White Light / White Heat

‘The Gift’ was insidious and perfect. Reminded me of Tom Waits’ ‘What’s He Building?’

I don't know how to rate this one. I love the Velvets but this has always been my least favorite. First of all, it sounds like ass. Then again, I think making it sound "better" would actually make it sound worse. I was surprised at how much I was digging Sister Ray today, as it's never one I want to listen to, but it kind of swept me away. Anyway, I wish Loaded was on this list instead of this one.

Do Ilove Lou Reid,? Yes. Do i hate his whiny bitch ass voice at 9 am? Why yes. That too

Like a good workout, it takes a while to really take off. In spite of the opening track. Still, most influential. If not the most listenable.

I expected to like the album more than I did. It was okay but in no rush to listen to it again.

3.5

It was enjoyable, but I think they have many much better albums and songs

I only listened through Sister Ray, I didn't do all the alt takes and lives as that felt like asking too much of anyone but die hard fans, but I did enjoy the first six tracks! A little overindulgent even for my taste to have a song about a handjob that is 17 minutes long but there were some enjoyable parts otherwise. The spoken word piece was interesting

I may rethink this but right now can’t go above a 3. I love the title track but the gift is just not musically interesting and sister ray is fine to listen to in the background but so so long. May have been a 4 if I wasn’t listening on an airplane.

Ok but I like Lou Reed much better on his own.

This was better than I thought it would be but still not for me. "Sister Ray" felt shorter at 18 minutes than "The Gift" did at 8. That one was unbearable for me.

Fairly good, but the 17 min song was not.

Certainly not as accessible, and for me not as enjoyable, as their other work. The Waldo story went on far too long, as did the final song. The Waldo story I would not have missed if it wasn't there, and the final song would have been better for being a lot shorter, it didn't go to enough places to warrant its length.

Favourite tracks: sister ray

I respect this band a lot more than I like them. Especially this album, I have a hard time getting into it. If I’m honest, I have to go with a 3. Just like that Nick Cave album, Hüsker Dü, MC5, and other ones I’ll come back to. Not for me today.

Drew me in with its odd atonal random passages. Kinda became too random as the album went on and was hard to listen to

One of velvets more experimental less approachable records. Can see a lot of sucide on here.

As with so much of VU/Lou Reed’s output it’s probably more influential than it is interesting or good. Not really something you want to settle down and just listen to.

stars calm but after a spoken word bizarre story turns into a highly experimental album with noises that arent always nice to hear but interesting for sure

Felt very experimental, chaotic song to end the album, and I have a feeling “the gift” is hilarious second listen needed for that song. 7/10

Je suis encore à pondérer si j'ai aimé ça. Je peux comprendre comment cet album est autant polarisant. Autant je suis fasciné, autant je ne suis pas sûr d'aimer. J'ai l'impression qu'il ne faut pas être à jeun pour apprécier au maximum cette musique. Clairement l'impact que ça a du avoir doit être immense. Je pense tout de même que certains passages ont plus mal vieilli que d'autres. Malgré mon indécision sur l'appréciation de cette oeuvre, c'est clairement le genre de truc weird que j'esperais découvrir sur ce site. Un autre album qui mérite amplement d'être réessayé. 6/10

Didn’t like it as much as I remember. Definitely too random noisy and experimental for me but I enjoyed parts of this.

It's hard to stomach a dumb spoken word track on a six-track album, but when they just play (and there's no electric viola), it's magic. Unfortunately, that's only half of this album. Best track: Sister Ray

It’s Velvet Underground!

I am often somewhat dismissive of Velvet Underground but I was really feeling the groove today. I dug it! 17 minutes is still too long for a track though.

Side 2 was far too thirsty for me, it was actually distracting. I'd probably revisit the first four songs, though.

Joku tarina pääpiirteittäin luontuu ulkoa toisto.. jos ylläpito kysyy... Objektiivista siis....

This is like shoegaze but in the 60s. The production on this is very noisy and compressed. I guess VU was playing very loud at the time and it couldn’t be picked up on the recording equipment? Not entirely sure. Pretty decent record nonetheless. Probably influenced a ton of records to come after it.

Was it groundbreaking/influential? = yes. Is it any good? = No. Is it enjoyable? = questionable.

Couldn't rate it higher. The audio quality held it back. It couldve just been the version I listened to

Mikið sem mig langaði að hlusta á þessa plötu í 10. bekk, svo heyrði ég hana og skildi hvers vegna hún fékkst ekki víða. Live Bowie coverið er mun betri en originalinn (honum hefði líklega ekki fundist það), en það er samt ágætt. Lady Godiva er líka hresst, en hitt eru aðeins of mikil læti fyrir mig.

Soft, and i love the old scratching effect that comes with old albums. 3/5

generally like lou reed and VU but this just feels really hard to get into with the poor production. Kinda sounds like the worse songs from VU and nico are expanded to make an album

I really like some of these songs. I really despise the others. The Velvet Underground definitely have a distinct sound, not that I enjoy it, but it’s certainly original. I admire the risk of experimenting they took, but, personally, it was just all over the place. 3/5

Not a fan of Lou Reed, but something about the raw nature of this really resonated with me.

