Rating: 
Summary: The greatest rock journalist
Review: Let it blurt blew me away. It is a tragic, infuriating and often funny portal into the mind of Lester Bangs. Billed as the greatest rock journalist in recent American history ( and I wont take issue with that). Lester was the epitome of Rock and roll, he was one of the only writers of his time that seemed to say exactly what it was that was on his mind about everybody or band he wrote about without giving lip service.....ever! And he seemed to understand rock and roll as an intangible thing and not just a movement, a passion and attitude if you will I highly recomend this superbly written book about one of the greatest personalities of the pop generation. This book is extremely well researched and incredibly readable. It is never boring and is every bit as much a page turner as any fiction book ive read.
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Summary: Lester Lived the Life, DeRogatis Did the Research
Review: Like many martyrs, Lester Bangs did not die for his cause, he WAS his cause and he died. This book does his life justice, because it lets Lester's writing, actions and body odor tell the good and bad of his story. I didn't finish this book feeling Lester was a God. I finished it feeling like I'd met someone who reveled in his humanity to the point where everyone who knew him either loved or hated him for doing so. Never before have I been so inspired by a writer -- not from reading his work, appendix one is the first of his writings I've ever read in its entirety -- but from simply reading about how he lived his life. The freedom and zeal with which he so naturally lived and wrote was truly a gift to me though it may have been a curse for him.Turning to the author, I think DeRogatis' strong point is definitely his exhaustive, perfectly detailed research. His prose -- nothing special beyond its dutiful journalistic clarity -- serves his years of investigation well. I guess when you're reading a book about a literary stylist like Lester, the biographer's writing style can pale in comparison to even the few short examples of Lester's writing included in the book. But perhaps that's just another instance of Lester's expansive personality overshadowing everything around him -- even the pages of his own biography. This book tells the story of one of the greatest characters in rock and roll AND American culture. Lester belongs in the same league as Woody Guthrie, Jack Kerouac and Andy Kaufman (who, in certain pictures, I thought he eerily resembled) -- artists cursed with a singular voice who lived in a society that refused to let it blurt loud enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Let It Blurt
Review: Many young rock fans only know of Lester Bangs from the lyrics of R.E.M.'s "It the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Hence, Jim DeRogatis has written LET IT BLURT. In the preface to LET IT BLURT, the author lays out three goals for himself: 1) "tell a life story that began to intrigue me even before I met Lester" 2) " chart the history of rock criticism" 3) "an examination of his critical ideas and aesthetic" Although, LET IT BLURT is a very entertaining book, the author really only succeeds in the first objective. It fails to really tackle the underlying issues of rock criticism, and it never really give much insight into Lester Bangs's ideas about music, and therefore the reader may still be skeptical about the books subtitle, "The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic." While I left the book with a fair portrait of Lester as a personality, I don't feel I was presented with enough evidence to declare Bangs "America's Greatest Rock Critic" (He is, by the way, but the book doesn't do as good a job of illustrating that as one would hope). My suggestion would be read this book for a sociological context, then read Banks' PSYCHOTIC REACTION AND CARBURETOR DUNG, a compilation of Lester's critical writings.
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Summary: Should be a movie!
Review: Maybe those flicks about Hunter S. Thompsn didn't work, but this book should be optioned right away by Hollywoodland. If I had the bread, I would. Think of the great soundtrack! Who sez writers can't be wilder than the stupid musicians they interview! A must for rock lovers everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Lester turns madness into an artform
Review: The first thing I realised after reading this amazing biography is how much passion Lester had for what he did. Writing about music and culture became an artform because of him and he always stayed true to himself and the way he expressed himself. Would he survive today if he expressed himself the way he did? It's an interesting question. A funny, thoughtful, tragic, hyperactive artist brought to life by Jim's very enjoyable and readable biography.
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Summary: Interesting Match of Style and Subject
Review: The first words we read are Lester Bangs': "There are no facts in rock and roll, there is only myth." Then Jim Derogatis opens with: "Sometimes Lester was full of s--t." That exchange represents the approach used in Degoatis' fascinating biography. His Joe-Friday-just-the-facts-ma'am style complements Bangs' jazz-like improv and spontaneousness. Derogatis is a believer in thoroughness and old-fashioned objectivity, so he is able to shed light on some dark corners in Lester's life. Like his drug abuse, his screwed-up relationships with women, the pain from his family and the Jehovah's Witness upbringing, and his general self-destructiveness. Basically, Bangs was a big, lovable slob (except when he wasn't so lovable.) But he was also an important American writer, the rock equivalent of Pauline Kael's criticism of the movies. He was tremendously influential and Derogatis admirably makes this clear.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Match of Style and Subject
Review: The first words we read are Lester Bangs': "There are no facts in rock and roll, there is only myth." Then Jim Derogatis opens with: "Sometimes Lester was full of s--t." That exchange represents the approach used in Degoatis' fascinating biography. His Joe-Friday-just-the-facts-ma'am style complements Bangs' jazz-like improv and spontaneousness. Derogatis is a believer in thoroughness and old-fashioned objectivity, so he is able to shed light on some dark corners in Lester's life. Like his drug abuse, his screwed-up relationships with women, the pain from his family and the Jehovah's Witness upbringing, and his general self-destructiveness. Basically, Bangs was a big, lovable slob (except when he wasn't so lovable.) But he was also an important American writer, the rock equivalent of Pauline Kael's criticism of the movies. He was tremendously influential and Derogatis admirably makes this clear.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - should've been 5 times as big
Review: The only work we have on a great, great writer. Anyone with a heart who reads Lester will never forget him. This book is great and required reading but with such a prolific writer it should have been a good 1000-2000 pages long. Lets hope it spurs the release of more of the vast amount of unpublished work Lester has left behind and the release of the Jook savages on the brazos - a truly incredible album.
Rating: 
Summary: How ironic...
Review: The world's worst rock critic writes about the world's best rock critic. Hmm...
Rating: 
Summary: Let it be interesting
Review: This book made me feel that we spend way too much time wanting to know about people that really matter very little. As a Biography is was just ok, and never made me think, wow this is good writing. Lester I thought, and still do, was a lot more interesting that this book made me think he was.
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