Up - Tight the Velvet Underground Story

A concise biography that details the trajectory of the Velvet Underground month-by-month, year-by-year, as the group evolves from Lou Reed's pop-rock roots to Andy Warhol patronage and art-rock noise, through a subdued, confessional third album and finally, "despite all the amputations," to rock'n'roll. Victor Bockris has written a witty, detailed story full of the band's personal turmoil, drug use, and ego-fueled confrontations, focusing on the art of the music and the band's struggle for commercial success in equal measure. It's filled with great black-and-white photographs that capture a band as interested in its own look as its music. This is much more than a fan's book, and ought to dispel any notion of the monolithic "peace and love" image of Sixties' music.

But this book. The author does a tremendous job of exposing Lou Reed's life, his triumphs and his failings. You will not find a better Lou Reed biography anywhere