The Velvet Underground & Nico

This doesn’t happen to me very often. This record is essential to me. A few years ago, I bought the magnificent LP edition—thanks in no small part to what may well be the most iconic album cover of all time—primarily to hang it on the wall in a nice frame, as a way of saying, “Look, this is part of my cultural baggage. It’s an important part of who I am.” This album is so ridiculously influential in so many ways, musically, stylistically and culturally, that it’s simply a phenomenon. Countless bands with one or more records in my collection owe a debt to this debut by a bunch of misfits tarted up by Andy Warhol, with the German model and alleged singer Nico (Christa Päffgen) thrown in for good measure. John Cale and Lou Reed’s music was unprecedentedly innovative. The whole artistic project—because that’s what it really was, too, even if Cale and Reed were serious musicians who would go on to build long and largely successful careers on their own merits—may well be one of the high points of multimedia conceptual art. In short: wowee zowee. So, on Sunday evening, full of anticipation, I lowered the needle onto side A of the LP. And thought... Okaaaaay... Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood. Maybe I’d been enjoying Oasis and AC/DC, whose records are a good deal more straightforward, a little too much. Maybe I was too nervous about Fortuna’s match. I don’t know. But listening with a clear head and a reasonably open mind, I had to admit that there’s actually quite a bit wrong with the music. Look, the idea of having Nico sing on a proper LP must have come from someone who’d been sampling the drug celebrated on this album (heroin, obviously, in the song, yes, ‘Heroin’, with its deliberately ambiguous title). Her vocal range is genuinely not much more than half an octave, in a register somewhere between male and female, and she manages to use that voice in a spectacularly unmelodious way, too. Marvellous. And to think she went on to release a whole series of solo albums, one of which even turns up on the list: *Chelsea Girl*. Some people just can’t take a hint. And yet... It belongs with this music. Just like the gloriously eclectic bombast of the closing track, ‘European Son’. I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to say that this is where decades of avant-garde music that is simultaneously anti-music were born, right through to noise. Sonic Youth, are you listening? Genius? Yes. But that’s less true of the preceding ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’, which sounds as though someone has made a complete balls-up of the mixing or mastering. The sound flaps about all over the place, making the track an ordeal to listen to. It’s built around John Cale’s electric viola, incidentally, which is, to put it mildly, not exactly the instrument you’d expect to find in your average rock band. Though, judging by the results, perhaps there’s a reason for that. We encounter more sonically questionable nonsense on one of the three Nico tracks: the otherwise rather lovely ‘Femme Fatale’, with its unforgettable, almost comically pathetic little backing vocals. But why does the sound crackle so much? [I checked: it’s not just the LP; the CD has the same problem.] In the same vein, but without the sonic pollution, there’s the fantastic, almost pastoral opening track, ‘Sunday Morning’. Fancy joining me for a Sunday morning lying in the grass somewhere, a blade of grass between our lips, gazing up at the blue sky, with a bottle of Burgundy or Côtes du Rhône for good measure, a nice French cheese, and absolutely nothing on our minds except enjoying life? For once, no need to dress like a Warhol extra or pretend to be on the verge of an existential crisis. A completely different, intensely claustrophobic atmosphere can be found in what may well be the album’s highlight: the almost terrifying, haunting ‘Venus in Furs’. Yes, it’s based on the book by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, perhaps the man who invented—or at least popularised—the bizarre phenomenon of sadomasochism. Here, the viola plays a rather more convincing role, shall we say. At least this time it sounds as though it belongs there, rather than having been dragged in from some avant-garde torture chamber. The already-mentioned ‘Heroin’ deserves a few words, too. Well. I don’t know whether you’d describe the band, usually half-hidden behind dark sunglasses in photographs—with the exception of the, ahem, minimalistically drumming Maureen Tucker—as a bunch of health freaks. Perhaps not the sort of people you’d ask to lead a mindfulness retreat, anyway. That doesn’t change the fact that this, too, is a mesmerising track. It’s no exaggeration to say that the history of music over the past nearly fifty years would have looked different had this album not been released in 1967. The coolness that Andy Warhol, the cultural phenomenon, brought to the project certainly helped. And yet, if this album had never appeared, some other band might eventually have come along and introduced much the same ideas. The problem with albums like this, which I also experienced with Jimi Hendrix, is that you’re so familiar with the music that grew out of them that it becomes difficult to appreciate the source for what it originally was. But I have less of a problem with the Velvet Underground than with Hendrix, because I find this record gloriously ramshackle, but still absolutely brilliant. Just not quite the untouchable masterpiece I’d built up in my memory. Even sacred cows can sound a bit wobbly when you finally get close enough to hear them.

