Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story

(Paperback)

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A triumph - Time Out

Transformer is the only complete and comprehensive telling of the Lou Reed story.
Legendary songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed passed away on the 27th October 2013, but his musical influence is assured. Now discover the true story of the Velvet Underground pioneer in this update of Bockriss classic biography.

Transformer: The Complete Lou Reed Story follows the great songwriter and singer through the series of transformations that define each period of his fifty year career. It opens with the teenage electroshock treatments that dominated his memories of childhood and never stops revealing layer after layer of this complex and often anguished artist and man. Transformer is based on Lous collaborations with the hardest and most romantic artists of his times, from John Cale, Andy Warhol, and Nico, through David Bowie, Robert Wilson, Laurie Anderson and the ghost of Edgar Alan Poe. Rippling underneath everything he did are Lous relationships with his various muses, from his college sweetheart to his three wives (and one drag queen).

Leading Lou Reed biographer, Victor Bockris - who knew Lou throughout the Rachel Years, from Rock n Roll Animal to the Bells - updates his original biography in the wake of Lous death. Through new interviews and photos, he reveals the many transformations of this larger-than-life character, including his final shift from Rock Monster to the Prince Charming he had always wanted to be in the twenty years he spent with the love of his life, Laurie Anderson . Except with Lou, you could never really know what might happen next

Including previously unseen photographs and contributions from Lous innermost circle and collaborators that include similarly esteemed artists such as Andy Warhol and David Bowie, Transformer is as captivating and vivid a read as befits an American master.

Reviews

Bockriss new work is instantly recognizable as the heavyweight psychological powerplay Lou Reeds legend deservesReed is effectively pinned like a butterfly Q Magazine

Transformer depicts the singers life as a series of death-defying second acts New York Times Book Review

A very readable portraitBlending informed biographical narrative with abundant quotes and a dishy, conversational style, Bockris captures the many moods and mood swings of a true rock and roll chameleon Entertainment Weekly

Transformer is an even more staggering brief than Wired (about John Belushi) Spin

Bockris provides insight into the private life that led Reed to create many of rocks memorable songs, including Heroin and Walk on the Wild Side Publishers Weekly

One of the funniest and most memorable time-lined rock documents around Philadelphia City Paper

Author Bio

Victor Bockris is the foremost chronicler of the New York Underground. In 1972, he published Patti Smiths first book of poems Seventh Heaven at Telegraph Books. He is the acclaimed biographer of Muhammad Ali, Blondie, The Velvet Underground, Keith Richards, Lou Reed and is the author of With William Burroughs (1997) and The Life and Death of Andy Warhol (1998).