Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell & The Downtown Music Scene 1973-1992
by

Epic, haunting story of mindbogglingly eclectic legend

Tim Lawrence’s previous book, 2003’s Love Saves The Day: A History Of American Dance Music Culture 1970-1979, is widely considered the definitive work on that subject. During its lengthy gestation, seeds were sewn for this exhaustive, often spellbinding account of the life of one of music’s true maverick enigmas – an avant-garde cellist and wigged-out disco architect, who would later record the haunted ballads of 1986’s World Of Echo.

With co-operation from family and collaborators, Lawrence maps out Russell’s chaotic, troubled but cathartically-creative life. After starting his career backing lifelong friend Allen Ginsberg on cello while living in a San Francisco Buddhist commune, Russell moved to New York in 1973, immersing himself in the downtown scene: avant-garde, new wave (he nearly joined Talking Heads, while Columbia A&R legend John Hammond saw him as the next Dylan), then disco, resulting in other-worldly creations as Dinosaur L and Loose Joints while running the Sleeping Bag label. Spectral electronic love songs dominated Russell’s later work, before he died of AIDS in 1992. While the book provides many fresh insights into the 80s downtown hotbed, Russell emerges as a strange, fragile figure, in a monumental work. Hold On To Your Dreams is a captivating record of a true original’s all-toobrief life.

ISBN 9780822344858, 392 pages

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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