3.5..................................way to experimental for my taste

En ocasiones rock más pesado, guitarreo intenso, voz característica, inicios del rock tal como se conoce hoy. Le falta algo más de armonía y disparidad de ritmo

3/5. I can see the appeal for sure but it’s not amazing. There is a swagger to the music and the instrumentation is the best velvet underground stuff. The issue is the songs are not repeated listens. You get what they’re going for after the first time. Best song: White Light, The Gift

I think their previous is head and shoulders above this. More interesting songs (although The Gift is pretty hilarious) and a bit more for the ear to latch onto instead of just noise/fuzz and dissonance. 6/10

Для меня не более чем просто еще один альбом в каталоге культовой группы... Даже как экспериментальное не воспринимается, для меня сильно сырое и гаражное - не значит экспериментальное.

I said, "I wanna be a singer like Lou Reed" "I like Lou Reed," she said, sticking her tongue in my ear This Pixies lyric is mostly to blame for why I like Lou Reed and, by extension, The Velvet Underground. This album, I barely like this. Just barely. But ya know, it's Lou Reed, so it's fine with me. Was it just me or was the whole last song about somebody sucking on his ding dong? That was pretty cool. Would put on in the background again.

Very interesting music, but blends into the background at moments

massa uns mas meio experimental (discurso em meio à musica), não tão agradável

Much prefer Loaded and Nico. This is jammier and get who they inspired as a result of it.

It was a good listen, I liked their sound. Felt kind of like live music, but in studio form.

On first listen I thought it was alright, not great but listenable. Second listen some tracks were just a din ! 3*

Listened to this during quite a stressful morning and found that with all the spoken word it was too much... only an after work re listen I thought it was fine.

Great tunes and noise.

It's interesting until it's annoying. I think more than anything, the Velvet Underground offer a glimpse into a sub-culture

The rock is good. But a seventeen minute song is fourteen minutes too long. I got ADHD, ain't nobody got time for that.

Well, this was an interesting listen for sure. I'm usually not a fan of the random garage rock esque playing of the more Avant Garde style of music, but there was certainly stuff here that I enjoyed. The story of "The Gift" kept me legitimately enthralled for the whole eight minutes, and stuff like John Cale's voice was very enjoyable, which was surprising after really only knowing Lou Reed from this band. I mean, this has a lot of issues, definitely, so don't mistake my praise for enjoyment, a seventeen minute song is almost always unnecessary, and this was no different, and not much was actually notable, like a case of trying to be too artsy with no real direction, but I could definitely see the enjoyment here. Gotta give it right down the middle, but I will admit this is perhaps my closest to the four stars of all my three stars? I'll have to fact check that for myself, but it seems right to say.

what the... c'était quoi cette album de velvet underground !? Pas du tout comme les autres. Est-ce que c'est moins bon, non. C'est vraiment différent mais il y a un certain charme dans ce bordel. 3.75

Pretty out there. Not as good as their debut by I like the rawness of it all

Interesting

I don't think I'm cool enough to be blown away by them. I really want to be, I'm just not.

A classic, but doesn't reach the highs of the 1st or 3rd records.

This sure was something. Very experimental. I've had an interest in The Velvet Underground, so it was nice listening to this. Not what I expected, but decent. I still enjoy John Cale's voice quite a bit. The Gift was a nice little story. I could definitely understand why people wouldn't like this, as sometimes it became a bit much for me. But, I liked enough about it to give it a 3. My favourite song was Lady Godiva's Operation.

Its fine 3/5

Love the way The Velvet Underground experimented with styles and technics. The lyrics were very controversial and absurd, especially for that time. They just went a bit over the top with the distortions.

This somehow goes from possibly their most accessible song to their most unlistenable with a lot of chaos in the middle. There's a lot to love here, but also a lot of pretty horrible unnecessary feedback, and some dire mixing (Reed's vocals in Lady Godiva's Operation in particular are so jarring)

I like the last song being about someone getting a blowjob for over 17 minutes. but this album isn't my cup of tea, some good songs here but I don't think i'll be coming back to this again.

The aural equivalent of spinning out on heroin. Dark and discordant, perhaps too much for its own good.

Their 2nd Album. Quite different from their debut which I liked very much. Standouts: Sister Ray Others: The Gift, Lady Godiva's Operation, Here She Comes Now Rating: 3/5

Seguramente no sea conciderado como lo mejor de la Velvet pero este disco tiene algo que siempre me gustó mucho, y es que durante gran parte del álbum aparecen muchas melodías y sonidos que intentan ser agradables y dulces pero el caos, casi constante de los instrumentos, no los deja llegar a ese punto. En la version 2013 del disco, aparecen 7 canciones más y en ellas el caos paulatinamente va desapareciendo, se va tranquilizando, se agota por sí solo hasta llegar al último track, "Beginning to see the light" que en realidad aparecería en el siguiente y tercer álbum de la banda.

The Velvet Underground's first album is griity, raw, and unpolished, but hints at greater things to come.

I know it's the classier album to like, but this one seems a bit of a triumph of difficulty over substance. It's by no means bad, and Sister Ray is obviously a classic - though for 20 minute epics, the suite on Lou Reed's Street Hassle does it better for me, I feel like you could cover everything worthwhile in Sister Ray in 10 minutes. But it's just good in my mind.

