White Light / White Heat

The fire that fuels the worst bits of Sonic Youth.

The Velvets' weirdest, noisiest, and most varied album, which is saying something considering their debut. Almost every song here brings something new: the humorous short story over angular riffs of "The Gift," the tender "There She Comes Now," the noise freakout of "I Heard Her Call My Name." The chaotic, single-take jam of "Sister Ray" gets deserved praise, but "Lady Godiva's Operation" may be my favorite track given how it juxtaposes Cale's and Reed's vocals. The band would go on to make great music after this, but this was the last time it felt truly revolutionary. Revolutionary it was though, as it pushed boundaries even further than their debut, though without achieving the same pop appeal. One of those albums that feels ahead of its time while still sounding fresh decades later.

Nice!

Definitely different from the debut. I can’t say I really liked it. Too much noise and much too messy.

Some of the sudden singing-to-speaking felt a bit jarring (like in Lady Godiva’s Operation). Not sure this is quite my vibe.

Amateurish playing, amateurish recording. Just listen to the keyboards on Sister Ray, which is hard to believe is the great John Cale. Velvet Underground was always cooler in people's memories than the music they made, and this one probably more than any of their albums. The second song is literally reading a college student's sexually explicit short story written about a middle school girlfriend. Not kidding, look it up. As much as I think this is just not good, I can also see why the album, and the other Velvet album, had such an influence on other musicians. If this is your jam, you are definitely cooler than me. Congratulations.

Whenever my neighbor's kids start to get rowdy in the apartment above me, this stuff goes on the platter. Anyway, if the s/t debut is a makeshift airplane that is finally flying, White Light/White Heat is that same plane going Mach 5 into a nuclear reactor. Honestly, this album was recorded in 1967, and it still sounds fucking fresh. Absolutely commanding, flaunty, unbelievably noisy, and raw, that even my record, which reviews on Discogs mark as being badly pressed, sounds bloody fantastic. You absolutely cannot hate this album. The opener is just noise layered on top of a garage rock track, The Gift is just a short story on top of noise, and Here She Comes Now is a drug-induced noise fest. B1 is fuzzy guitars with Reed going "whoa whoa whooooa" and I love every second of it And then Sister Ray. Christ Almighty. Just listen to it. IT'S JUST NOISY GUITARS AND PIANOS IN DIFFERENT PITCHES AND LOU SPEWING SOME SHIT AND IT'S WACKY AS SHIT YO! Do yourself a favor and listen to this right now. It'll change you I swear. I wouldn't be surprised if this was some CIA ploy to hypnotize people, but I'm fully on board with it.

This was an interesting album especially the 17 min ending song lol very interesting lol not terrible but again just not a huge fan lol

#60 No more of them

Fucking hell is this atrocious. Everything I hate about 60s experimentalism and psych all wrapped into one album. I've already ranted enough on other albums about why I dislike this type of music, so I won't beat a dead horse, but fuck man, this is bad. Bad music, bad singing. I legit don't understand how anyone can enjoy this. Its just straight unpleasant.

Little did they know what was going to happen in Buffalo in a few years

Outstanding, what a band, what an album.

8/10

Too much magic mushrooms, too much Revolution No9 (Beatles, Double White)

Noisy, urgent, cacophonous, intriguing. Experimental sound design. Good use of isolated stereo sounds. Favourite track: I Heard Her Call My Name

where's waldo

2/10 - what a joke of an album, another generic 60s/70s album pretending to be music, and why the hell do we have more than 1 album from these guys, so overrated

Not my favorite, probably #3 in their catalog. But it still kicks ass. 4 "sister ray chaotic" stars.

Didn't like. Too weird and unfocused even for velvet underground.

This is probably fine but not first thing in the morning for me

This one may have rated higher if I listened to it later in the day. The energy didn’t match mine today.

