Velvet Underground | The Velvet Underground | Album

Velvet Underground "The Velvet Underground"

LP (NEW) - Vinyl, Universal, Europe, 2015, 0602547038678, 180g Vinyl, 45th Anniv. Reissue, Incl. MP3 Download

The Velvet Underground is the band's third studio album, originally released in 1969. It is also the first to be released without Jon Cale, music avant-gardiste and artistic counterpoint to Lou Reed. The legend for this album is simple: after the wildly experimental White Light/White Heat, bandleader Reed was tired of making noise. He wanted to record something accessible. So the driving creative force behind that record, John Cale, was exorcised from the band, and Reed hired Doug Yule, who would play bass and organ on their new release. When The Velvet Underground came out, it had almost no impact. Upon release, it failed to make the Billboard Top 200. This is the one way that the record resembles its predecessors. Because what accessible meant to Lou Reed was not what accessible meant to the music buying public. This “accessibility” is undermined by the pace of the record. The Velvet Underground is slow, which is the most noticeable quality on first listen. Almost half the record is under 100 BPM. And the songs that are more upbeat? They have finely observed, existentialist lyrics like “Some kinds of love, Marguerita told Tom/Between thought and expression lies a lifetime.” Of course this had no place on the radio. A thoroughly brilliant album.

Artist Website: velvetundergroundmusic.com

More by Artist: Velvet Underground

Related Artists: Lou Reed, John Cale, Moe Tucker, Nico