Thursday, March 23, 2006

Taste the whip, in love not given lightly
Taste the whip, now plead for me

Favourite Albums, #4 (previous entries: The Clash - London Calling, John Cale - Music for a New Society, Beck - Mutations)

Apparently, Brian Eno once said something like: "only about 1,000 people ever bought a Velvet Underground album, but every one of them formed a rock and roll band." This may have been an overstatement, but it speaks to the enormous influence that the VU have had and continue to have on music.

The Velvet Underground & Nico, the first release from John Cale, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, Maureen "Moe" Tucker, and Nico, is a fine album. The AllMusic Guide says: "Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground and Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more than 30 years after first hitting the racks."

Cale's droning viola and unusual keyboards, combined with Lou Reed's inventive and provocative lyrics, make the music stand out from most other music. There has really been nothing else quite like it.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the big banana.

Anonymous said...

Who wouldn't?

Anonymous said...

I didn't want to ruin the poetry beginning on this page...but I must.

I love Heroine and Venus in Furs. Oh wait, I probably shouldn't write "I love heroine" on the internet, now should I?

Anonymous said...

Great album.....but now so many years later, I am more likely to turn to the reprise of that whole scene, Songs for Drella, which knocked my socks off when it was made and still does.

Anonymous said...

Mister Anchovy: I agree, Songs for Drella is awesome.

Leafy: You can say that.