The Velvet Underground was a good band but in this album I cannot to see the best songs.

eu gosto muito de velvet underground. a musica deles tem aquela barulheira que de alguma forma acaba se resolvendo no final, e que deixa a musica nunca enjoativa. e esse album não é diferente, o problema é que na minha opinião esse album tem exagero na tal barulheira, sendo assim, é o que eu menos gosto de todos os albuns deles. mas mesmo assim, um bom album, com algumas musicas nada atraentes e outras muito boas. não da pra dizer que existe alguem no mundo que sente e escute 17 minutos de sister ray, lady godiva operation ou the gift. mas a outra metade do album é muito boa. SHES BUSY SUCKING ON MY DING-DONG!!!🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🗿🗿

Some tracks way overblown. Disappointing

Idgi maaan

Lou is a fucking clown and I love it. Like, have you heard his vocal on 'Lady Godiva's Operation'? Comically daft. Elsewhere, they do their ur-band thing, sullying previously unsullied corners of drone, monotone, and the poetic-prosaic. Their music refelcts an era that hasn't happened yet, but once it's been and gone, those reflections will prove to have been staggeringly astute.

Is this meant to be an example of the struggling sophomore release? Anyway, I don't know. Sister Ray is pretty good.

Harder VU, missing the mark for me

Музыка необычная и в своё время благодаря концерту Петра Мамонова про Незнайку я узнал о треке The Velvet Undrerground под названием Gift из этого альбома. Как раз он здесь есть. И эта монотонность нравится. Но в целом... Не так сильно цепляет. Долго это слушать тяжело.

Ni fu ni fa.

Pretty good but not the best VU album

The other Velvet Underground album we've had was fantastic, but I'm a lot less enthusiastic about this one. It definitely had some good moments. But the horrendous production really doesn't work for me. Lady Godiva's Operation would be pretty nice, if not for the really weirdly mixed vocal lines thrown on top of the track and I Heard Her Call My Name was a chaotic mess.

Ding-dong, Lou Reed et al calling.

the prototype art rock album. it's easy to forget that one of the founding members of the famously new york velvet underground is a welshman. it must have confused the shit out of the americans hearing a welsh accent telling that story. i've got welsh ancestry and the welsh accent still confuses me.

Art rock

Raw

Beginnt recht harmlos mit eher konventionellen Songs, und geht dann über zu nois lastigen Feedback Bonanzas, mit dem classic Velvet Underground Drone. Ein song klingt wie die Blaupause zu The End von den Doors. Find ich schon geil, aber The Velvet Underground & Nico find ich nicer - Nico geht ab und die Mischung zwischen on-point und abgedreht funktioniert dort besser.

I like the Velvet Underground a lot, but this is far from their best work, and a pretty questionable inclusion on the list. Lou Reed's (?) interjections on "Lady Godiva's Operation" seem like he's trying to tank the track!? Fave track - the title track probably. "Sister Ray" is fun too...

Review this album its a very hard task, since it`s not so revolutionary, but it's still classical. It is too much noise, but not absolutely experimental. I don't know, but this album is an interesting experience, even when I'm not capable of any type of a real analyze.

A lot for a Monday morning. Totally manic, 13 minutes of Sister Ray sounds like two trains on the same track steaming toward a head on collision but never actually making contact. I feel bit ill.

Big fan of VU first album. First time listening to this, really enjoyed it too, though is a harder listen, very experimental some of the songs are a bit messy. But can see massive the influence VU had on music.

Not as good as Loaded or Banana, but still solid

Not bad, not memorable. A lot of the chords through the songs all sounded the same.

Met vlagen lekker, soms ook weer een beetje teveel van het goede..

Er zitten dus echt geweldige tracks tussen al die herrie en ik vind die gekte ergens ook wel tof, maar dit kan je toch met goed fatsoen niet meer echt briljant vinden...

Def liked transformer better. This gets a bit weird, especially the 18 mins of him talking about getting his "Ding dong" sucked. Musically it's spot on.

Haiku Tuesday: Music vs. Noise “Sister Ray” may save the day She can’t win the war

I get it, the velvet underground changed the game and was super influential. I'm thankful for that, but it still doesn't hit me as much more than a novelty. Not something I'd want to listen to most of the time. I feel I'm being generous with the 3 only because I know I've given objectively worse albums a 3 too.

I usually don’t like weird artsy rock but this seems so genuine and original I find it really endearing. “The Gift” was probably my favorite of the track here.

The Gift is the standout track here, but probably only for the first time of listening. Doesn't lift the rest of the album up above being mediocre, especially on subsequent plays.

not a banana cover album but this wasnt the best at all lol

I bet I’d like this more if I had some of what they were smoking… repetitive hippie music. Plus I’m pretty sure track 2 is just the vocalist reading a smut story. Not really my cup of tea, but listenable/ignorable.

not at all what I was expecting after the first song, and while I can appreciate the artistic merit and experimentation, it's not for me, at least after a first listen

OK, bad recording quality.

For those who say that metal is noise, this is noise. Never been too much into LOU Reed, but this is ok

I expected to hate this one, but not so much in the end.

Some screeching is fine, but there are limits... this pushes the boundary a points. Some of it is fun.

Zugegeben ich Habs ned ganz ogheard

couple of really good songs - the rest was pretty nice as background music

Pretty good actually. Probably wouldn’t be someone I’d listen to more but the songs were actually quite good.

Mir fehlt Nico hier. Teilweise ist es mir dann doch etwas zu abgefahren. Here she comes now mag ich am Liebsten und ist m.M.n. auch am ähnlichsten zum ersten Album mit Nico.

A couple of good songs but I found the album quite stressful to listen to.

Good instrumentals

Old sounding but good. The song "the gift" was particularly fun. 0RS

3.6 - Self-indulgent at times, especially during the spoken word track “The Gift” which drags on too long. Interesting early examples of guitar feedback that work well especially on the last couple of tracks that at times sound like noise rock and metal. One of those records that probably serves as a touchstone for many musicians and genres.

