The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground

Released: 1967

Label: Verve Records (this CD, Polydor)

When I bought: Received as a present in 2010

What is there left to say about an album that is so revered it has an almost mythical status?

Famously low-selling on its initial 1967 release – although every one who bought a copy went on to form a band, according to Brian Eno - the record pretty much invented art-rock.

Produced by Andy Warhol, who of course did the art work, without this record there wouldn't have been Bowie, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Strokes etc etc etc.

It's a cult classic, but does it still hold up?

Track opener 'Sunday Morning' is perhaps one of the most beautiful and delicate beginnings to any album ever, and provides a contrast to the album closer 'European Son', which ends the record with a cacophony of a-tonal guitars. These two tracks really show the album for what it is: the come up and the come down. The party and the hangover.

There are songs on this album that lesser bands have built whole careers on, such as 'I'm Waiting For The Man', 'Femme Fatale', and 'Venus in Furs'.

For an album that is such a Year Zero for many musicians and fans, there are some tracks which show there was life before Velvet Underground. 'Run, Run, Run' is pure Bob Dylan, while 'I'll Be Your Mirror' is a beautiful '60s pop song that could have been a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary.

The best song on the album for me is 'Heroin' which at 7:10 doesn't outstay it's welcome, unlike 'All Tomorrow's Parties', which at 5:58 does.

The album does sound dated, but at the same time forward-thinking. You can sense that Velvet Underground are trying to push the boundaries of what it meant to be in a band in the late 60s.

I didn't have this album until 2010, when a boss of mine bought me it as Christmas present after I mentioned I'd never listened to it (the boss later tried to fire me. So it goes). As you can tell, I don't have a huge emotional attachment to it. Maybe because I've heard so many watered down versions of it over the years by bands desperately trying to sound like they were in Warhol's factory in the 60s. It sort of created a distance. Listening back though, I wish I had paid more attention to it when I was younger as there are some really beautiful moments on it.

8/10

Comments

Coming Up – Suede

Year Released: 1996 Label: Nude Year Bought: 2011 I know lots of people love this album, and it has got some great songs on it, but I just can't love it. It's too trebly, too thin, too cold. It kicks off with 'Trash', which is an absolutely brilliant tune with fantastic lyrics. Brett is at his absolute best here, with talk of "nowhere towns" and "cellophane sounds", and being the "litter on the breeze". I love it. But, alas we go from one of Suede's best songs to one of their worst. 'Filmstar' feels incredibly lazy. The riff is nothing, and as for the lyrics: Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car it looks so easy Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car tonight These are Noel Gallagher-on-an-incredibly-bad-day lyrics. I hate the riff, I hate the chorus, I hate the lyrics. I hate how shiny it is. It's lazy ... which is the title of the next song. This tune sees the first use on the album of the "here the...

Eye To The Telescope – KT Tunstall

Year Released: 2004 Label: Relentless Year Bought: No Idea I'm not sure why I have this record. I have no record of buying it. I've never listened to it. But then I do own two Dido albums so it's not exactly out of character of me to have it. I've always thought KT Tunstall was a pretty cool person. She's clearly talented. But this album, I just can't really connect with it. There's some good tunes on here. 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' is great, as is 'Suddenly I See'. 'Another Place To Fall' hints at some darker tones, and 'Under The Weather' builds nicely. But overall it's just all a bit safe. I vaguely remember reading an interview with Tunstall a few years after this came out in which she said the original mix was a lot more rough and bluesy, but the label wanted it more polished. You can definitely hear how this album could have been scuffed up. 'Stopping The Love' is a good example of that. It's a mi...

The Very Best Of The Jam - The Jam

Year Released: 1997 Label: Polydor Year Bought: 1999 Kicking off with 'In The City' – which still sounds just as urgent as it did in 1977 – this collection brings together all of the The Jam's A-sides before Paul Weller broke up the band in 1982. I remember buying this CD in 1999 with money I had earned from my paper round, and I played it constantly. I knew every lyric, every bass fill from Bruce Foxton, every machine gun snare roll from Rick Buckler. I was pretty into 70s punk as a teenager, but The Jam appealed more than most as they seemed to look beyond the nihilism. "What's the point in saying destroy, I want a new life for everywhere," sings Weller on 'All Around The World'. The Jam's early singles are pretty good, but all feel a bit derivative of 'In The City'. I t's not until you get to 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight' that you realise this is a band – and a songwriter – that can deliver something truly special...

All The Records I've Ever Owned

Search This Blog