A lot of pretentious nonsense. This is just very much of product of its time. If this were released today, no one would have batted an eye. It isn't annoying to listen to, so that saves it from the lowest score. 2/5

One of those albums that was obviously very influential, but also holds up in its own right. I’d say the Nico tracks are overrated but it’s hard to imagine Twin Peaks existing without them.

I think I need a few more listens with this one. It's just... would it KILL these dudes to add a bridge into their song? A lead? A shake up of the riff? ANY variation at all??

The drone. Its present throughout this album. Sometimes it speeds up or slows down but it is ever present. I see why some think this album is self indulgent, though I don't think so. It was a product of its time sure, but it was more an art project than anything else. It was performance art by one of the great artists, using Nico and The Velvet Underground as their brush.

Call me old fashioned, but I think music should sound good.

Interesting album, but nothing special. Not something I would listen to again.

Some great songs but some I wasn’t keen on. Will listen again to the strokesy ones

Pop, Beat, 1967 -> 2

Man, this one starts off with a strong trio. "Heroin", although I don't like to listen to it all the way through, is art. I never noticed before how much it is "The Velvet Undergound AND Nico" like maybe it's the accent but Nico's tracks feel like a different setist sharing the same bill

not my thing tbh some ok songs

This would go so hard if was 73 years of age

Mixed feelings here. Definitely had bits that I quite enjoyed... "Run Run Run" was good to start with, "Femme Fatale" and "Venus In Furs" were both fairly decent, "Heroin" also started well. Preferred the first half of the album to the second, but the first half suffered from the overly repetitive riffs. The second half had too much of a tendency to descend into raucous nonsense. Didn't hate Nico's vocals, in fact I thought they were quite good in "Femme Fatale", preferred them to most of the other vocals on the album. Not the best vocals ever but certainly don't understand the hate either. Might have scraped a 3 as mediocre background but there were too many bits in the second half that reached the point of being actively unpleasant to make me want to listen to the album again, so drops to a 2.

Sunday morning was pretty good. so far what I would write/listen to if I was stoned on heroin. Not much good since Sunday morning, perhaps not surprisingly, "heroin" was one of the most energetic songs

This has been on my list foreeeeeveeeerrrr but never got around to listening until now. And maybe I'm missing something but it's... fine? Maybe this is an iconic album that's just not for me right now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mess.

Long term fan of Cale and Reed. Never listened to Velvets much but do like the sparcity of the sound. 60 years later Cale is still making great music. Reed had a patchier career, and Nico… less said about her the better.

‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘Venus in Furs’ are just classics and would grace any album. The rest of the album is wonderfully psychedelic. My only criticism is that i much prefer Lou’s voice to those featuring Nico, but overall this is an album that is definitely not out of place on this list

I don’t like Lou Reed’s vocals and, thanks to the Generator, I also know I (really) don’t like Nico’s vocals. So this was never going to go very well. Much like the previous Velvet Underground one we had, this left next to no impression on me. It is for that reason, and that reason alone, that it doesn’t score 1* (and trust me, I did consider it after listening to “European Son”).

I accidentally lost my review before posting it and can't be arsed to write it out again so: Transformer is better. Nico can't sing. 3/5

The start of this is really eclectic and pretty impressive for 1967. Didn't leave as strong of an impression now, but I can see how this was influential when it came out. Favorite Songs: Femme Fatale, Venus in Furs

I could tell after the first couple of songs that this wasn't something that I was going to click with, and tried to just appreciate the historical vibes or whatever. I get this this was probably one of those 'time and place' albums. That said, the more this album went on, the more I hated it. Congrats to the artists who found this inspiring, but I thought it was kind of dogshit. 2 stars for being influential.

I’ve heard this before and I own it. Originally I had this on a tape from a friend in high school, then I got a cd copy in college, which had 2 discs, one stereo and one monitor, along with bonus tracks from Nico’s Chelsea Girl album. So I’m not used to it ending on European Son. This is a favorite album of mine and introduced me to drone psych and art rock, or at least more than Sonic Youth’s Dirty. All around great songs with lots of variety and not a single snoozer or even one that isn’t super good. Also extremely influential in so many different genres. Absolutely perfect.

