Lou Reed consistently challenged the conventions of rock music. He created the Velvet Undergound, the most influential cult band of the sixties, and inspired a generation of punk rebels. His art took in drug addiction, sado-masochism, death-wishes, degredation and despair. Latterly he re-invented himself as a poet and thinker, a deeply serious man whose past was forgiven amidst the accolades that age brought him. Magic & Loss traces the life of Reed, the master evader. It chronicles the outrageous, the sensation and the reputation building stunts. It strips away the mask to reveal the man inside.