Here She Comes Now great, Sister Ray kinda sick for an 18 minute track

This is the album that made me realize I like Lou Reed’s later work, but not the Velvet Underground. I see Ornette Coleman is an influence, and now I understand why this is some jazz-noise-experimental-proto-punk-“art rock”-bs. 1⭐️

The first song ends with terrible noise. What a shitshow it's about to be. Okay I never expected it to get even worse. My ears are bleeding, this might be the worst "music" I have ever heard in my life. Torture. I do feel physically sick.

I think this is a track-by-track one for me: White Light/White Heat - not really what I expected, generally pretty inoffensive for the most part but also not that interesting to me. Kinda just sounds like a pretty generic rock track. The Gift - spoken word "story". The story itself was kinda dull and the backing was literally just one riff on repeat (with some fuzz/feedback). The issue with tracks like this for me is that I don't see why you'd ever come back to it? The story isn't one I'd need to hear twice and there's nothing interesting in the "music" aspect either. Just a bit shit really. Lady Godiva's Operation - Another story. This one was slightly more interesting from a musical perspective, but the vocals were shit and irritating. It randomly starts using stereo effects and random words are shouted/at a completely different volume which just makes it sound really stilted and weird. Not my bag. Here She Comes Now - Really just nothing interesting here. I Heard Her Call My Name - Fucking awful. The shitness of this track made me angry. Sister Ray - Musically more interesting than the other tracks on the album, but I would somewhat hope that a 17 minute track wouldn't be too repetitive. The overall timbre is quite unique, but unfortunately the actual music being played is largely either average or just actually bad. Also there's basically no variation in the actual sound they used here, so the uniqueness of the timbre wore off about halfway through. The vocals are totally lost in the mix so I have no idea what any of them are, besides something about "sucking on my dingdong", and according to other reviews the track is about a blowjob so I guess that fits. Not a single track here that I'd listen to again, and a couple that could be used as torture. Shit.

I love Lou Reed so much. The first song had a super hypnotic section at the end that felt like sinking into a warm fluffy bed The 2nd song was a wild short story and made me cringe in a good way with how well written it was. I felt very uncomfortable when I realised where the story was going. 3rd song! Interesting, apparently it's based on reed's medical experiences. The voice of the doctor being shouted lends itself to being interpreted as him being scared by the doctor and the hypnotic bit at the end does put me in the same brain space I felt while being on an oxygen machine myself. 4th song was simple and boring, probably would have been better in Nico did sing it 5th song is their most disconnected song so far. This does have a wanky guitar solo but I can't complain about it because it's super cool. Apparently this song is just what their live shows were. They would get a new set of equipment from a sponsor and they'd just improv with it. Wild stuff. Okay 17 minute song go! idk how long I was in a trance for.... perfection I can't believe their self titled album is as boring as it is.........

good

An album so repulsive at face-value, yet marvelous the deeper you dive in. It's the sound of messing around - a mess that results in 40 minutes of grandiose experimentation worthy of a Marty McFly one-liner. I'm not the biggest fan of all the VU's noise experiments - I'm not so pleased with the exclusion of Loaded on this list - but man, I can't deny the power here. I really owe a lot of my positivity towards Sister Ray, but that carousel's been around already. Some props should go to The Gift which I compliment for its story (the music simply a set-piece). Lady Godiva's Operation gets Cale and Reed into a track that dissolves into a brilliant, anxious wreck. And the other songs are just prime noise rock tunes. I imagine somebody's grandpa hating this in 1968. Your kids will love it (9/10, 5/5 on this scale)

This is a really interesting album, more rock than their other 2 and clearly very influential. After 3 albums by the band I feel I'd like to dig into them a bit more. A lot is experimental and I love the creativity.