Wowowow, great album front to back. Nico's voice is so hauntingly beautiful.

Sunday Morning is one of the best "calm" songs I got in my playlist. I love Andy Warhol, I love Lou Reed, and I love Nico's vocals. So it pains me to say...this album's simply just mid.

Nice

I'm sure I've heard some of these songs before, but I have never sat and listened to this album. This is very proto-Punk, proto-No Wave stuff. It's somewhat infantile in both performance and material. Iggy Pop did all of this better. The songs are all varied so it's not boring from an arrangement standpoint. I simply find all of this boring from a songwriting standpoint. I suspect the song "Heroin" is what people revere about this album, but truth be told, Echo and the Bunnymen did it better. Everything on here sounds like it was influential to other artists that did all of it better later on. Will not revisit.

Old favorite. I've grown to enjoy the noisy jangly songs as much as the sweet pop candies on this one. Another stone cold classic.

Everything is wrong in all the right ways

A bit eclectic but starts pretty strong

Was skeptical at first that I wouldn’t like this as much as everyone else because I felt it would be overhyped, but I did enjoy this album a lot on first listen despite not being a huge fan of Lou reed. Definitely worth checking out

So beautiful.

Classic work of "art rock"! (Or "avant-rock"?) Very interesting and surprisingly listenable uses of unusual elements like noise sounds, the viola, and minimalist drone and repetition techniques -- but within a distinctly rock'n'roll style and tradition. In an era that also saw freewheeling musical psychedelia, it stands out that the Velvet Undeground gives voice here to a grittier ("Heroin") urban counterpoint perspective. I should admit that this is an album I already knew well before today's listen!

(7/7) gritty

Better than the velvet underground's other stuff but fuck it's still not something I want to hear again

Not really my vibe

Some songs just evolve to too much noise, but I do quite enjoy VU and Lou Reed

Sunday morning - 4 I'm waiting for the man - 4 Femme fatale - 3 Venus in furs - 4 Run run run - 3 All tomorrow's parties - 3 Heroin - 4 There she goes again - 4 I'll be your mirror - 4 The black angel's death song - 3 European son - 3

A groundbreaking album. It didn't take to the public very well but I like the description somebody said about it. Maybe only 200 people bought this album but every one of them went out and started their own bands. Waiting For the Man and Heroin are my favorites.

This remains one of the most influential albums few people heard when it was released. Rarely if ever gets played on classic rock stations that play music that imitates or possibly learns from it. “Sunday Morning” opens with a breezy sound and fatalistic lyrics about waste and missed opportunity. “Waiting for my Man” about waiting to score in Harlem. “Femme Fatale” with Nico singing as the persona as much as the described. “Venus in Furs” again a drug haze with Cale’s violin torturing the grinding chords of Morrison and Reed. Reed’s vocals so morbidly monotone. The summer of love already falling into drug addiction and lost momentum followed by the chase of “Run, Run, Run” as they follow their addictions into the paranoia of the counter-revolution. Nico again with “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and her gothic voice that would give wind to all the gothic music sails that would follow. These are mostly thematic structures, but then we have the music as well. The barroom upright piano chording behind Cale slow- walking bass lines and the guitar noodling sound (I have no technical term and don’t mean this derisively) as it plays a series of single and double notes that don’t sound like a chord at all. “Heroin” another trip through the drug world. I’ll have to take Lou’s presentation of what it feels like, because I’ve never used. He certainly makes it sound both enticing and desperate at the same time. The misogyny of “There She Goes Again” comes from the voice of the dealer, taking advantage of the lost. Nico singing a beautiful “I’ll be Your Mirror” comes across as a beautiful voice of Exho, lamenting over Narcissus. “The Black Angel’s Death Song” with more Cale violin and Reed riffing lyrically like Dylan. More heroin death wishes/near death experiences that invigorate the narrator even as it horrifies him.

“Well, you smell funny.” Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

A top 10 for me. Probably listen to the whole thing about 3-5 times every year, and some tracks really often. Just really splendid, one of a kind.

