Eleven down, forty-one to go.

Eleven down, forty-one to go.

The Rough Guide to The Velvet Underground
by Peter Hogan

Man, is this pitiful. What do you think the chances are of me reading 41 books in the next, oh, 33 days? Pretty slim, huh? Better luck next year Tankboy.

I shall, however, continue on through the end of the year so hopefully I'll actually be able to swallow another couple of books whole and spit out a few more reviews.

This one was a bit of an impulse buy a few weeks ago, when I realized that while I knew the general history of The Velvet Underground, I was woefully short when it cam to super specific facts. Like, why the hell would the band dump John Cale only to bring on Doug Yule? Or where the hell did Sterling Morrison disappear to for so many years, and why? Or, what exactly happened to Nico in the years between her leaving The Velvet Underground and her unfortunate death via blow to the head?

Well, Peter Hogan's Rough Guide does a nice job of answering all those questions, along with a slew I had never thought to ask. After reading it I came away with one universal truth about the band.

Lou Reed is an asshole.

I had always suspected as much, but thought his contrary poses were mostly just that. But the book reveals Reed to be, for the most part a pretty self-centered malcontent. It's true that Reed grows fiercely protective of his bandmates if they are attacked outside of camp, but he seemed to relish in applying the most scathing insults to the ex-VUers himself. Of course this is countered by Reed's staggering talent, and his propensity to write amazing music, even when it appears on lackluster or unfocused solo albums.

Amazingly the book presents this viewpoint of Reed without actually weighing in with any sort of moral judgment, and that's as it should be. Instead, Hogan does a fine job outlining the group's history, including subsequent solo careers, while dropping in plenty of trivia and interesting minutiae about the band's albums and recording process. Overall it's a handy little intro to one of the most influential groups ever, and since it's a rough guide it's super up-to-date, even including that insane eBay auction over the acetate of the band's original recordings for their legendary debut that occurred just over a year ago.

I'd recommend this as a good read to both neophytes and long-time fans.