The 33 & 1/3 book series from Bloomsbury was launched in 2003. It now features over 100 titles from Jimi Hendrix to Bowie, from PJ Harvey to The Pogues there’s a bit of something for everyone.
A new upcoming release, due in 2017, is on Lou Reed‘s Transformer by ‘genre and gender-fluid American singer songwriter’ Ezra Furman. The British Library (who are currently showing Punk 1976-78 exhibition) are marking the release with a special evening event on 23 June when Ezra will read passages from the book, followed by a discussion with the Guardian’s Laura Barton about the Velvet Underground’s influence on punk and their musical legacy. He will also be performing Velvet Underground covers as well as some of his own songs, which have been heavily influenced by them.
Transformer, Lou Reed’s second solo album, was released in 1972, the same year that David Bowie revealed his alter ego via his concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It was Bowie who invited Reed to London to record Transformer which included Walk on the Wild Side, a song whose lyrics celebrated New York’s underground scene and the superstar drag queens of Andy Warhol’s studio, the Factory. According to Tony Fletcher’s All Hopped Up and Ready to Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927 – 1977 it was Bowie and coproducer Mick Ronson that were responsible for adding that well known sax solo by Ronnie Ross and bass line played by Herbie Flowers. It’s still pretty magic…
The British Library currently have an exhibition on until October titled Punk 1976-78 along with a Punk Pop-up shop.
Ezra Furman: The Velvet Underground, Punk Pioneers
Where: Conference Centre
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB
When: Thu 23 Jun 2016, 19:30 – 21:00
Details and tickets here: www.bl.uk/events/ezra-furman-the-velvet-underground-punk-pioneers#