Keep them underground. And away, far away from my ears. 1.55 rounded to 2 just because there is so much worse on this list

boring album, but boring good. eh. will not listen again.

If you skip the tracks with Nico on them, this isn't an entirely unpleasant experience.

1960s!!

Not really my vibe but could see how others enjoy it.

I know how influential this album is, but this (what we now call) "indie" style of music has never really been my thing.

You gotta be there for something noisy and abrasive. If you are, then this is quite the record. 1967, if you can believe it. Although I think I might like the second record a little better.

Улачный эксперимент

From the frantic "European Son" to the hypnotic "Heroin", the Velvet's debut record sounds so ahead of its time that it isn't surprising that the general audience weren't ready for it when it hit shelves in 1967. Mature topics like S&M and picking up drugs weren't talked about so directly on rock records before this. Opener "Sunday Morning" sounds like a cute sunshine pop track that is typical of the time, but the harsh production of some of the instrumentation indicates that there is something unnerving bubbling underneath the surface. There are moments of tenderness that Nico brings to the table with her utterly unique voice on the sweet "I'll Be Your Mirror", which gives the listener a break between all the noise and chaos. This might not be one of the easiest listens, but it is impossible to deny it's influence.

Bello, pieno di influenze diverse, blues, psichedeliche etc

i can't in good conscious call this album perfect, but i've been all about it since high school. sometimes it's a little full of itself, some of the songs overstay their welcome. still, its influence can't be understated and heroine is one of the greatest songs of all time

Amazing album, Heroin has always been my favorite song by them, and as far as I know it's the first noise rock song too. Venus in Furs is also great! A lot to love on this album, I know not a lot of people like Nico's voice, but I personally love it. High 5!!!

Very much not in my wheelhouse, but thats ok Best Song: Sunday Morning Rating: 4.5/10 Stars: 2

Pretty good album, especially for it's time. When it came out I didn't like it's glorification of hard drug use, esp heroin, and I have the same problem with it today.

Es gitt sehr Rolling Stones/Beatles Vibes, aber das usch glaub eifach de Rock us dere ziit gsi, sehr fröhlich und au so chli verspielt am afang, hett mich überascht wo him dritte lied plötzlich e frau gsunge hett, komplett andere vibe, viel ruhiger, “venus in furs” gitt au mega so folk/mittelalter vibes mit de instrument, au nümme happy sondern eher bedrohliche sound, “Heroin” isch sehr intressant, will ich zwar nöd weiss wie es sich afühlt Heroin zneh oder addicted sii aber s lied stellts i somene wirbelsturm us guete und schlechte Gfühl dar und isch au teilwis mega schbell und luschtig und teilwis mega langsam und schmerzhaft, au nega viel unagnehmi sounds geges endi ane Insgesamt sehr experimentell, als gesamtes “kunstwerk” guet aber wür kei einzelni songs lose, wird geges endi ane immer unagnehmer

Не особо понимаю всеобщую любовь к этому альбому 6/10

Bien mais mal vieilli je pense

Indie rock ground zero. The original heroin chic.

Overrated type shit

Good record. It's a little bit rough around the edges but falls into that category of music where the playing and singing (Lou Reed sometimes has Bob Dylan's dedication to his own melodies; which is to say, little) seem to rough on purpose. The effect is of something raw and DIY and I can see how this would've been an influence on the early punk movement: it's kind of impressionistic in the sense that the *how* of any particular part -- be it a guitar solo or Lou Reed's vocals -- doesn't seem to matter much. The frantic tremolo picking on 'European Son' (not sure if that's Reed or Sterling Morrison) isn't about the placement of particular notes, but about the fury and the feedback and roughly where the pitch sits against the chordal cadence. The whole album is like that, with Nico's vocals being a bit more polished and Maureen Tucker providing a solid drumming foundation for Reed and Morrison and John Cale (on bass for the Velvets) to flail over. As a work of art, it's highly effective: like the impressionist painters, it's pushing the feeling over the precision of the form. My favourite was 'Heroin', ebbing and flowing as it describes the feeling of injecting the opiate in detail. It starts out placid and lovely and, despite very simple arranging and production, devolves into complete chaos at the end. When you get this influential, you end up getting compared to The Beatles. It's apt for the Velvets: they may be equally hat-tipped by later musicians, just from different genres. Where the Beatles took a lot of American song forms, combined them with their own musical inclinations (which is to say, they worked with McCartney) and polished them until they shone, Lou Reed & company just wrote songs that belonged to those American forms and pushed their content and feeling to the bleeding edge. Where the Beatles (putting out Sgt. Pepper's and Magical Mystery Tour when this album was released) made everything they touched impossibly pretty, The Velvet Underground proved to us that not everything had to be quite so neat and manicured to be effective and affecting and still beautiful. I swear half the time, Reed and Morrison aren't totally in tune. It's a landmark and an essential entry by one of those bands that seems, sometimes to exist as homework for music fans. It deserves its reputation as essential, for the beautifully ugly emotional content, the slapdash-but-effective recording and its dedication to feeling above form. There's a timeless essential truth embodied in this record: if you've got something to say and a sense of melody, you don't have to possess baroque compositional skills to make something of worth. This is great. But I'm probably not going to buy it. It's a landmark but not a masterpiece: it does drag in a couple spots. 4/5

