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Post by Rit on Sept 18, 2005 12:30:45 GMT -5
This page is for Velvets.
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Post by Weeping_Guitar on Sept 18, 2005 16:15:24 GMT -5
1. The Velvet Underground
2. The Velvet Underground & Nico
3. Loaded
4. White Light / White Heat
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Post by maarts on Sept 18, 2005 17:07:45 GMT -5
1. Velvet/Nico
2. Velvet Underground
3. White Light/White Heat
4. Loaded
Would've listed Peel Slowly And See as number one if it had been listed but since that's an expanded version of Velvets & Nico, it doesn't matter.
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Post by Rit on Sept 18, 2005 19:28:35 GMT -5
coolness.
I think the VU&Nico album is best too. For years i told people that WL/WH was the best one, but that sounds merely outrageous. It's a hell of an album, but it doesn't have the impact/vision of VU&Nico.
There's very little about the Velvets that seems subversive. Sure, they sang about homosexuals, sado-masochism, transvestites, needle-pushers, sycophants, and death, but that's just the surface sheen. The root of it comes from a very humanist stance with life-affirming values. They didn't seem to have the aura of rockstars - they just came from a very different mindset.
Along with Bob Dylan, they defined the most lasting values of the entire decade. Although Dylan provided the model for conscionable youth with deep roots to liberal humanism, he also had an unsettling apocalyptic tendancy for viewing society as an eternal Present immanently under threat of Last Judgement. His determined pursuit of cultural relvance went as far as it could (1966) before imploding in on itself, due almost entirely to his own inability to believe in the socio-myths he was constructing.
This is where Lou Reed and Co step in. Bob Dylan provided the first model for integrated Skeptical humanism in modern pop culture, in that his very output saw no other kind of culture - refusing to even recognize Entertainment as a category. Yes, he had hit singles, but they seemed to come on his own terms, just Dylan being himself, and because he was a horny young man, he could pen raucous rockers and tender ballads alongside his crypto-apocalyptic sermons on the disrepair of society. It was all of a part - the fullness of Dylan's inner continuity, a man for all time.
Reed's world view is also similarly all-inclusive, but without the apocalyptic tendencies. First, back to basics: the Velvets seemed fully formed, right from the first shows, and definitely from teh first album. There was no immature rebellions, no showy anarchism, no trite State dissent, no flowery poetics, no idealistic paeans to world love -- just a razor sharp fully-conceived Vision of society as community through action and not words. In that community, if you have real commitment, you talk about its edges where the concept of community (as with everything else) blurs -- this is often the most interesting, most illustrative, and most intrinsic parts of the concept as a whole. You don't talk about the shiny plastic surfaces, not if you are truly trying to articulate what is important to you and to your audience.
The Velvets were not perverts for the sake of being perverts - - they weren't even remotely close. They were the band with the most well integrated philosophy of the entire ramshackle Sixties. They sidestepped all the major trends, fusing their own ideals and observations and interests into an artistic weave which embraced the best and most universal values -- so resplendant, that they are the ONE BAND to have resonated strongest out of the Sixties, with EVERY suceeding generation.
Myopia blinded much of the rock audience to their worth during their own time, but as distance and perspective gathered over the years, the Velvets have slowly moved to the centre of the Rock and Roll canon, by dint of their own worth and merits. They'd even eclipsed the Beatles position by the 1990s. In-fucking-disputably.
Their 4 recorded albums output infinitely rewards time and time again. The sheer humanism and scope of what they stood for and accomplished remains breathtaking to this day.
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Post by Weeping_Guitar on Sept 18, 2005 21:00:54 GMT -5
Wow, that's an awesome little write-up there, Rit. thumbs up and all that.
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Sept 18, 2005 22:09:10 GMT -5
I have to say I think that Loaded is probably my favorite of all their records.
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Post by kmc on Sept 18, 2005 22:43:20 GMT -5
I voted for White Light, White Heat. It's a toss up for me, I guess, between the s/t 3rd album and WLWH, but the triple threat of If She Ever Comes, I Heard Her Call My Name, and Sister Ray send me to air guitar peaks like no other set of three songs.
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Post by strat-0 on Sept 18, 2005 23:12:18 GMT -5
It's not a Velvets album, but I think Rock and Roll Animal is the best thing Lou ever did. I know I will catch flack for that, but that album just rocks like no other.
And I do not agree that the Velvets have eclipsed the Beatle's position in-fucking-disputedly. Not by any means. Nice writeup otherwise, though.
But I must say playing our cover of Sweet Jane in the Mojos was one of the most enjoyable things we did, for me. And was it ever well received! Always. The funny thing about the tune is that there is a melody in it which begs to be sung - Lou didn't, but you can hear the melody in there nonetheless. I lifted that sweet closing solo from the Mott the Hoople version just about note-for-note, which is a joy - the way it floats like a butterfly! Then I added a few of my own flourishes and we ended it with a big payoff. I once broke my foot coming down on a leap on that ending! Played the next night with my foot in a cast. That will really put a cramp in your style!
(BTW, the Mojos covered exactly zero Beatles tunes!)
La-la-la-la, la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la,
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Post by strat-0 on Sept 18, 2005 23:23:48 GMT -5
(Actually, I think it was Gypsy Queen I broke my foot on... But it could have just as easily been Sweet Jane - I did some flying in that one, too. Our usual closer was a medley that started with Third Stone from the Sun, and then went through a lot of good stuff - Allmans, a little Peter Gunn, you name it, ending with Hendrix' Gypsy Queen. Man, I miss playing that shit.)
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Post by strat-0 on Sept 18, 2005 23:24:42 GMT -5
Where's Rocky?
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Post by rockysigman on Sept 18, 2005 23:28:34 GMT -5
Ahoy.
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Post by strat-0 on Sept 18, 2005 23:53:55 GMT -5
About time! ;-)
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Post by Kensterberg on Sept 19, 2005 0:26:43 GMT -5
I voted for the self-titled, which I think is all in all the strongest set of songs the Velvets ever had, which is saying something. I would put VU+Nico and Loaded right behind, with WL/WH bringing up the rear.
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Post by Mary on Sept 19, 2005 0:33:42 GMT -5
1) VU & Nico
2) The Velvet Underground
3) Loaded
4) White Light/White Heat
...I can understand how the third album might seem like the best overall set of songs they ever wrote, but that first album is just so damn revolutionary, I can't in good conscience put anything above it. I mean - "Heroin" - nothing touches that song. Nothing.
On the other hand, I'm going to risk eternal damnation if Rocky Sigman is really God posing as a 20-something guy in Michigan, but I never really liked White Light/White Heat much at all. It's not just at the bottom of the list - it's waaaaaay down there.
Cheers,
M
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Post by Dr. Drum on Sept 19, 2005 7:55:25 GMT -5
Hey, how about this little gem!?!   1. Velvet Underground and Nico (Mary’s comments helped convince me that this cannot be denied but I really, really love The Velvet Underground, too, and probably play it more than anything else.) 2. The Velvet Underground 3. VU (Tho’ it’s not a Velvet’s album proper, I think the 'Great Lost Album' would have been quite something! "The Ocean"!! "Foggy Notion"!!! My second most played Velvet’s disc.) 4. Loaded 5. White Light/White Heat |
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