Fifty years later and The Velvet Underground’s works continue to inject their nonconformist and unique sounds into the ears of indie kids around the globe. Warhol also introduced the band to the young Nico, creating a partnership that went on to produce the coveted “The Velvet Underground & Nico” album, which is considered one of the most influential albums of all time. As they linked up to travel the Unites States, they overwhelmed audiences everywhere with a surreal concoction of images, films, lighting effects, and music, known as The Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour. Eventually, the band emerged from the cracks and shadows of Greenwich Village to form a union with the infamous Andy Warhol, whose notoriety catapulted the group of experimentalists to new and unseen heights. Beginning in small clubs and bars around NYC, the band originally enjoyed a cult like following of dedicated fans, who rejoiced in a sound that, at the time, was deemed “undanceable” and ludicrous by mainstream media. Were an avant-garde New York City band whose unconventional and screeching sounds paved and shaped the roads of “underground” Rock and Roll. Studios, Hollywood Mayfair Recording Studios, Manhattan Recorded April–May and November 1966 at Scepter Studios, Manhattan T.T.G. Nico, vocals (on tracks 3, 6, 9), backing vocals (on track 1) Maureen Tucker, percussion (on tracks 1, 3, 7-8, 10-11), drums (on tracks 2, 5), snare drum, (on track 3), tambourine (on tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 9), bass drum (on tracks 4, 6) John Cale, electric viola (on tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, 10), piano (on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6), bass (on tracks 2, 3, 5, 8-11), backing vocals (on track 8), celesta (on track 1), hissing (on track 10), sound effects (on track 11) Sterling Morrison, rhythm guitar (on tracks 2, 5, 7, 8, 9), lead guitar (on tracks 3, 10, 11), bass (on tracks 1, 4, 6), backing vocals (on tracks 3, 5, 8) Lou Reed, vocals (on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11), backing vocals (on tack 3), lead guitar (on tracks 1-5, 7-11), ostrich guitar (on tracks 4, 6) Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground & Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more than 40 years after first hitting the racks.“ (Mark Deming, AMG) While the significance of Nico's contributions have been debated over the years, she meshes with the band's outlook in that she hardly sounds like a typical rock vocalist, and if Andy Warhol's presence as producer was primarily a matter of signing the checks, his notoriety allowed The Velvet Underground to record their material without compromise, which would have been impossible under most other circumstances. The bracing discord of "European Son," the troubling beauty of "All Tomorrow's Parties," and the expressive dynamics of "Heroin" all remain as compelling as the day they were recorded. Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of drugs and kinky sex (then risky stuff in film and literature, let alone "teen music") always received the most press attention, but the music Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker played was as radical as the words they accompanied. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy pop ("Sunday Morning"), tough garage rock ("Waiting for the Man"), stripped-down R&B ("There She Goes Again"), and understated love songs ("I'll Be Your Mirror") when they weren't busy creating sounds without pop precedent. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. „One would be hard-pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground & Nico. gone was co-founding member john cale, and in his place was a 21-year-old with long island roots named Doug Yule, who stepped right in. Newly-remastered from original tapes, original artwork "the velvet underground's classic self-titled third album, originally released in march 1969, by mgm, was a departure from the band's first two albums in more ways than one.
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