5.5

This was a lot. Stomach-churning at times. I guess that was probably the intended effect and I honestly enjoyed parts of it. 6

Good representation of VU style, a little rough around the edges and can get kind of repetitive. Highlights: -White Light/White Heat -Sister Ray

7

Mucho proto de muchos lados, sonidos estridentes que marcan gran influencia en la música de 20 años después, hay un par de rolas que llegan a saturar demasiado el oído (sister ray) pero no por el ruido sino por la mezcla de ritmos asincopados.

The distortion on this album is why every kid wants to start a rock band. The genius of this album is it sounds like it was mixed and recorded in an old cement basement. Just raw music without letting studio guys kill it.

An album of two halves. At first I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think I liked velvet underground. But was enjoying some classic 60's rock/prog rock. The last half got a bit too discordant for my tastes though.

Not my favorite VU album, but it has some good music but is a bit too avant garde

Not sure why I never heard this before. It sounds awful but at the same time sounds amazing. Weird.

A lower tier VU album, more noise than melody

Bad sound quality, some good ideas but in the end this album is not one of the good ones of velvet underground.

Okay, this is quite an old album and so it doesn't have the most exciting vibes, but it's okay as a background listen. It was overall quite chill, but at times a bit too repetitive.

Not the biggest fan of the velvet underground but this was ok

So much better than ‘Nico’, but that was a pretty low bar. Musically interesting…most songs felt like a decent jam session but then run through the distortion machine to make it experimental for the sake of it. There’s a good album in there somewhere fighting to get out.

Niin outo levy, oudolla mikki ja nauhoitus tekniikalla etten oikein voi tälle hirveästi pisteitä antaa

I thought this started ok, but it dissolved I to a bunch of people who clearly consider themselves to be very cool and just do anything they like regardless of value. I think the talking story track killed it off for me, but they had the opportunity to win me back and didn't take it. I didn't hate all the instrumentation, but I just didn't enjoy the songs.

Aside from the lead track, and the humor of track two, I'm lost.

The Velvet Underground's most abrasive record arrives as a deliberate act of confrontation — louder, noisier, and less interested in conventional song structure than almost anything being made in 1968. The historical importance is genuine. The listening experience is punishment by design, and not everyone is required to enjoy punishment. The title track is the accessible entry point — a structured pop song underneath the distortion, a straight amphetamine rush that shows what the band could do when they wanted to. Everything after it moves progressively further from that concession. "The Gift" is eight minutes of John Cale reading a short story in one stereo channel while the band plays in the other, which is either a fascinating experiment or exactly what it sounds like. "Lady Godiva's Operation" adds dual overlapping vocals to the strangeness. "Sister Ray" closes with seventeen minutes of noise that requires a specific kind of commitment this record never quite earns. "Walk on the Wild Side," "Sweet Jane," and "Perfect Day" are great — but those belong to a different Lou Reed entirely, the accessible melodic version that this record has no interest in being. A two for the version that showed up here, honestly delivered.

Absolute bollocks.

Got very excited for this one, I had a VU phase in HS. They really are a band that laid the groundwork for everything to come after it. Despite that, some of this is hard to listen to. The Gift is spoken word with distorted guitars, not great, but the instrumental jam is good in isolation. Here she Comes Now was good, i like the wind instruments coming in and the guitar parts. sister ray was a good jam. Now a lot of this is just noise, which is why i cant like it. Appreciate it, dont like it

Some sort of concept I don’t understand

Bad

I have never been able to get into this band.

What is this? It's weird. It's artsy. It's not fun to listen to. The audio quality is atrocious. Did not hear much to redeem this.

**An ok album

A bit too raw and unpolished for me

*45 Jeg forstår ikke helt, hvad det skulle gøre for mig.

Synes virkelig heller ikke at det her var særlig fedt

Tja, det vildeste ved det her album er nok, at det er fra 1968. Samme år som The Incredible String Band og Johnny Cash i Folsom Prison, som begge allerede har været på listen. Det her er jo så markant anderledes, at det føles som fra en helt anden tidsalder. Men den tidsalder er så også veloverstået nu IMHO. 2.3

Favorite songs: White Light/White Heat, Lady Godiva’s Operation

This was not velvet, and should stay underground.

Me rompió bastante los huevos.

I did not need to listen to a 17 minute song about a blowjob before I die.

White Noise

I like VU but this one didn't do anything for me..meh at best 2/5

Je chie sur ma guitare personnellement

Sorry but I like their more radio friendly music better maybe that makes me basic but idgaf I don’t need to hear John Cale or whoever talking for 15 minutes about nothing

4/10

Wow, this is a long album of kinda boring songs.

Not my vibe

YOU’RE BUSY SUCKING ON MY DING DONG… this probably should be a 1 because it’s mostly just guitar noise that’s up its own ass, but I have enough respect for Lou Reed as an artist not to banish it to those ranks.

Oh dear

I need to rate something so that they don’t make my account inactive— I listened to this with Yuthika a few months ago it was definitely an experience!! Experiential in the sense that it’s experimenting how long people are willing to put up with bs!!! Still fun though

Maybe a pioneer in noise, maybe punk and grunge benefit from this record, but to me it just feels like a mediocre job at mixing and production. I guess in most artistic evolution we're going to see it get ugly before it gets pretty. My complaint: historical significance doesn't make it an album I have to listen to. I would've been happy to read about this while I listen to other Velvet Underground records. 2.2/5

From all the hype about VU I wasn’t impressed by this album

Oddly boring while trying hard to be interesting. Too much bluster with not enough substance.

