Sweet, Wild and Vicious: Listening to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground

Including his work with the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed released nearly 50 original albums during his lifetime; in Sweet, Wild and Vicious, critic Jim Higgins delves into each, with descriptions, details, analysis and appraisals that will amplify and expand fans’ understanding and appreciation of them.

Reed was an American rock original (and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer) whose work went from “Heroin” and “Sweet Jane” to Metal Machine Music and “Walk on the Wild Side” to a collaboration with Metallica. They're all covered here.

This listener's guide is personal as well as definitive, a thoughtful consideration of Reed's entire career from the perspective of a devoted follower able to separate the highs from the lows.

In the words of Greg Kot, acclaimed journalist, author and co-host of the long-running syndicated radio program Sound Opinions, "I didn’t think we needed another book on Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground until I read Sweet, Wild and Vicious. A voracious listener and gifted writer, Jim Higgins contextualizes Reed's life and aesthetic in a way that illuminates the world he created between the headphones. His recordings — by turns brilliant, confounding and daring — finally get the book they deserve. It’s nothing less than an essential addition to our understanding and appreciation of Reed/Velvets."

Jim Higgins is arts and books editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and a former pop music and jazz critic for the Milwaukee Sentinel. He is a two-time winner of Wisconsin Area Music Industry award for music journalist of the year and twice won the Sentinel staff-voted award for humor writing. Like Andy Warhol, he is a native of Pittsburgh.