Great VU album, some very noisy post-punk. It's not as replayable as other VU records but very well done stuff

I realize I really do like weird. Never heard this before. So glad this project gave me a reason to. 4 Boolean: TRUE

As influential as I'm sure it was, this was not my favourite Velvet Underground album

Yay, another Velvet Underground album. "WL/LH" is my second favourite album by them. (Their debut is the best) The album gets straight into the action with the title track. Unfortunately, it's also the worst on "WL/LH". "Sister Ray" is great for a 17-minute-long track. 4 stars for "White Light/White Heat".

la música de the velvet underground siempre me da una vibra distinta a la que me da el resto, a pesar de que no son mi banda favorita SI que tienen algo.

So was this the inspiration for the end of Se7en or

The "singing" is atrocious and the sound quality is shit. Things are very cacophonous and annoying

Elegant.

2/5 i was okay with this until it turned into garbage

this album is pretty interesting like much of The Velvet Underground's discography that I've heard. Andy Warhol was fired as the producer for this album but still produced the album art. The compressed distortion on the last song (17 minutes) became the prototype for distortion on punk rock and noise rock going forward. the recording style was based on the band's live sound. the topics for this album from the late 60s touch on sex, drugs, and drag queens (basically the template for modern rock n roll). it's a wild album that feels paradoxical at times in the best ways.

algumas músicas legais, outras irritantes e uma música de 17 minutos sobre pagar um boquete. definitivamente, um dos álbuns já feitos.

I enjoyed this. I have come to relaise that I do actually quite like this era of music. Its so experimental and it pays off. I really enjoyed the Gift.

The Velvet Underground are truly a unique group. There's something captivating about having a tight song structure underneath a lot of chaotic noise. Didn't connect with me as much as I wanted on a first pass, but probably becomes more rewarding with subsequent listens. Equally fascinating and challenging. Top tracks: The Gift, Sister Ray

Well that one was interesting. Hadn’t ever heard this album. Some strange ass lyrics. The Gift is wild. Didn’t see that coming. Definitely worth hearing. Am I gonna put this again? Unlikely, but that doesn’t diminish its artistic value. Velvet Underground is just a fascinating group. I wish I’d been old enough in their heyday to have gone to a show in a club in NYC to have witnessed them and the scene.

I respect this, but wouldn’t listen again 😊

Didn’t really enjoy

1968 art rock White light/white heat Sister ray

Proof that we can all just get on a mic, spout some bullshit, and be remembered as one of the best bands ever. Whole lot of time wasted here but a couple of ideas and moments do really rip. I heard her call my name is strong.

The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat (1968) On Day 280, this milestone spin delivered an undeniably abrasive sonic assault, yet it proved deeply compelling from start to finish. There are proto-heavy metal elements running through the wild, feedback-drenched guitar tears on "I Heard Her Call My Name," while the deadpan stereo experimentation of "The Gift" and the clinical unease of "Lady Godiva's Operation" stand as fascinating feats of pure anti-music. The title track sets the blistering pace immediately, but the absolute peak of the experience is the unhinged, 17-minute marathon of "Sister Ray." (yes that 17 minutes of sucking on ding dong 🥀). Finding an extended, two-chord noise jam about street depravity and organ distortion this hypnotic might seem unusual, but the relentless momentum and sheer refusal to play by traditional pop rules make it impossible to look away from. An unapologetic, groundbreaking landmark of experimental noise rock. A fearless 5/5.

I hated this album

It's either a work of genius, or the sound of a band doing the bare minimum to produce something releasable. Or both. In context, however, it's closer to the 'genius' end of the spectrum - it came out at the beginning of 1968, and sounded like nothing else. Uninterested in being commercial, or even listenable in places, it could easily be dismissed as an over-confident art project, but if the concept here is to point people at albums they really should hear, it's right up there - a lot of the music of the next few years makes no sense unless you've heard this racket. Even 'Sister Ray' - how far could they push this idea? Way beyond when they should have stopped, but that's the point.

Either every person in every band that ever had a single chart bought a copy of a Velvet Underground record, or they are wildly over-rated.

exhausting

One of my favorites - bring on the noise and I’ll devour it.