Musically almost quite nice, but the vocals are annoying. And "Sister Ray" at the end messes it up even more. 1,5

Artsy fartsy but not pleasant to listen to. Guess they got the sound they wanted, but it wasn't something that I wanted.

Too many (them) or not enough (me) drugs to appreciate this one, especially the 17min closer

Apparently I made the mistake of listening to this one without whatever drugs you're supposed to be on if you want to enjoy it

Listening to this record felt like a roller coaster ride: I enjoyed some moments, lost my nerves searching where that squeaking sound was coming from, and one of the tracks made me jump several times. 2.5/5

I don't see the appeal

Rubbish

White Light/ White Heat - 3/5 The Gift - 2/5 Lady Godiva's Operation - 2.5/5 Here She Comes Now - 3/5 I Heard Her Call My Name - 2/5 Sister Ray - 2.5/5

it was okay, nothing spectacular but i enjoyed it.

Alright but forgettable

Pretty underwhelming for a Velvet Underground record. The whole thing felt a bit aimless and noisy for the sake of it, which I’m sure is the point and probably influenced countless bands I do like. Still, I much prefer their debut or Loaded to this.

It’s alright I guess

It’s experimental. I mean, that’s like The Velvet Underground’s whole deal but wow. I did learn that Here She Comes Now is a TVU song and not an unfinished Nirvana demo, so there’s that. I liked that song but didn’t really vibe with the rest of it.

Wierd. Don’t get the motivation but the execution was good if noise was the goal. The story was the best part, the rest was just fine. Not my favourite velvet underground album, will need to read more about why it’s so highly regarded

Oh so when they play like shit it’s considered art and an album you need to hear before you die but when I play like shit I’m told I’m “ruining the vibe” and that I’m “out of the band”. I’m sick! Loved the bedtime story I got during this album though.

Not much of anything

Purposefully ugly and unpleasant. An extra star for the undeniable influence on grunge.

Pretty mid nothing too good.

more rocking than experimental. Good cover song. the rest, not that impressive.

The Velvet Underground, avant guard in the extreme. I thought I'd like it more. I tried listening to it sat working, I tried listening to it out walking, commuting, shopping. Perhaps it's an album that can only be appreciated when doing literally nothing else, but my generosity towards it has been spent and I'm moving on. It's best understood as theatre I think, it's certainly not pop music in any traditional sense. I remember seeing Kieren Culkin doing a tribute band called the Pizza Underground in the naughties and thinking it was a hilarious if talentless bit. Now I realise the parody was more accurate than I could ever have known, I just didn't have the context of this album, a collection of sprawling, hypnotic, tuneless yarns told over the same few chords chugged out for 17 minutes. I think it's safe to say, it was a one time experience, and I can't recommend it.

sounds like drunk chaotic whailing, appriciate the caos a little but goddam

The gift was a cool concept song, but otherwise the rest of the album is a lot of noise. 4/10

The songs are too long, the production is too compressed, but there’s no doubt that the distortion is where punk found its anchor.

Tough one for voting. It sounds terrible, However you can hear the influence on others. Covers of these tracks sound better than the originals. A reluctant 2*.

Nothing incredible.

Oof. As much as I like other music of theirs, I don't want to listen to this again.

Macabre and unfocused. Probably a statement of its time, but I'm not sure I'd listen again.

Not their best work.

Its definitely worthy of a nod. Deep seedy NY City psychedelic vibes on the opposide side of the hippie free love psychedelic sounds coming from California. Lou Reed, John Cale and Velvet underground always deserve the respect they garner. However, I don't think it takes a scholar to spot a weaker release. This is an okay album. Dilly dallies around and melody or structure and although it was tthe style of the time. Something greater could have been made with these bones.

Meandering pointless psychedelia. Still hadn't figured out what they were doing.

2

Ugh. I enjoy some Lou Reed/Velvet Underground hits and other albums in small doses. This one is grating and insufferable, and I'm just not in the mood today.

Well, now I know why so many people say they can't stand the Velvet Underground. I've always thought of myself as a big fan but after listening to this album all the way through I realized, no, I'm a big fan of two of their albums, but this isn't one of them. Reading a bit about the production of the record, it was interesting that members of the band disliked its sound intensely. Me too. The fact that it gets put on all-time great album lists is just preposterous.

< the Beatles

Sucks ding-dong alright.

Maso

The Velvet Underground right? Aren’t we supposed to hold them in high reverence? Well that album with a banana on was good and probably groundbreaking for its time but truth is apart from that and on the evidence of this I think we’ve been had. 2/5 7/4/26

Definitely didn’t get this.

Music for pretentious and manipulative men. And it doesn’t even sound good.

Maybe this is an album for someone else, really not my vibe. The last track I really tried to finish, but it’s like 10 minutes too long, maybe it’s too important? Just not mine thanks. Two star.

Im not cool. I like a lot of uncool music and this album is definitely seen as cool I do not like it at all. Maybe im jaded from being 1011 into this list. I liked some of their other albums This does nothing for me at all

All attitude, barely any melody — just noise, chaos, and a whole lot of heat.

Some was ok, but mostly didn't care for it at all.

Sounds like an early jam album. Not blowing me away like Sister Ray may have said, but still good. Sounds like they had more fun making the album than I did listening to it.

I wouldn't exactly choose to listen to this ever again, but I do see the way that it influenced newer music. It honestly feels more like horror music, with a super disconcerting vibe. It's atypical for horror music to have lyrics, and I find that interesting.

