by the seeming incompetence of its own publishers/editors. Not a great situation. 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book But........, August 17, 2009 By  G. Griffin "The Know-It-All" (Alexandria, Va.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Amazon Verified Purchase This is an incredible book! If only the print size was bigger, it's like trying to read the bottom of a loan agreement. I can't see anybody else covering this story this well. Good Job Richie!!!		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Jawbone Press (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1906002223
• ISBN-13: 978-1906002220
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #329,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book Ever on the Velvet Underground, June 11, 2009

By	Wheeler W. Dixon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

While there are many good books out on the Velvet Underground, and it might seem that there's really nothing more to write on this deeply influential band, this book adds a great deal of material to the well known saga on the band's long and often tortured history, with a literal day by day chronicle of their gigs, recordings, film work (with Andy Warhol), and internal struggles. As someone who saw the band during their gigs at The Dom way back in 1966, and also at their last stand at Max's Kansas City in the summer of 1970, I have to say that the superb detail and remarkable research of this volume lifts it above conventional rock and roll biography, into the level of serious musical scholarship. Well written, densely detailed, and carefully considered, and happily missing the tone of the frenzied fan, this is the definitive book on the Velvets, and should remain so for some time to come. It doesn't list the new Gymnasium tapes that recently surfaced, with a previously unknown song included in the set -- "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore", a great song -- but that's probably because it happened so recently. Other than that, which is a minor quibble, this is an incredible piece of work, and an absolute must for anyone interested in the Velvets, rock and roll, or popular music in the 20th century.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deducting a couple of stars for atrocious editing, June 15, 2009

By	Scott D. Briggs "music, film and literature a... (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just received this book last week and delved right in to a very eagerly-awaited tome
on the Velvets. I'll try to boil down my issues with it as succinctly as possible: Unterberger's a very good writer, his research and attention to detail are excellent, and Jawbone's designers/artists did a bang-up job designing and packaging the volume, but why, oh why, is the proofreading and editing of this book so ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS? It's generally really, really bad, tons and tons of glaring mistakes, misspellings of names (John Cassavettes for John Cassavetes!) that are easily fact-checked online or elsewhere, and repeated text, omitted conjunctive words and phrases, and irritating substitutions like Marsh 5 (!) for an entry on Nico meeting the Roling Stones in London in 1965 that should have been March 5 (obviously). There's no excuse for a commercial publisher to let titles go to press in this sorry a form; the field is getting more and more like this, and it tends to mar an otherwise wonderful project, such as this one. Next time, guys, you have to go against the current trend towards stinginess and austerity and crack open that piggy bank and actually PAY a proofreader/copy editor to go over the manuscript as thoroughly as possible, so this type of thing doesn't keep happening. A few errors wouldn't be so bad, but when it keeps happening, seemingly in every other paragraph, it gets really irritating really fast, and interrupts one's reading experience. It also calls into question the integrity of the writing, editing and research of the author and/or publisher, even though we know in this instance that it's obviously the fault of the publishers/editors and not the author, since Unterberger has clearly delivered a solid book here, it's just that the ball was dropped, editorially-speaking, big time. I'm going to try, as a major Velvet Underground fan and scholar for many years, to keep enjoying this otherwise well-done book, although it's tough at times, given the above glaring issues, to do so. I loved Jawbone's earlier tome by Thomas Jerome Seabrook on David Bowie's Berlin period, Bowie in Berlin, which was likewise excellent but not given, as I recall, to such egregious errors and typos, and shoddy editing. Better luck next time, guys: I'd be praising this book to the skies if not for the total lack of editorial control exhibited herein. As it is, we have a "classic" book with tons of worthy material, let down by the seeming incompetence of its own publishers/editors. Not a great situation.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book But........, August 17, 2009

By	G. Griffin "The Know-It-All" (Alexandria, Va.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an incredible book! If only the print size was bigger, it's like trying to read the bottom of a loan agreement. I can't see anybody else covering this story this well. Good Job Richie!!!