Lou Reed by Will Hermes

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Lou Reed by Will Hermes

The most complete and penetrating biography of the rock master, whose stature grows every year.Since his death ten years ago, Lou Reed's living presence has only grown. The great rock-poet presided over the marriage of Brill Building pop and the European avant-garde, and left American culture transfigured. In Lou Reed: The King of New York, Will Hermes offers the definitive narrative of Reed's life and legacy, dramatizing his long, brilliant, and contentious dialogue with fans, critics, fellow artists, and assorted habitués of the demimonde. We witness Reed's complex partnerships with David Bowie, Andy Warhol, John Cale, and Laurie Anderson; track the deadpan wit, street-smart edge, and poetic flights that defined his craft as a singer and songwriter with the Velvet Underground and beyond; and explore the artistic ambition and gift for self-sabotage he took from his mentor Delmore Schwartz.As Hermes follows Reed from Lower East Side cold-water flats to the landmark status he later achieved, he also tells the story of New York City as a cultural capital. The first biographer to draw on the New York Public Library's much-publicized Reed archive, the release of previously unheard recordings, and a wealth of recent interviews, Hermes gives us a new Lou Reed - a pioneer in living and writing about nonbinary sexuality and gender identity, a committed artist who pursued beauty and noise with equal fervor, and a turbulent and sometimes truculent man whose emotional imprint endures.

Will Hermes is a Rolling Stone senior critic and a regular contributor to NPR's All Things Considered. His writing has also been published in the New York Times, the Village Voice, and other publications. SPIN: 20 Years of Alternative Music (2005) was coedited by him.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780374193393
ISBN 10 0374193398
Title Lou Reed
Author Will Hermes
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Year published 2023-10-03
Number of pages 560
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.