This a kinda weird lo-fi album. Kind of a low budget version of Rolling Stones. Sorta rambling and repetitive. Maybe I’m not ready. 2.0/5.0

This was a tough one to get through. The raw, abrasive sound wears on you pretty quickly, and honestly, better production probably wouldn’t have helped; if anything, it might have made it worse.

What a Bi-polar album, some nice spoken word passages broken up with some Tinnitus inducing guitar screeching which shows up on later songs, and one actually good song on the whole thing, being Lady Godiva’s Operation (and the short song after that too). I think i just may not like TVU all that much.

Fine

Absolutely shredding for 15 minutes about getting some top

I normally love The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed... But not this album.

A messy, distorted racket that mistakes noise for innovation. Any supposed genius feels like Emperor’s New Clothes hand‑waving.

It's cool to admit that you like this one, but it's a hot mess and hard for me to listen to. This ain't no Rock and Roll Animal.

I find Velvet Underground very hit or miss and this was more on the miss side for me.

There is absolutely a distinction between experimental music and music made for the sake of experimenting.

Noise rokkia, ei nyt huonointa sellaista. Pystyn käsittämään viehätyksen ja levyssä on oma tunnelmansa mutta ei oikein lähe. Mutta tän levyn juttu ei onneks oo pelkästään se että se koittaa olla vaan mahdollisimman äänekäs ja häiritsevä. Parhaat: Sister Ray

2.5/5

never been a fan of either VU or LR

Blind album, know the artist. This album makes me wish I didn't cause this was probably the worst album I could have heard by them. I hope there are others that are better.

While I love their name, I don’t love most of their music.

2 out of 5 Noise rock is one way to put it. Too artsy fartsy.

I’ve always held Velvet Underground in pretty high esteem but unfortunately it seems my opinion was mostly based on the cool name. More musicianship that most punk bands but it’s not for me. Not unpleasant at all but I don’t see myself coming back

Interesting music which I could identify numerous influences from other bands or which influenced other bands. A little repetitive at times, but I just couldn't get on with the vocals. Some was too drab and I just didn't get the spoken dialogue in The Gift at all.

Interesting album. I can’t say I really liked it, but “The Gift” had me on the edge of my seat.

Je comprends le bail mais j'ai pas apprécié le bail, Lou Reed a bien fait de lancer sa carrière solo... Comment ça un son de 17 minutes ils se sont pris pour Pink Floyd

I found this album to be a really tough and sometimes hard to listen to. I know it’s said to be a "groundbreaking" or "influential" step before punk and noise rock, but that didn’t make it any easier to enjoy. It felt like my ears were being attacked, with rough distortion, unclear sounds, and a clear disregard for regular melodies. From the startling, panned words in “The Gift” to the intense 17-minute instrumental cacophony of “Sister Ray”, it felt like the whole album was just trying to push boundaries. In the end, all the noise and confusion were too much, I found the harshness to be physically tiring and the lack of connection confusing. It’s an interesting piece of history, but as music, it’s something I don’t want to listen to again.

Some of the songs are listenable. And some....are just downright fucking dreadful. Jesus.

Busy suggin on his ding-dong

Ear rape Fave track: Here she comes now

Is it ground-breaking and brilliant - or is it abysmal dogshit? Somewhere in the middle of Sister Ray, I figured out which one it’s closer to. 2/5

Production quality is poor and makes it a hard listen. The gift is predictably grim farce.

I don't really get Velvet Underground.

Not as bad as the other velvet underground - still not my favourite though. Had a twinge of mothers of invention- if maybe mothers of invention had a twinge of them. Felt bad for Waldo :( . Specific rating - 2.1 Fav song - here she comes now Least fav- I heard her call my name

White Light/White Heat I Heard Her Call My Name

This was better than the banana album but I still don't understand what people like about this band.

This was way too underground for me

artful dissonance. conceptual album. passes for high art.

Allegedly musical geniuses at work….. I guess the fact that it’s just noise and distortion is the point, but it makes for an unlikeable & unlistenable mess. Can see in the year it was released that it was perhaps way ahead of punk and can be revered as such. But it’s definitely nothing I would choose to play again. 2

Extreem taaie listen dit

Totally spaced out through this whole album. White noise.

nao curti, mto diferente pro meu gosto, músicas estranhas demais

Alright. Enough of this era. I appreciate the experimentation and was laughing out loud at the gift but come on, it is not enjoyable.

Finding it very hard not to rate this a 1 and move on, but I enjoyed it enough that it wasn't as miserable as the other 1 star albums, so it's a 2.1/5. I have a very consistent history at this point with The Velvet Underground. I just can not stand this band unfortunately. I tried, but I could only listen to this one completely once and then I just had to have a pallet cleanser and listen to anything else. The worst part is that I really do love Lou Reed. I just kind of hate his early stuff like this. This is the second album I've rolled by them, following the banana album, which I had heard good things about and I was at least able to listen to throughout the entire day, but bound rather boring, unmemorable and just unremarkable. My issues with this one stem a lot deeper. What the hell is up with the sound quality here?? I feel like it's on purpose, but this entire album sounds like it was produced from the perspective of a bit crushed blender. It's choppy, hard to understand, repetitive, art for arts sake and sadly it just kind of sucks. I think anyone who really enjoys this album might just be either an ENORMOUS fan of this band, or are simply pretending to sound like they're better than everyone else. God damn, this one was rough. Begrudgingly, I'm going to give my favorite song to "I Heard Her Call My Name". This album narrowly avoided getting one star, and I'm just super not interested in listening to the third and final album by The Velvet Underground whenever the bot decided to spring that on me. At this point, I'm fine with it being sooner rather than later just so I can get it over with. If it's my weekend album I'm going to be upset though. We'll see, I'm rambling again because it's difficult for me to praise a single thing in this album. The guitar playing is fine sometimes, that's all I got. Ciao for now, more tomorrow.