If there are gonna be three VU albums on here (and there should be), you need to add Loaded and ditch this one. Like I know it has "Sister Ray" on it and everything, but it's really their worst work.

I like the velvet underground I know so I imagine i’ll like this as well. Nowhere near as good as there self titled pretty underwhelming.

Didn’t like and skipped some songs

Always really liked the Andy Warhol album, but this is just nonsense.

I’ve always considered the Velvet Underground to be the true counterculture band of the counterculture era. While everyone else was doing their version of psychedelic rock, these guys were out there pushing the sound of the late ’60s in much stranger directions. They weren’t always interested in regular song structures, everything had this rough and noisy quality to it, and you can already hear some of the early moldings of punk starting to come through. For that reason, I actually found the first half of White Light/White Heat pretty interesting. There’s spoken word, distorted guitars, weird experimentation, and just this feeling that the band was completely doing its own thing. Even when I wasn’t necessarily loving what I was hearing, I could at least appreciate how unusual it must have sounded in 1968. Unfortunately, that started wearing pretty thin as the album went along, especially when it came to all the noise. And my God, did that final track not need to be 18 minutes long. If you’re not completely on board with what the album is doing by that point, “Sister Ray” is a freaking chore to sit through. Holy crap. There’s a lot I appreciate about the Velvet Underground, and I respect albums like this for how willing they were to experiment and completely ignore what a rock album was supposed to sound like. But there’s definitely a difference between appreciating something and actually enjoying listening to it. Sometimes this worked for me, and sometimes it really didn’t. Hopefully the other Velvet Underground albums I know are on this list will land a little better. 3 out of 5.

Great, close to a five. Really enjoyed this album!

I'm a VU fan, and I don't think they got their due, there's a generation who don't know their music at all. While I don't think this album is anywhere as good as their 1969 self-titled album, it's respectable. "The Gift" with it's 8 minutes of talking and "Sister Ray" at over 17 minutes long are just self indulgent. "Lady Godiva's Operation" is just weird and the mix is awful. "Here She Comes Now" is more inline with the sound I know (the Nirvana cover is a good one). The album sounds super dated, it's sloppy at times, the song lack the hooks that were on previous albums, no hits, etc. Not what I would consider a classic must hear album, so I don't think it deserves a spot in the T1001.

too weird

oribil - o stea

ugh...

Had its moments, but I likely won’t revisit. I really liked The Gift. The rest was okay.

I listened to this for the first time earlier this year so was familiar with it which helped. It doesn’t have the balance of VU and Nico, but it captures the chaos of the time and has a rhythmic quality I enjoyed.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I’ll preface this by saying that this is probably an important record and so belongs on the list as the experimentation here and use of noise as texture is something that I’m sure many have been influenced by. It was all just a bit too messy for my liking though, and feel went too far beyond the fine line of challenging enough without sounding unfocused, poorly played, and with little impact as a result.

decent but i'm not depressed

I understand the importance of the influence here, but this wasn't my thing.

They still sounded like the future

Too avant-garde garde to jam too

Noise

Nothing here but some ok words

"Not *another* Velvet Underground album, please. Dear God!!" But, I tried to be the bigger person and at least give it a fair shake. I was listening to this while getting ready for work. As I had on "Lady Godiva's Operation" and it was about midway through, I was stepping out of the shower. Suddenly, I heard a harsh man's voice yelling "Sweetly!" As I am a female, alone in the house, it quite literally scared the bejeezus out of me. A few seconds later I heard the screaming again, and this time realized it was overdubbed on the song. (Go to 2:51 to hear for yourself...it's quite unsettling.) The rest of this album is weird, "experimental," (aka: weird), and in my humble opinion, crap. I seriously don't get the hype.

Uhhhhh this ain't for me lol

Not my favorite VU. After a while the guitar noodling sounds like someone's playing with their ding dong. Best track: Lady Godiva's Operation Rating: 5/10

Not for me. Their first album has some classics. Don't get it- probably helps to be off your face in the 60s!

