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The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico Audio CD

A fair review of the The Velvet Underground "The Velvet Underground & Nico" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Velvet Underground reviews here, or go back to the The Velvet Underground tabs.

Band: The Velvet Underground
Title: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-05-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Sunday Morning 2: I'm Waiting For The Man 3: Femme Fatale 4: Venus in Furs 5: Run Run Run 6: All Tomorrow's Parties 7: Heroin 8: There She Goes Again 9: I'll Be Your Mirror 10: The Black Angel's Death Song 11: European Sun

HERE IS THE TRUTH IN -200 WORDS
I have grown up listening to the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and a bunch of other stuff out of the Sixties and Seventies, and I think any true audiophile will admit the majority of stuff on the radio is predictable, cliched, and uninteresting. I am 19 years old.
The banana album by the Velvets is in my top 10 for several reasons. It's original. It shoots for mood and groove. Not as melodic as the Beatles, but substantially more than 95% of the modern garbage there is out there. It's low fi (very) but if you have an interest in finding out why good music doesn't depend on production, buy this. It's basically what would happen if the White Stripes, Beatles, and Pink Floyd had a love child. That and it's really REALLY good. .

Easy listening album from start to finish...,mostly. 95/100
Didn't really have any expectations listening to this band for the first time.
There's nothing so overrated as a "supergroup" and so underrated as an album which is easy on the ear from start to finish. . . I knew that they had a good reputation, but also knew that some people at this site really hated this album. . . so, was prepared to hate this album too, if required. Anyway, this is an excellent album orientated experience: melodic, experimental at times and Dylan-esque as far as some of the song's lyrics go. This is the only Velvet Underground which features European female singer Nico, who does sound and deliver lyrics like a European Joan Baez. . . with an accent. At times this jars, but at other times it is a treat. She is only on a few of the songs in any case.

The best track:

Venus in furs - odd sounding song with strange sounding violins. Nice guitar notes with a simple beat on the bongos or whatnot. Lou Reed sounds like Bob Dylan in this song.

Next best track:

All tomorrow's parties - Nico, still sounding like English is her second language, brings a good quality to her voice here. . . not sure what it is called. . . "vibrato"? Anyway, perhaps she can be described as having a touch of Marianne Faithful about her vocal performance. Single minded piano in this song, with some psychedelic guitar sounds in this song. A pleasant song. She seems to love the word "Clown" as it is not the first time she sings it in this album.

Best after that:

Sunday morning - a pleasant, sleepy ballad. Sort of like one of those tv show songs which maybe a band like The Monkees might have performed. Features something like a xylophone, which is nice and melodic. Male lead singer has a breathy quality to their singing. I like Nico's nice, subtle backing vocals in this song.

Best of the rest:

I'm waiting for the man - a rock'n'roll song featuring the piano and fuzzy sounding guitars. Lead guitar picks clear and clean notes. Lou sings about drugs here.

Femme fatale - a pleasant ballad with nice note picking on the guitar. Nico is breathy and sounds sort of ma'amish, enunciation wise. . . Joan Baez territory, but much more sensual. The lyrics are sometimes weak and song features male backing vocals.

Run run run - features a country flavoured rock guitar. Lou sings on this song. Has some bad feedback on the guitar. . . distortion, sometimes. I suppose you could put that down to bad technique, but the rest of the album doesn't go off the rails like that does, soundwise.

The black angel's death song - Dylan-esque wordiness by Lou here, but it is much more engaging than Dylan is. . . on a record like "Blood on the tracks" the overall album gets marked down by me because a couple of the songs are just interminable shaggy dog stories. With Lou here, I don't really hold a grudge against him, like I do with Dylan sometimes. Another track which has some strange sounding violins. Occasionally fuzzy in sound too, perhaps signifying that their studio was not adequate to capture their sound.

The rest:

Heroin - 7:11 long. Mostly pleasant sounding ode to the drug, with nice sounding guitars and violins, but later the violin becomes screechy. The drumming is interesting. . . might be using a bongo or some such. There are nice guitar and drum bits in this song.

There she goes again - the intro reminds me of Barry McGuire's classic song "War". A poppy treatment of a demi-monde subject matter (a low Bob Dylan, if you will), with male backing vocals. Another song with a nice guitar and drum bit to it.

I'll be your mirror - Nico back in breathy mode, as she was for "Femme fatale". Ma'amish quality to her voice as well. A light, pleasant song with some nice notes picked on the guitar.

European son - 7:46 long. another track with a country flavoured rock guitar. Descends into a long experimental sounding instrumental. . . vaguely noise rock, if you will. It's basically a noisy rock jam outro which takes up the majority of this song's length. Guitars have feedback on them sometimes. A bassy track too. The bass melody reminds me of O. M. D's "Locomotion" melody and the choppy guitar notes remind me of the riff to Michael Jackson's "Beat it". . . so, maybe these bands were influenced by songs on this album?

In conclusion, I'd say that this is a quietly great album. . . don't expect "killer" songs. . . it's more album orientated, and if you appreciate "pleasant" sounding songs, this album has a lot to offer.

Recommendations:

The Dandy Warhols. Albums like "13 tales" and "Come down", if you like this one.

Cream: Wheels of fire. A classic album, in an English style.

Midnight Oil: Red sails in the sunset. Modern pop/rock, with a bit of an 'arty' bent to it.

masterpiece of rock 'n' roll
Lou Reed says Warhol as "producer" was crucial to creating the album simply in that he was a figure with enough sway to shield them from nonsense and obstacles thrown at 'em while trying to record. I pretty much dig all of The Velvet Underground's music, but the Banana Album along with "White Light/White Heat" are my personal favorites. Reed says Warhol's presence allowed them to just be themselves. I can picture Warhol sitting there in the studio, simply observing and then on occasion (as Reed recalls it) saying, "Oooh, that's fantastic". Lol. Nice encouragement. That was Warhol's genius. In addition to having a fantastic producer they were joined by Nico of course. They didn't want her actually in the band, hence the title ". . . & Nico". But her beautiful vocal contribution is partly what makes the sound of this album so unique. And I do just love the sound of it. . . Moe Tucker's drumming, Reed's vocals, Cale's viola. . . But in typing up a little tribute to this album you must mention the lyrical content as well. What's that quote? Bob Dylan meets the Marquis de Sade? Anyway, just a perfect album that will always be in my collection. .

Slow
But the shipping was slow, it took almost a month! Not buying from IGOTLUCKY again anytime soon. The album is great, definately a classic.

a lifelong fan
a dang fine reason to get up in the morning, and a dang good reason to go to bed at night.

You can see a complete list of all The Velvet Underground discography, or go back to the The Velvet Underground tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.