Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992

At last.Arthur Russell is definitely the most important artist to have been (re)discovered in the noughties.Cello player, avant-garde composer, disco producer, pop/folk singer-songwriter, Mr Russell lived an interesting, busy life in New York from 1973 to 1992, straddling musical genres and mixing them with ease and depth. Although he never found the success he deserved during his lifetime, he nevertheless produced a body of work that will never cease to fascinate discerning music lovers all over the world.This biography by Tim Lawrence - the first book ever on the Iowan maverick - is a wonderful introduction to its subject: painstakingly researched (work on it lasted for ten years), immensely readable and shot through with humanity and an acute critical eye, it will only make you love Arthur Russell and his music more, helping you understand his working methods and the tender, marvellous poetry of his lyrics.Its merits, though, do not end here; while recounting Russell's human journey, Mr Lawrence also manages to connect it beautifully to the bubbling milieu of 70s/80s Downtown New York, thus producing a pulsating portrait of a difficult yet extremely creative part of the Big Apple.The end result is an essential book. One that you will keep going back to time and again, a work, in short, that is totally worthy of Arthur Russell's multifarious, radiant oeuvre.Unmissable.

Arthur Russell is amazing, and Tim Lawrence ("Love saves the day," the best disco book written to date) is the man to really write about him. But strangely, unlike "love saves the day," the style here is complete and utterly devoid of life. It's like reading a congressional report, a completely "just the facts" account of Russell's life and career. There's not a hint of style or storytelling, just pure "Wikipedia"-dry narrative. This makes it a bit tough to swallow, but the content is so worth it.

Very underrated musician. His music remains cutting edge.

Excellent bio of a fascinating and hard-to-pin-down guy.

This book is very detailed and at times you find yourself skipping over parts. It takes you into the heart and soul of such a simple but complex man from Iowa.

This book by Tim Lawrence is indeed badly written and poorly researched.It contains numerous factual errors and false statements.Arthur Russell's legacy deserves much better than this!

This book is INACCURATE. Tim Lawrence did a poor job on researching andfailed to contact the owner of the recording studio that Arthur Russell used duringthe last decade of his life. Tim's book is clearly flawed. BEWARE!

Simply one of the best musician biographies I've ever read, written in a clear, unpretentious yet never boring style, probing deep into both the artist's life and the wider socio-cultural context in which he lived and worked, giving us a sense of who the man was while never veering into territory that could be too intimate. It definitely made me love and value Arthur Russell's output even more than I already did before reading the book. Highly recommended indeed.

I love this in the sense that i love Russell's music and wanted to know more about him and what made him tick. (You wont be reading this book unless you love the guy's music.. and if you love his music, odds on you'll want this even if you just dip into it.. or want it on yr shelf!) It's for the converted.It aint easy going in this book- it's kinda written as if for an M.A. level crit/discussion..er.. level.. but sticking with it you are going to get a really detailed complete overview of Russell and the people in the downtown scene and the whole historical context of the time.Like i said- hard work but i really enjoyed it and simply because there is so much of it, it enables you to spend a good hunk of time immersed in it and it is the tale of quite a curious and amazing man.I love muso biogs and am glad someone made this much effort to write this.I got this.. the biog of Darby Crash.. and Cope's "Repossesed" and it set me up for the whole summer.

Beautifully written and a wonderful story about a true genius. If you're interested in Arthur Russell you're going to love it.

This arrived really quickly as a present for my brother. He loves it. It's just as it was described and was well worth the price. Thank you!