Hugely influential, but barely mentioned. Just wondering what the general consensus of this band is on the board.

A quick run-down of the albums:


The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

The debut, made slap bang in the middle of Andy Warhols patronage of the band. Andy paired them up with the gorgeous (but cold) model Nico. Its a strange early twist in the bands history but Lou and John rose to the challenge. Some say it was out of their admiration/love for Andy, some say because Lou and John simply wanted to shag her. Maybe a bit of both. The two songwriters rose to the challenge and managed to not only write songs that suited Nico's atonal Bavarian voice but practically defining the sound of the bands first record.This album is considered their crowning glory. It contains dreamy 60's pop in Sunday Morning, Femme Fatale, I'll Be Your Mirror (though its pop in the Brill Building vein rather the Beatlesque), proto-punk/ garage rock & roll in I'm Waiting For the Man, There She Goes Again and Run, Run, Run. Avant-garde "noise collisions" and drones in All Tomorrows Parties , the Black Angels Death Song and European Son. And right in the middle, Heroin. An ode to the euphoric highs and skull-splitting come downs. All masterfully acheived with the meagerest of means.
After listening to alot of albums from this period, I don't think anything like this existed up to that point (Zappa's debut from around the same time comes close). Influenced by Dylan, Warhol, S&M, New York City and God knows what else. Its a true original.

White Light/White Heat (1968)

The debut sold about forty copies, so I guess they (temporarily) gave up the ghost and decided to go all out with their second album. The brill building pop and Nico-pandering was out the window (Nico went solo in '67, Reed and Cale penned a few songs for her) and the avant-garage was brought to the fore. The album opens with the title track, probably the most straight-laced song on the six-track album, which is saying something. Its sort of in the I'm Waiting For the Man style, but doesn't quite get there. This one, and alot of other tracks from their career are best served on the live 1969 album. The following three tracks, mostly John Cales inception (or Reed doing a Cale) are about as weird as the band get. I won't dwell on them too much. Lady Godiva's Operation highlights a great rock & roll rhythm section, but not much else.
The cherry on this cake is the final two tracks, I Heard Her Call My Name and Sister Ray. It's worth owning this album just for these twenty minutes alone. I think its the absolute pinnacle of the bands output. I Heard Her Call My Name just explodes out of the speakers as if the song was in full flight before they decided to hit the record button. Its loud, fast and visceral countered by the angelic backing vocals, Mo Tuckers primal drums and Sterling (or is it Lou??) head splitting guitar solos. Most of the lyrics sound largely made up on the spot ("gone gone gone, ready ready ready! etc...). I wouldn't change them for a second though. This is a rock & roll band at the height of their powers. Magic.
Then Sister Ray. Another wall of guitars. I think that Brian Jonestown Massacre are mostly just ripping off Sister Ray, only with Byrds-ey 12-string guitars. But I like it. Sister Ray doesn't look good on paper. Three chords, over and over for 17+ minutes. It's one of the reasons I avoided the VU for a long time and it took me a long time to get into this song. Its hypnotic, when they get into that groove there's just no stopping them. I think Cale's organ really makes it but once the bass drops out about halfway through, the arse falls out of it. Still, its one of those songs that sums them up brilliantly.



The Velvet Underground (1969)

Third album. John Cale had left by this point and with his departure marked the second more conventional Velvet Underground. Attempts were made to keep the experimental-rock aesthetic, Murder Mystery. This was piss-poor compared to something like Run, Run, Run.
Anyway, faux-arty Murder Mystery aside, its a pretty decent album. I sounds like the most professionally produced album of theirs so far. The debut sounds like it was made in a basement for about $50 and WL / WH sounds like they set everything to 11 and hit record. The problem I have with this album is the key tracks: What's Goes On, Pale Blue Eyes, Beginning To See the Light, Some Kinda Love were all better served on the live album, 1969. It leaves us with a couple of decent songs, Candy Says, Jesus. I don't reach for this album that much but it definitely has its fans.



Loaded (1970)

Cale replacement Doug Yule is now firmly in the picture and with this the direction goes even more in the conventional rock & roll sound. Not necessarily a bad thing. It may be a million miles from the black shades and sulky pusses of 1967 but Reeds songwriting was really starting to mature and this attempt at mainstream acclaim was a strong effort. I don't know exactly how well it was received at the time, maybe someone could comment. If there's any justice Rock & Roll or Sweet Jane got more airplay that maudlin Beatle tracks Let It Be or Long & Winding Road but there's rarely justice in the pop charts!

I like this album, its very accomplished and its a fun listen. Sometimes you don't always want your head pummelled with guitars distorted within an inch of their life. The pysch and country pastiches are....well, let me put it this way, if I was to recommend some VU to someone, these are the LAST songs I'd mention. Sweet Jane, Cool It Down, Head Held High, Train Round the Bend and especially Rock & Roll are brilliant rock & roll stompers. For all the criticism that this album has received, I bet Reed wishes he could write another one of these. That guitar break in Rock & Roll is brilliant but so effortless sounding. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' is another highlight. An absolute beaut in a tender doo-wop stylee. This album is often cited as a good starter and the new remastered version comes with an extra disc of goodies.

The problem I have with this one is Yules voice. I don't know why Reed deemed it necessary to let Doug sing on some of these tracks. Their voices are so similar and yet Dougs is just so empty and lifeless compared to Lou's.


Anyway, they're the officially released albums during the Velvets' brief five year life-span (we won't go into the whole 70's Stars In your Eyes incarnation). There's also the live 1969 album, which I think was released sometime in the mid-70's. Might get onto that later. If I got my facts wrong, then please correct me.

Any opinions, preferences, dislikes? I'd love to hear them.