White hot!

You should need to ask the guy at the record store if he has a copy of White Light/White Heat hidden in the back. Like buying condoms or slipping an X-rated into your rentals from Movies Unlimited. This record should require i.d. before purchase. Blowjobs, sex change surgeries, shooting all sorts of drugs, transvestite orgies and barely veiled references to female orgasms all accompanied by overamplified guitars and the occasional avant-garde viola riff. White Light/White Heat lives up to V.U.’s reputation as THE transgressive band in rock history. They reportedly were disappointed in sales of their debut as well as Verve Records’ efforts to promote the band. If that is true, they were the most delusional band in rock history, because no sane person could have expected big sales for this record in early 1968. The feedback, short stories turned into songs and lyrical “shock” leaves little room for what made The Velvet Underground a great band. The droning strum that made Velvets a great dance band shows up for a bit on the title track, but not really elsewhere. On many other records, Reed wrote with such tenderness about the same people who appear in “The Gift”, “Sister Ray” and “Lady Godiva’s Operation.” This time he is more of a rough documentarian in exposing this world to the neophytes. Those songs often were tender ballads with great melodies that White Light/White Heat does not include. Reveling in the noise occurs for me. The Velvet Underground has too many other qualities that I enjoy, but do not show up enough on White Light/White Heat.

White light/white heat - 3/5 The gift - 2/5 Lady Godiva's operation - 4/5 Here she comes now - 1/5 I heard her call my name - 1/5 Sister ray - 1/5

Giving this a high score purely for the longer songs on here. Sucking on ma dingdong fr fr

Meh

eh ... i can tolerate the banana album in very small doses ... the rest of the catalog aged like fine milk. meh at best.

pretty good album, definitely took a bit to get used to the noise rock sound, probably my 3rd favourite in their discography. solid 9/10. first listen tracklist ranking: 1. Sister Ray 2. White Light/White Heat 3. Here She Comes Now 4. Lady Godiva’s Operation 5. I Heard Her Call My Name 6. The Gift

I was on the fence between a 2 and 3, half the songs are decent while the other half are outright weird and/or bad. I understand that it’s “artsy” but it doesn’t make it an enjoyable listen. After talking it over about “The Gift”, it was fun and memorable enough to give a 3

#47 / 1089 Heard before? ❌ Revisit? ❌ Feels like demos made with the boys, bit none of those boys know what they're doing. Musically I can hear similar things than on some of the other proto-psych albums of the late 60's. But to be quite fair I'm a bit let down with this one. Few of the last tracks had some of the "total freak out" vibes, but sounded basically like shitty recordings of a 60's brit rock fanboys. I'd rather listen to Can. I feel it's a weak 3, while 2/5 feels a bit low.

I used to think highly of The Velvet Underground with its association with Andy Warhol but it's only gone downhill since the last album. Unfathomable how this was included when so many more deserving bands like Toto or the Doobie Brothers don't have a single one

Nothing impressive or that i would listen to

Intressant på gränsen till påfrestande

Intressant men ibland lite för experimentellt.

Ballt men inte supersvängigt.