very plesently surprised. moody vibes in all the good ways

Sunday Morning: christmas vibes, I saved it I'm Waiting For The Man: cool metaphor Femme Fatale: liked it, saved it Venus in Furs: interesting but boring Run Run Run: didn't like it All Tomorrow's Parties: boring Heroin: didn't like it There She Goes Again: liked it, saved it I'll Be Your Mirror: sweet, liked it and saved it The Black Angel's Death Song: didn't like it European Son: didn't like it

TOO old, sorry

Ei

I’ve listened to this 4 times now and I still don’t know how I feel. Some hits, and some really miss the mark for me.

Not my fave VA album but I love the Nico contributions. At times meandering and long winded but also extremely cool and captivating on occasion. I’d cut some song lengths and would swap this out for their later self titled record. Gets hard to listen to eventually and I had to turn it off lol.

Classic

What can you say. It's just a mind blowing album on every level. If you hate this then just cross the street. I'm obviously not your sort of person.....

Que no soy yo muy fan de la Velvet, plis... Ya vale

I feel like I *should* like The Velvet Underground, but there's just nothing there for me to grab onto.

The type of album that everyone can get something different from

I don’t think i like the velvet underground

Pretty good!

i love this album but i’ve overplayed it a bit too much for my own good. a near perfect album that i’ve just gotten a bit tired of.

Všetky piesne sú v podstate klasiky, nie je tomu čo vytknúť...

Someone will probably throwing rocks at me, but even though it’s not a harsh listen, I don’t enjoyed it either. Sunday morning was a good entrance, but some chords and the violin was rough sometimes. 2/5. Sunday Morning: 3,5 I’m Waiting For The Man: 3 Femme Fatale: 2 Venus In Furs: 2 Run Run Run: 2 All Tomorrow’s Parties: 2 Heroin: 3 There She Goes Again: 2 I’ll Be Your Mirror: 2 The Black Angel’s Death Song: 1 European Son: 1

Odd ducks. Foundational album.

An album that should be listened to anyone about to visit New York for the first time. Especially if you are going alone or under 25.

This album has so much aura it's crazy Sunday Morning is quite the intriguing track, it has such a relieving tone to it despite it being really about paranoia I think the contrast between the lush and peaceful tone of the melody and the lyrics about regret and paranoia is really good and makes for quite a unique opener. I LOOOVE I'm Waiting for the Man it's such a cool song and definitely the highlight of side 1 for me I love the rock and roll-esque melody and I love the concept W song. Femme Fatale is the first N*co song in the album but it is admittedly really good I like the lyrics on it and I think Nico's vocals really go with the concept really well. Venus in Furs is another standout for me because it starts really suddenly there's no buildup it just kinda throws you into the song, I also really like John's viola in this one (John Cale = GOAT) and the concept regarding sadomasochism are really interesting. Another drug song, Run Run Run is a really fun sounding song with a not so fun concept because it tackles addiction and overdosing and whatnot, good song but it is probably my least favorite song on side 1. All Tomorrow's Parties is quite a unique song, it's about Andy W*rhol but it's really good I think the piano riff and pounding bass drum make up for the fact that the song is still about Andy W*rhol and the Factory. Heroin MIGHT be the greatest song of the 60s, it starts off really simple but then it gets real fucking loud and I like that, the feeling of the music getting real intense during the high and really stale during the sober state is really cool I like that. There She Goes Again is a personal favorite of mine I can't believe Lou Reed stole a Marvin Gaye song for it. I don't have much to say about it but it's a really fun sounding song albeit the subject not being as fun. I'll Be Your Mirror is also a personal favorite of mine I think it's a really soothing song both lyrically and musically surely the next 2 songs follow that peaceful vibe, right? The next song didn't follow that peaceful vibe. The Black Angel's Death Song is a fucked up song, it's the only song in the album with lyrics that don't mean a thing, the whole purpose of this song is to be dissonant and unnerving and while I like that about the song it is my least favorite song in the album. European Son is definitely the most unique song in the entire album in my opinion and it would heavily foreshadow the sound of VU's next album, which would lean more towards noise rock and improvisation. What also makes this song unique is the concept, with this being a bittersweet farewell to Lou Reed's university teacher, Delmore Schwartz, this album did have songs about real people and whatnot but I find this one to be particularly unique because of how it is structured. My verdict: Excellent album when you forget Andy Warhol had anything to do with it.