121/1001 First listen. Don’t do drugs kids. 3/10

Highlight: Lady Godiva's Operation. In a nutshell: tame Velvets. The experimental edge is still there, a little lo-fi. Not as many "wtaf is this?" moments compared to TVU&N. Overall: 3/10

Yet another oldie. Right after In the Court of the Crimson King, no less. I haven't listened to this Velvet Underground record, though I did listen to & Nico a long, loooooooong time ago. It was the 29th album I've catalogued on my Rate Your Music, which isn't an accurate figure given that I bump the listening dates on my profile around all the time. Anyways, I don't really recall what these guys sounded like. I recall them having a raw, heavy sound and being controversial for their subject matters, but that's about all that I recall. I'm not sure what this era of the band will sound like now that they've presumably parted ways with Nico. Probably same old same old, if I'm guessing. This was certainly a Velvet Underground record. It has that bassy, underproduced sound that I recall, but I don't remember the music being as frantic or as erratic as it was on this album. The guitars are solid. The early tracks have some solid hooks, a nice bit of kick and some neat growl, though as the album dragged along I felt that the guitars became too abrasive and harsh for my liking. Apparently there are other instruments on this album, though I honestly didn't notice them. The blown-out guitars engulf absolutely everything, which isn't necessarily bad as they'd likely be the strongest aspect of this album regardless. Lou Reed is an adept vocalist, though John Cale is more of a mixed bag. He sounds strangely Indian for a Welsh bloke. Can't say his segments worked for me. I salute this album for being short, but Sister Ray was a bit of overkill. Overall, not my thing, though I guess I respect it. Book time. Sold less than their debut, but is the more ambitious release. The rest of the entry has absolutely nothing of note. Wikipedia says this album is "lyrically transgressive", was recorded in a very short time frame, was partly improvised, is influential within punk, shoegaze and noise rock for its experiments with guitar distortion and was ignored by critics at the time, but later received acclaim. Yeah, these seem like solid qualifiers to me. I cosign this inclusion.

This project is saving my money - I’m no longer compelled to by “great” albums on reputation . Experimentdul . It’s like giving a bunch or art students recording equipment and hoping for the best -an avant- garden version of the 1 million monkeys experiment

This album sucks ding dong. 4/10

Lofi in the late 60s is crazy, low replayability

I like Velvet Underground a lot. Like, a lot a lot. This is not one of their good albums, though I can respect the vision.

Meh

This felt like I was the only drunk/sober one at a party. First it started off fun and making sense (White Light/White Heat). Then we got a little paranoid and crazy. Then went off on tangents and telling stories that people can't really follow and finally we got a little angry and started fighting over something that nobody really understands. And here I am the sober person that just wants to go home and have this party be over.

idk how to feel about this one 4/10

Didn’t really enjoy the distorted sounds

This never really was my kind of thing. I appreciate the artistic nature of it. I'd only ever heard the punchline ending of "The Gift", so I was happy to hear the whole thing.

I think I’d pass on this one again. Not terrible, but not that interesting or enjoyable. 2/5

If you weren't into the Velvet Underground after listening to a few of their albums on this list, I'm not sure how this one will sway you to be honest. Definitely the most experimental I've heard from them, which is saying something given the impact their previous album. I see it as noisy for the sake of being noisy, which I never care for. I won't argue that this likely inspired noise rock and shoegaze for the next few decades, but my compliments stop there.

The VU are cool, and I’ve always thought I was cool. But maybe I’m not because I found this fairly boring. There is great guitar work and Reeds voice is always like a twanging nerve in a good way but the art gets in way of the music

Drugs have facilitated some of our most precious art. Also, this. Drugs has some work to do to make up the deficit.

Everyone who rated this above a 3 has made Lou Reed their whole personality. The opening track was fine, then the Avante Guard shit starts up with that lo-fi noise rock behind it. not my thing but you do you. and whats with the 17 minute song about a handjob?

Late 60s rock, psych rock. Extremely rough around the edges, distorted recording, band wasn’t happy. Kond of cool, lots of talking over guitars. Rambling songs. Quite messy and short.

The Gift was a fun one to read the lyrics but overall I did not dig this album.

A drug-fuelled trip. Echos of early punk.

Title track enjoyable.

I haven’t listened to this album in maybe 20 years which is crazy to think. I know this is a definitive Velvet Underground album, but I think it’s just ok. The title track is excellent and I love ‘Here She Comes Now’. But that really is about it. This album is ok, I think it really suffers from being less music and more art.

an album full of people who can’t play their instruments fronted by a singer who can’t sing. never liked lou reed and never understood why he was so arrogant.

I like a lot of the VU’s work and dig some of the riffs here but there’s just too much feedback here.

The gift was really bad. Some others were the good kind of noisy, but didn't really like the album Will I listen to again: 12%

Too noisy for me :[

I didn't mind the seventeen-minute final track, but side one was pretty terrible; some laughably bad bits - like Lou Reed coming in loudly on the final words like a demented Beastie Boy. The production on this is not great; you can barely hear the drums.

The problem is, I have to actually listen to it.

