Anthony DeCurtis

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, inspiring succeeding generations of musicians, and forever changing the way we think of the enshrined verities of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. Throughout his five-decade career, Reed embodied artistic fearlessness and embraced the glamour, paranoia, and jagged energy of his times. While creating hit songs and crafting boldly experimental albums, he inhabited a larger-than-life persona that has made him an enduring symbol of individual and aesthetic freedom. With such masterpieces as "Sweet Jane" and "Walk on the Wild Side," Reed exerted an influence on popular music rivaled only by the likes of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. He is recognized to this day as one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. Now, just a few years after Reed's death, comes the thrilling, provocative story of his complex life. An acclaimed Rolling Stone writer, Anthony DeCurtis interviewed Reed extensively and knew him well. With unparalleled access to dozens of Reed's friends, family, and collaborators, DeCurtis brings this groundbreaking artist's story compellingly alive and enhances our understanding of his indelible music. We travel deep into Reed's defiantly subterranean world, enter the studio as the Velvet Underground record their signature work, and revel in Reed's relationships with such legendary figures as Andy Warhol and David Bowie. Insightful, revelatory, and intimate, Lou Reed is a gripping tribute to a quintessential American icon.

A Life

Lou Reed

Holly George-Warren

David Fricke

Jayson Kerr Dobney

Craig J. Inciardi

Alan di Perna

Matthew W. Hill

Play It Loud celebrates the musical instruments that gave rock and roll its signature sound. Seven engrossing essays by veteran music journalists and scholars discuss the technical developments that fostered rock’s seductive riffs and driving rhythms; the evolution of the classic lineup of two guitars, bass, and drums; the thrilling innovations and expanded instrumentation musicians have explored to achieve unique effects; the powerful visual impact instruments have had; and the essential role they have played in the most memorable moments of rock and roll history. Abundant photographs depict rock’s most iconic instruments—including Jerry Lee Lewis’s baby grand piano, Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES-350T guitar, John Lennon’s twelve-string Rickenbacker 325, Keith Moon’s drum set, and the white Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock—both in performance and as works of art in their own right. Produced in collaboration with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this astounding book goes behind the music to offer a rare, in-depth look at the instruments that inspired the musicians and made possible the songs we know and love.

Instruments of Rock and Roll

Play It Loud

Clive Davis

Soundtrack of My Life

The chief creative officer of Sony Music presents a candid assessment of his life and the past half-century of popular music from an insider's perspective, tracing his work with a wide array of stars and personalities.

The Soundtrack of My Life

A gallery of 179 photographs, arranged by theme, explores the variety of rock 'n' roll styles over the years

Rolling Stone Images of Rock and Roll

Radio 4 Book of the Week

A gallery of 179 striking photographs, arranged by theme, explores the variety of rock 'n' roll styles over the years and includes images previously published in Rolling Stone and some never published before. 100,000 first printing. BOMC.

Rolling Stone Images of Rock & Roll

The Rolling Stones

An intimate and comprehensive volume tracing the incredible musical career and creative life of the Rolling Stones. "As well as going back through our history we wanted everyone to experience and feel exactly what it's like to be in the Rolling Stones."

Unzipped

Previously published essays explore music and popular culture.

Writing about Music and Other Matters

Rocking My Life Away

Robert Palmer

Collects the works of the late music critic and contributor to Rolling Stone and arranges them by theme and genre, including gripping stories about John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters and more.

The Music Writing of Robert Palmer

Blues & Chaos

The most compelling art form to emerge from the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, rock & roll stands in an edgy relationship with its own mythology, its own musicological history and the broader culture in which it plays a part. In Present Tense, Anthony DeCurtis brings together writers from a wide variety of fields to explore how rock & roll is made, consumed, and experienced in our time. In this collection, Greil Marcus creates a collage of words and pictures that evokes and explores Elvis Presley's grisly fate as an American cultural image, while Robert Palmer tells the gripping tale of the origins and meanings of the electric guitar. Rap music, MTV, and the issue of gender identity in the work of Bruce Springsteen all undergo thorough examination; rock & roll's complex relationship with the forces of censorship gets a remarkably fresh reading; and the mainstreaming of rock & roll in the 1980s is detailed and analyzed. And, in an interview with Laurie Anderson and an essay by Atlanta musician Jeff Calder, the artists speak for themselves. Contributors. Jeff Calder, Anthony DeCurtis, Mark Dery, Paul Evans, Glenn Gass, Trent Hill, Michael Jarrett, Alan Light, Greil Marcus, Robert Palmer, Robert B. Ray, Dan Rubey, David R. Shumway, Martha Nell Smith, Paul Smith

Rock & Roll and Culture

Present Tense

In Other Words collects the most intimate and revealing interviews by Anthony DeCurtis, who, in the course of a distinguished 25-year career, has earned a reputation for approaching his craft with depth, seriousness and sensitivity. His many subjects - music legends, movie directors, artistic provocateurs, up-and-coming talents, visionary songwriters - all speak with rare candor about the meanings within and the motivations behind their best work. Many of these interviews - which originally appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times and other publications - have been significantly expanded. DeCurtis has also written new introductions that tell the story behind these stories, transforming this collection into an episodic memoir of a life on the front lines of cultural journalism. These gripping conversations will make readers feel that they are sitting, as DeCurtis did, at a dinner table or in a quiet room alone, learning everything they want to know about some of the most revered artists of our time.

Artists Talk about Life and Work

In Other Words

James Henke

Rates and reviews thousands of rock, pop, soul, rap, country, jazz, blues, folk, and gospel recordings

Anthony DeCurtis

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