Very good classic album! Love this actually and was always just kinda of meh towards the Velvet underground

Entspannte vibes, bisschen Beatles-like - passt super zu einem gemütlichen Herbstmorgen (aka a lazy sunday)

OOOOOHHHHH BANANA! This is the first album on this list that I'm actually revisiting. I own this album on vinyl, sticker and all. That being said I remember this being one of the albums I only took a few songs from. Let's see if my opinions have grown since then. Track 1: Sunday Morning. Dreamy, ethereal and trippy. Undoubtedly one of the best album openers of all time...but also not one of my favourites. It sounds nice objectively but for me there's nothing that really keeps my attention. 7/10 Track 2: I'm Waiting For The Man. I don't know why I like this song so much. On my original listen this was one of the stand out tracks and it still stands out for me years later. It just sounds...fun? 8/10 Track 3: Femme Fatale. On the contrary, this song does nothing for me. It's just so...barren. So boring. 2/10 Track 4: Venus In Furs. This song sounds intimidating as fuck yet the lyrics are oddly sexual. I feel like the person portrayed in the lyrics is in danger, yet that's exactly where he wants to be. No other notes. 8/10 Track 5: Run Run Run. I remember this being my favourite song off the album on my first listen and now that I've listened to it again, yeah it's my favourite so far. It totally holds up. From the storytelling lyrics to the distortion in the guitar solo, I love this song just as much as I did when I first heard it. 9/10. Track 6: All Tomorrow's Parties. This one's weird but in a good way...I think? It's slow, cryptic and mysterious especially in it's instrumentation. Prepared Piano and Fretless Guitar accomodate melodic yet oddly unnerving vocals perfectly. 8/10. Track 7: Heroin. Wow. I forgot just how great this song was. The first portion of each verse is almost comforting like you can just fall asleep to it but when each part speeds up it's almost like a bad trip. Something's gone wrong and you can't stop it. You're just there for the fucking ride and if you die, you can't help it! You can barely help yourself! All you can do is take another shot and ride that fucker out, baby! YEAH, COME ON! I'LL TAKE ALL YOU BITCHES DOWN TO HELL WITH ME! YOU DON'T SCARE ME! GOD WORSHIPS ME! SATAN FEARS ME! I AM ONE AND EVERYTHING! ...yeah I really like this song. 10/10. Track 8: There She Goes Again. The most accessable song on the album following the scariest. Another oddly sexual song too but I ain't complaining. Especially with the speed up at the end. I wish we had more of that part. 8/10. Track 9: I'll Be Your Mirror. Eh? Don't really gain much from this track. It sounds nice but that's about it. That's really all I can say about it. 5/10. Track 10: The Black Angel's Death Song. This song is all over the place. Lyrics that don't make sense, weird sounding strings (at least I think they're strings), what sounds like a fucking air pump break between verses, I am not sure what to think of this song. 5/10. Track 11: European Son. I mentioned in my last review I enjoy "breakdowns" at the end of performances. This is that concept taken to it's most extreme. Almost 7 minutes of sonic chaos after just two portions of lyrical content. And I love it. 9/10. Overall this is undoubtedly one of the best rock albums of the 60's and possibly all time. Very little to complain about and a lot to take away. I think I might have a banana after this. Favourite song: Heroin. Least Favourite Song: Femme Fatale. Overall: 9/10. (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