“It was absurdly simple He would ship himself parcel post, special delivery” An eccentric and chaotic record which laid the foundations for art rock as we know it today. This was a really tough listen as someone who has never really responded brilliantly to the more avant-garde side of rock music. I enjoyed the narrative of “The Gift” and felt a palpable sense of dread as the story reached its grisly conclusion. I struggled with much of the rest of the album and really don’t think that the guitar playing is as exciting or interesting as others seem to. I have seen some online compare it with Hendrix which I think is borderline insulting. Still, the album has clearly had a profound impact and influence on a number of artists who would follow and it has its merits in places. Just not quite for me.

White Light/White Heat - A little more 60s than I expected. The contrast of the slightly cheesy vocals against the fuzzy guitar and explicit drug talk was fun. The Gift - I liked the backing track but I just didn't care about the short story and John Cale's not a terribly captivating speaker. Lady Godiva's Operation - John Cale's not a terribly captivating singer either, apparently. The alternating vocal thing is abrasive in a not-very-fun way. Here She Comes Now - It was fine. I Heard Her Call My Name - Lots of rough distortion, lots of feedback, but mixing technology hadn't progressed far enough to make noisy lead guitar sound good yet, or if it had, they chose to make it sound like shit. Aimless sloppy shredding for most of it. Sister Ray - Not as pointedly unpleasant to listen to as the previous track but they came close. A long song about a drugged-up orgy where they murder a dude. Transgressive, obnoxious, barely music at times. I understand that the Velvet Underground were pushing boundaries and experimenting. I understand that people were still figuring out what rock and roll was and this is a very important, influential album on the road from psychedelic rock to punk and basically any genre that starts with "alt". Alas, it sucks shit.

This is pretty weird. Really experimental. Some of it works, but also some of it doesn't. Like "I Heard Her Call My Name" is not good. Too much of it is a miss for me to really get into this album. Overall, it's not good. "Sister Ray" is musically interesting but just goes on for too long with bad repetitious lyrics that are cringy. It could be the best song on the album, even if the song was still about sex. It just crosses a boundary that takes it to uncomfortable listening and bad vibes. Favorite Song(s): White Light / White Heat

"Noise Album" is an apt description of this album.

Best Song: White Light/White Heat. Short, sweet-ish. Worst Song: The Gift. Listlessly reading off a mundane story into one ear while unrelated music plays into the other. A jarring listening experience. Overall: Milquetoast sixties psychedelic rock made slightly worse by some truly terrible sound editing. The vocal insertions on "Lady Godiva's Operation" sit so far outside the music they're ostensibly supposed to be a part of that I initially thought I had another tab playing music.

Read up on it, makes sense why they think people should be listening to this but it just wasn't good LOL. I mean to be fair, I've never listened to anu of their other music but this just didn't do it for me. Like the last song thats like 17 minutes just had me feel like I was goin crazy when I realized how long the song lasted for. The first song was chill but nothing crazy about it. Second one called "the gift" was very interested, reminded me of a song from a musical the way the focus was on the story telling in a normal speaking sound instead of singing

Probably half of their album budget went to drugs

Not my favourite of theirs

Very interesting. I love story songs, like the Gift. Some real weird guitar though.

Loved ‘The Gift’ Loud clashing guitars not for me, too chaotic and overstimulating, I lose concentration and it just sounds like noise to me.

Not bad but I don't like it

Another influential album that's notable for its place in history and how it laid the groundwork for other genres. An interesting listen but I don't do enough drugs to consider going back for another go at any of it.

Feels like the entire album is made up of mixing two songs together and seeing what comes out. I can definitely tell how this would inspire future rock music and I think there's a lot of interesting melodies on the album. But a lot of it was just kinda cacophonous to me and I struggled to keep up. Cool concept album from a historical context, but hard for me to listen to.

This album probably hits pretty hard when you're high as shit and you're playing with a stereo mixer. Favorite track: I Heard Her Call My Name

Music for douchebags who wear hemp backpacks and berets. First song was good, but it devolved from there into literal talking about nonsense over a beat, droning vocals when stupid Lou Reed actually tries to sing, and loud noise rock with no rhythm. Fuck Lou Reed.

Piece of alternative history, not exactly very musical

A lot of talking with background music, which I hate

Some fantastic storytelling. Some horrific guitar tone.

Sorry, I don’t do drugs

Considero este o mais fraco na discografia do Velvet Underground. Além de uma péssima qualidade técnica, esteticamente me incomoda a opção por sons carregados e distorcidos.

Borderline unlistenable. Seemingly intentionally. The Gift is just…awful.

It might be influential but this album isn’t very good.

Aika kauhee.. Välillä vaan niin tylsä ja sitten ihan sika outoja sanoja ja vaan puhutaan ja random muutenkin.

Bit too much random noise

Ugly, monotone and uncontrollable, pure anti-music. It's a deliberate middle finger to the listener. I kinda respect them for it, but I will never ever listen to this again. I listened to this after first hearing their self titled album (third album), I did not expect this! Best song: Here She Comes Now Worst song: The Gift Cover check: ???

Weird and annoying. Title track is good though

Ehhhh

influential? yes. my cup of tea? not so much.

Not their best...

Songs are too long and I didn’t enjoy the talking.

This hits all the notes one would expect of a Velvet Underground album, but other than the title track (which has many better versions recorded later, in my opinion), nothing here feels really timeless. A lot of it sounds like the kinds of sound experiments bands were trying in the late sixties in order to expand our concepts of what music is, but that we now just listen to with kind of puzzled expressions on our faces.

Too much guitar screeching

This kaleidoscope is getting hazy