The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side [Hardcover]

“Assisted by a number of contributors, DeRogatis, the pop-music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, has put together the latest book to appear on the gritty New York band the Velvet Underground. Compared with Richie Unterberger’s recent White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day, DeRogatis’s book contains relatively little text. What it principally offers is an overview of the band’s career, brief critical analyses of their albums, and a superb collection of visually stunning, full-color reproductions of concert posters, ticket stubs, press clippings, and so on. There are also dozens of black-and-white photos of the band in the studio, onstage, and hanging out at Andy Warhol’s Factory. Verdict: Readers who want detail and in-depth analysis of the Velvet Underground and their importance in American popular music will want to steer toward White Light/White Heat; however, DeRogatis’s coffee-table book, with its archival images and other memorabilia, is highly recommended for fans of the Velvet Underground.” - Library Journal

“The black velvet strip along the cover is cute, but the visual wealth of this illustrated history is inside the covers. A Walk on the Wild Side is packed with great photos—Andy Warhol working on his banana design for the first Velvet Underground album, rare shots of the band in all their dark majesty, even unusual promo pictures of Lou Reed and company decked out in bright paisley along with generous spreads of psychedelic poster art. The insightful text by veteran rock critic Jim DeRogatis defines the band’s anti-hippie stance, yet connects them to the era’s psychedelia while underscoring the essential timelessness of a sound that launched a thousand bands in the decades after their breakup.” - Shepherd Express (Milwaukee, WI)

“Arty Illustrated History Maps Velvet Underground’s Influence”
“The Velvet Underground spearheaded an art-rock revolution that changed the look and sound of pop culture. Now Voyageur Press is celebrating the New York band’s 45th anniversary with a visually rich art book called The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side, written by veteran pop music critic Jim DeRogatis…” - Wired.com

“DeRogatis has truly done his research, as you’d expect from a guy with his pedigree. There are reproductions of vintage concert posters, handbills, memorabilia plus the author’s well-written overview of each band member’s personal history.

The Cleveland Scene - “Rock critic Jim DeRogatis marks the 45th anniversary of one of the planet's most influential bands with a photo-stuffed volume that traces the Velvet Underground's history and continuing inspiration. Interviews with band members and famous fans help tell the story, but all the cool pictures—many of them never seen before—capture the group's real wild side.”

Austin American-Statesman

“DeRogatis, the longtime pop critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, handles the bulk of the band's history while others contribute essays, including film critic Glenn Kenny's assertion that "White Light/White Heat" is a prime example of Manny Farber's "termite art" ("no sign that the artist has any object in mind other than eating away the immediate boundaries of his art") and a wonderful interview with Morrison — who died in 1995 of lymphoma — from former Austinite Bill Bentley, who played with Morrison in the Austin band the Bizzaros….The coolest thing about DeRogatis' book is the gallery of bootleg album covers in the back. Bootlegs are a crucial part of the Velvets' story, a tribute to the fandom that kept the band's flame alive for decades.”

Boston Globe

“From the band’s rise out of New York City’s seedy underbelly to its unlikely 1993 reunion tour, music critic Jim DeRogatis lovingly traces the Velvet Underground’s evolution through a feast of photos, concert posters, critical essays, and Andy Warhol’s pop art.

Chicago Sun-Times (online)

“…a beautiful, velvet-wrapped, coffee-table art book full of incredible photos, posters and assorted memorabilia portraying one of the most innovative and influential rock bands in history, much of it never before seen, even if you own a shelf full of books about the Velvets, Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico….it's a wonderful thing to have on the shelf.”

Campus Circle

“The book is loaded with tidbits about the band and brims with pages of glossy images in all their full-color glory, not to mention a complete discography, a list of every concert and rehearsal the band played and an archive of the band’s album covers. The book is visually impressive, as well as insightfully, with a good balance of images and social analysis. Grade: A” 

Hardly anyone bought the Velvet Underground’s albums when they were released, but most everyone who did formed a band.  This was the kind of influence the Velvets exerted, and it persists to this day in the sounds of groups as diverse as Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, R.E.M., My Bloody Valentine, and Sonic Youth--all of whom claim the Velvets as their most important influence.  And then there are such soundalikes as Yo La Tengo, Luna, and the Strokes, to name a few.  Published on the forty-fifth anniversary of the Velvet Underground’s founding, this is the first illustrated history of the band that rocked rock--one of the most inspired and influential rock ’n’ roll bands of all time. 

The book follows this icon of Sixties rock from its heady first days with Lou Reed, John Cale, German chanteuse Nico, drummer Moe Tucker, and guitarist Sterling Morrison; through its management by pop artist Andy Warhol, who made the band the siren of his Factory and part of his traveling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable; to its later incarnations in the early Seventies.  “They opened wounds worth opening with brutal imagery, without apology,” Patti Smith said, upon the band’s 1996 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  And this book offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at how the Velvet Underground did it.