I'd heard some of these songs, but not listened all the way through. I'm ready to be impressed by "the first art rock album". I can see the art aspirations, but also hear a few similarities with other psychedelia of the day (1967 seems to have been a big year for psychedelia). Sadly, the album is quite uneven: Waiting For The Man puts me off early with its repetitive jangle, that's insufficiently minimalist to achieve transcendence; and I don't much like Nico's approach to singing, eg Femme Fatale. But Venus In Furs has a really great sound, Heroin is amazingly classic (for several reasons, not least the viola drone and then its take-off), The Black Angel's Death Song is very attention-grabbing (even after learning that Reed didn't intend the lyrics to mean anything, they were just phrases that sounded good ...). Then there's the closer, European Son - was this inspiration or at least trailblazer for Nirvana's Endless, Nameless, I wonder? (I'm not a fan of either track - but can relate to the whole "how do we finish a good gig" problem.) So, I'd probably replay particular tracks rather than sit through the whole album, but I'd agree it's an album that people interested in "modern popular music" should hear, as part of understanding what lead to punk, new wave, and lots of art rock ambitions. The best songs here pull it up enough that overall it's Pretty Wonderful, 9/10.

The famous banana album. Here have 4 bananas 🍌🍌🍌🍌

I respect this album, but I don’t revisit it all that often.

I feel like I was missing something about this one.

Seminal

The last of the Velvet Underground albums for my review and the best. When I was younger, I used to revere this group but the passage of time has altered my perspective, and while bands have imitated the attitude and style of the band, the music itself remains rather elusive, mostly because the Velvets were all over the place themselves, and never narrowed down a definitive sound, morphing from experimental rockers to soft-spoken crooners in an attempt to obtain some commercial credence when being the cool anarchists didn't pay the bills. But this was, in my opinion, their best effort, where the songcraft and the experimentalism achieved it's highest synthesis. Nico doesn't really add much, though, and there's a distinct lack of polish and control in some of the playing. They'd tighten up on future releases, but they'd never top the Banana Album.

I wanted to like it. Thought I would after the first track. Even the first Nico song was bearable. Overall, though, this just isn’t for me.

It's a really good album. It has that warm crackly lofi vibe that's a comfort blanket. But it's also a ramshackle racket of screeching feedback and off-key vocals. There she goes again is very underrated. I like the kind of droney thing they have going on in songs like Venus in Furs and All tomorrows parties, and the garage rock thing in Waiting for my man and Run run run. The last 2 songs are shite tho. I believe that it would have been better without Nico, but I think that's an unpopular opinion.

Here is another album I initially listened passively while doing something else, and couldn't really grasp why it was lauded as one of the most important album ever released. So I listened to it again. And yet again, if I had been asked when it was released, I would have guessed a whole decade later. Its themes of drugs and prostitution feel way more like the kinds of themes that were explored during the 70s, and the music can be quite experimental at times. A couple songs are a bit underwhelming tho. Some songs are very modern, musically speaking, like "Venus in Fur", but others are boring and pretty classical, despite the themes, like "Run Run Run". Overall an interesting listen, but while its historical significance can't be overstated, it's not nearly as outstanding as it could have been.

My underground is so velvet my velvet is so underground ahhh heroine. Honestly it's like a 3.7 for me but it's gotta be a 4 for the the influence

Just an incredibly influential and psychedelic album. Truly ahead of its time, even today. Goddamn, Heroin just gets me every single time

Sooo good I found a new killer band too man this girly is so hyped

Yeah it’s kinda incredible

Love it. I've never done Heroin, but that song feels like a trip to me.

Cool embodied. Love how most songs are played either quietly or erratically. There’s not really a loud! Instead everyone is kinda doing their own things and not trying to be too much. Amazed at how much they can string together using only 2 chords.

Aversive, erotic, messy, jagged — and yet somehow inclusive, warm, and inviting. From the lyrics themselves to the way it was recorded, this is the most unapologetic, effortlessly cool album of all time, and I’ve worn it out to death. That it also has arguably the most iconic cover of all time is just bonus points. Lou Reed still does not get named often enough among the artists who actually rearranged the century. For my money, he belongs in the same breath as Kanye West and the Beatles.