I listened to this a fair amount of times, considering that I really really like their debut album and I was hoping for this to hit the same way, but after so many tries, I don't really enjoy it as much, although it is a very solid and entertaining album. The opening track "White Light/White Heat" is a very good way to start the record, having these very pleasant sounding voices, both the lead and the backing ones, with the melodies of the latter getting easily stuck in the head by repeating the words of the title. The energy is also very fun and the most notable aspect is the rough production which is basically the double edge sword of the whole album. Everything is very distorted, with a lot of the things happening in the background getting almost buried or being incredibly muffled, like the cymbals in the first song or the electric viola in the third and forth songs. The good part is that this very crispy quality gives the album a very peculiar sound that specially works in the most avant-garde and experimental moments. Back to the songs themselves, after the very catchy introduction comes "The Gift", the second lengthiest song that narrates a very interesting tale about a guy sending himself in a box to her lover. The story itself is entertaining to listen, and the first time I could actually follow the whole lyrics I found the ending to be quite shocking. However, once I knew the whole narration, the song lost a lot of its magic, as the music itself doesn't offer anything truly impactful, with the voice being spoken words and the instrumentation just groove that is placed behind. As a side note, I once decided to listen to the mono version of this song and it is actually surprising how better it sounds, making everything substantially clearer. The following track is "Lady Godiva's Operation". What I liked about this one is its very cute pleasant melodies, the absurd description of a presumedly lobotomy and the sounds imitating different elements in the operations room, like the hard breathing imitating a respirator or the drums feeling like a heart beat (I think it is the drums). The next one is "Here She Comes Now", a very short and gentle piece. It may not have anything as weird as the previous ones, but it is very pleasant to listen to. Then comes "I Heard Call My Name", one of, if not the most, energetic parts of the album. The drums are fast, Lou Reed's voice has a nice attitude and tone, the backing melodies are quite catchy and it is filled with incredibly distorted, harsh and incoherent guitar solos that makes the song a very chaotic and fun experience. Finally, the record ends with "Sister Ray", the big moment of the album that unfortunately happens to be one of my least favourite ones. The reason why is me not being a big fan of long jams, although this one is very possible one of the best ones I've heard yet, thanks to its chaotic nature. Just like the previous track, it features very distorted and rough sounding solos, although this song being 17 minutes long, it has even more solos from different instruments. It is fun but I also believe it drags a little bit. Ultimately, this is a great album. I do wish it sounded just a bit more clear and that the last song wasn't as long, yet it stills very fun and memorable.

WTF did I just listen to? and why?

Lou reed fingers his bum with a fork

A pleasant listening experience, full of distortion and a rambling Lou Reed. What more could you want? Perhaps some tracks that you could truly pin as 'great', but beggars can't be choosers and all that. I liked the majority of it. Favourites: The Gift Here She Comes Now

The Gift is a little tedious, but overall I have to give this album five stars. I just can't imagine a world in which this album doesn't exist and in particular, Sister Ray is an all-timer. I hope people will still be listening to this in a thousand years.

3-4/5 SHE TOO BUSY SUCKING ON MY DING-DONG Sister Ray in itself is just an EXPERIENCE. I don't know whether for better or worse, but definitely an experience. Do I think it was a bit too long? Yes. Still, an experience. Lady' Godiva's Operation is really solid, and so it the title track. This is just the 60s in a nutshell ngl; We got heroin, we got rock, we got sex, we got lobotomies, this is just a 60s time capsule. And at only 6 songs my interest never really waned, aside from Here She Comes Now, which is just the title repeated basically. I think Imma give this a 4, considering I liked it more than 'Fear of Music' but its the kind of 4 I'm rarely gonna listen to again, but you know what? That's okay. But I do think everyone needs to hear Sister Ray atleast once. For an album that is completely NOT my genre, I have to say I didn't expect to like it this much, but I do have a feeling if I keep listening I will just get sick of the fucking guitars, they are SO LOUD. But yeah-

Wasn’t totally clicking as much at first — I think this is my first time hearing it — but it’s really cool, obviously very influential but also very weird!

Totally enchanting, just a feral, raw and exciting record... i can't believe time... how did this come out in 1968.. frick man

I used to enjoy The Velvet Underground. Now I dread the albums that the list is going to toss at me with barely coherent drugged up execrations. I couldn't find anything here that wasn't a disappointment.

I understand that VU became important because they, and primarily Lou Reed, ventured into unoccupied musical territory and expanded the sensibilities of rock music. That said, I never listen to it. It's not enjoyable, impressive, or a vibe I can relate to. Crappy singing, crappy playing, just... blah. I'm sure this gets is share of five and four star ratings. Can't do it.