Lou Reed

The King of New York

By: Will Hermes

Narrated by: Will Hermes

Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Washington Post Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, NPR Best Book of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2023

This program is read by the author.

"There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life . . . He has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgment."—Lucy Sante, author of Low Life

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, Hermes employs the library collections, the release of previously unheard recordings, and a wealth of recent interviews to give 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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2023 Will Hermes (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Music journalist Will Hermes narrates this history in a pleasing tone with consistent clarity while capturing his subject's moody cynicism. His vocal character works well with his insightful writing about Reed's mental health and drug issues, sexual complexity, and pull-no-punches songwriting.... With his strong performance and research, as well as his suave storytelling, Hermes holds listeners close for the entire production." (AudioFIle)

"Hermes shrewdly probes Reed’s complex personal and professional life . . . Hermes’ strength is in identifying and articulating the transformational brilliance of Reed’s songwriting and performances within the context of the 1960s and ’70s music scene. Reverent about his artistry, he’s also discerningly cognizant of Reed’s temperamental shortcomings . . . An engrossing, fully dimensional portrait of an influential yet elusive performer."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Hermes, a superb writer, does poetic justice to the complicated life of his difficult subject . . . [He] offers a fresh and deep immersion in Reed’s world in all of its weird and wonderful, curmudgeonly glory . . . Powerful . . . [A] biographical magnum opus."—Booklist (starred review)

"There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life. He has probed into every corner, talked to people the others overlooked, dug up every last clipping and tape, but above all he has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgment."—Lucy Sante, author of Low Life

The most in depth Lou Reed bio

If you are a Lou Reed/Velvet Underground fan then you need to hear this. One of the more complex individuals in rock music brought to life through some great and not so great personal recollections from people who were closest to him. Like most great artists, Reed was ahead of his time.

Engaging and interesting. Didn’t want it to end.

Excellent look at a complicated man and a great artist. Very well done. Get it!

Another Will Hermes Triumph

If you want to feel the passion and pain, self-sabotage and fluttering of angels wings, and you’re a Velvets fan, make the time to immerse yourself in the story of Lou Reed with Will Hermes as your guide. You’ll find all the good and the ugly Lou left behind in the live and pages of this book.

Comprehensive and well written

Will Hermès’ biography of Lou Reed is well researched, well written and covers his life, art, and impact in exceptional detail. Recommend for any Reed fan.

Electrifying

This audiobook not only expanded my understanding of Lou Reed's complex personality, it took me places where I'd never been... I have enjoyed his music and that of the Velvet Underground since my college years and even saw him in concert once, probably when he was in his 50s. However, learning more about who he was – about his turbulent path in life, his highs and lows, his insecurities and inspired brilliance, his defiant, anti-hero persona – gave so much more depth to his work, that at times, I experienced what might be described as brief flashes of mysticism. I know it may sound laughable, but I'm not exaggerating.

He was known for living a life of excess and for often being unpleasant in public. He could be blunt and offensive, self-loathing, self-destructive and misanthropic. Before Nirvana's "Stay away", Reed sang in the late 70s, "Leave me alone" – an excellent, abrasive track from the Street Hassle album. Some of the things that he did and said were beyond politically incorrect, just plain ugly and terrible. But on the other hand, he had a more tender side that gave his poetic sensibilities a much wider range, resulting in delicate compositions, like "Pale blue eyes" or "Coney Island Baby", among others.

Like Sylvia Plath (the celebrated poet, whose biography, "Red Comet", I also love), Reed received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) when he was young. A dyslexic poetry student of Jewish origin, whose sexual orientation (openly gay / bisexual) was transgressive for the time, he seems to have accepted early on that he was different from the norm and was ready to explore new frontiers. His musical career took off when he joined forces with his Velvet Underground bandmates (John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker, Nico) and pop artist Andy Warhol, who first managed the band – all fellow misfits. He later embarked on a solo career that, though never achieving massive sales (his song "Walk on the Wild Side" was a rare hit), garnered widespread respect and had a significant influence. This book describes his relationship with musical collaborators (including David Bowie and Metallica), his most important love interests, and how he eventually sobered up and sang of "New sensations". Throughout my listening, I not only discovered several great albums that I was completely unaware of, but was also captivated by Reed's life journey, all the way to his very last words, which made me have to hold back my tears.

Author Will Hermes also narrates and does a decent job at that.

Solid But We Need More

Solid work and may stand for a good long while as the “go-to” on Lou. That said, the book sped through so many periods of his work with only a couple moments spent on particular albums during his mid and later career. Much more scholarship and research to be done on those periods - and I hope it happens soon, as we’re losing people quickly.

Much time was spent reading documents and quoting other written sources as well, like main research was done in the NYPL than with human sources.

Again, this is a must read on Reed, but more can and should be done on each album and his life during each creative period.

Immersed in details

Comprehensive story of a talented, beautiful and difficult life. I learned so much about the New York music scene and culture. A lot of great stories about fellow musicians and artists. Hard to put down.

Love Lou, Liked This

I felt like the limits of Hermes’ access were evident, from his over-reliance on fan mail and other records, to a lack of information about Lou’s everyday life beyond the big (and small) headlines. This is not the case in the author’s sublime handling of Lou’s final days. As for the performance, Hermes did well, but I was sometimes taken out of the moment by odd pronunciations (paean, emeritus and a good many others). I blame this less on the reader than the production team. Ultimately, I’m glad I listened, even if I might’ve hoped for a little more.

A very multi-faceted and talented guy

Here’s another musical icon I wanted to learn more about. Of course there’s the house band status of the Velvet Underground hanging out at “The Factory” with Andy Warhol, the foolish heavy drug use, his giant ego, and his seeming disregard for other people’s feelings. But I didn’t know how incredibly productive and influential he was. Seems he was constantly writing material, changing personas, styles, and setting trends. Although he wasn’t a big hit maker his stuff was a lot more interesting and his poetry more “deep” than I ever knew. The book mentions a 1998 PBS American Masters documentary, Lou Reed -Rock & Roll Heart, so I went looking for it in their Passport Library but it seems PBS dropped it from their list of assessable shows. So I bought a DVD copy on E-Bay for less than $10. That really filled in a lot of gaps for me. They played many lengthy clips of his songs, showed cool interviews with participants like David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, John Cale, Patti Smith and others. Now I can see why he’s revered as a pioneer of the non-binary gender fluid New York pre-Goth and Punk and Rap music scene. 3½***

You can skip it

i listened for you. Nothing new here. You can google a majority of it and the author fixates on the whole queer seen throughout the entire book. Yes, everyone knows our hero was a bit of a messed up narcissist, with some redeeming qualities. The could have been much more....