The late Lou Reed was a very prolific writer, having penned a number of books, essays and music reviews throughout his career.
Reed (pictured, via Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) was the author of a number of books including: Pass Through Fire: The Collected Lyrics; Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics; Lou Reed’s New York; and Emotion in Action.
In a famous essay published in 1966, Reed criticized the poetry world of Robert Lowell and wrote, “The only decent poetry of this century was that recorded on rock-and-roll records.”
Reed continued writing into his final days. One recent review that Reed wrote about Kanye West’s Yeezus album. The album was not very well received, but Reed liked it. Here is an excerpt: “There are moments of supreme beauty and greatness on this record, and then some of it is the same old shit. But the guy really, really, really is talented. He’s really trying to raise the bar. No one’s near doing what he’s doing, it’s not even on the same planet.”