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CD reviews

White Light/White Heat

The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat Audio CD

A fair review of the The Velvet Underground "White Light/White Heat" 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: White Light/White Heat
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-05-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: White Light/White Heat 2: Gift 3: Lady Godiva's Operation 4: Here She Comes Now 5: I Heard Her Call My Name 6: Sister Ray

One that doesn't rise above ground
. 2 1/2

The extra-raw production does not compliment underwritten songs here, a downgraded formula which had seemingly eluded the band before and after, though here really shows a rough internal process at its coarsest and least inspired.

Despite some mellow tracks, it rejects their debuts' vibe. More experimental.
Of their first three albums, which is all that I've heard by them, it's this, their second album, which justifies this band as being labelled 'proto-punk' or 'experimental' etc, because albums either side of it are, for the most part, quite easy listening.
It's odd that the Velvets reject their debut album's feel in their second album, only for them to return to their origins with a vengeance in their self-titled album. Not sure how many people have noticed this, but the cover art for "White light/White heat" is remarkably similar to what Metallica would use for their self-titled album, which was itself all black. Co-incidence? Before I go into my thoughts on the songs on this album, I should say that I was tempted to give this album 7/10, but then I listened to their third album, and it being similar in style to their debut, I thought I'd better leave some clean air between my scores for those three albums. If you love their 1st and 3rd albums, I don't think you will find much to enjoy on this album. Alternatively, if have heard their debut album or their 3rd album, and you can't understand why this band has the alternative reputation that they have, then you owe it to yourself to listen to this album. It's the kind of album that you will either really like or really dislike. So, I'd give this album an scoring range between 5 and 7 out of 10. Let's call it 65/100. It's a pity Amazon don't give scores by halves. . . 3. 5 stars out of 5 seems fairer than it giving it 3 stars or 4 stars.

Best track:

White light/white heat - this song strikes me as the kind of song that you could have found on Bob Dylan's "Blonde on blonde" album. Lou Reed often strikes me as being a Bob Dylan pupil who could often outshine his master. Track features a honky tonk piano and is catchy. There is distortion in this song. . . it sounds sort of fluffy and muffled. The band provide backing vocals on this. Outro is a bit experimental in vibe.

The gift - a bit like Dylan at his worst. . . here we get a shaggy dog story, a la "Blood on the tracks", by someone putting on an educated, Indian type accent. The left channel is devoted to that voice and the right channel has the music. . . electric guitar, bass and drums. It isn't quite as annoying as Dylan's shaggy dog stories on Blood, but it is so lucidly narrated and in such a matter-of-fact style that it doesn't really qualify as art, I don't think. Certainly there is no comparison with Malcolm McLarens lovely spoken word fairytale which introduces The Sex Pistols' album "The great rock'n'roll swindle", or, for that matter, the lovely Cream song called "Pressed rat and warthog", which because of their fairytale nature have enduring appeal. They never get old, I don't think. Unlike this song. Heard it once, heard it a thousand times. Some of the lyrics strike me as being saucy though. This is a track which could annoy some listeners, and maybe might have been better off placed last on the album.

Lady Godiva's operation - lyrically, this song strikes me as being proto-death metal! It's quite gruesome, in a graphic way, and there's nothing to distract the listener from the lyrics, unlike on their masterpiece from their third album, "Murder mystery", which is the band at their experimental height. This track is a slow tempo melodic song with an interesting drum pattern/tone. Occasionally you get a child like vocal appearing, and you can hear a violin used as well.

Here she comes now - a genteel song, with melodic note picking on the guitar. Lyrics are quite repetitive. This track is part of this album's schizophrenic nature. . . mellow tracks like this, mixed with tracks that push the envelope a lot, like the song above.

I heard her call my name - this track sounds proto-punk to me. Haven't really heard anything else which would deserve that label by this band, despite them being described as such in some circles. In my notes I describe this track as a proto-punk spiritual song. Maybe it's the backing vocals which conjures the 'spiritual' adjective. Other punkish elements to this track are the rhythm guitar and the lead guitar. . . generally there is a "have a go" feel to proceedings, where 'having a go' is placed above sounding like a professional musician. And that's part of the punk philosophy, right? This track also has distortion and feedback in it. The outro sounds noise rock.

Sister Ray - at 17:27 minutes in length, this track comes across as a trancy Doors song, complete with organ, which is what The Doors had to create their signature sound. At the start the organ is quite catchy. You later hear a keyboard riff. . . in Platonic terms, this track sounds to me like the shadow of a much better/catchier song, as far as the keyboard riff goes. I have to say, I really liked the drum solo in this song, which runs from around 14:10-16-10. It's excellent. Don't normally associate that element to this band. All round, this track sounds fuzzy, and features the violin. Ding dong, this review is over.

Recommendations:

If you like this album. . . gee, I don't know what to say. . . I don't normally listen to albums this weird. Maybe try Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica which is quite a jazzy album, but experimental too. Or The Stooges debut. That's pretty much all I've got at this time. My wall of weird as far as cds go is quite limited.

Downright Noisy
The title track starts everything off with it's grunge sounding piano and guitar. This is containing alot of venom within it's sound. I guess Lou was bitter with the break up between him and Nico because this is downright psychotic compared to the first album. It continues with the next song called "The Gift" which is a story of a guy who mails himself to his girlfriend with unexpected results, and this is done over a droning guitar probably inspired Black Sabbath to create their guitar sound. Then the next two songs were forgetable except for the title of one, and that was "Lady Godiva's Operation". Then it picks up again with aggravated assault on the ears, and the brain with "I Heard Her Call My Name". About 3 minutes of distortion, feedback, and murdering of the drums. Finally the noise assault ends with the 17 minute opus "Sister Ray" the worst song on this album. Well this is a way to let off steam when you break up with a girl I guess. However, the group would go through alot after this album as Verve would drop them as an attempt to clean up the label with only squeaky clean groups, and their next album would go in the can, and what would result was the self-titled pop album( the last one for Verve). John Cale would leave after this album, and the introduction of the Yule brothers. This is an all right album, but it's noisy. . . too noisy for me. .

The Quintessential VU Album
Just as their debut was more of a collaboration with Nico and Warhol, White Light/White Heat was truely their own record. The greatest VU album of all time and perhaps the greatest album as well. They never really surmounted this as the group tended to drift more towards a Lou Reed vehicle (especially in Loaded)and away from the visceral experimentation of White Light/White Heat.

And the album IS unrepentantly experimental, avant-garde, alternative rock (perhaps in its first appearance). The intensity of Cale's electric viola and Reed's dirty twangy guitar predate even the Stooges' guttural howl and perhaps even influencing Frank Zappa to a degree (Hot Rats and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, perhaps?). The Velvet Underground defied conventions in such a natural existential way that they changed how songs were written and performed.

Of course in the end, it's all pretentious artsy meanderings, but extremely interesting and informative. While it may not appeal to newcomers, White Light/White Heat is not only an essential VU album, but an essential rock album as well that every audiophile should own. .

essential and important album
Sounds better than ever. This is a classic and influential album. I'm very thankful to have this in 180 gram vinyl. Worth the price plus some. If you are thinking to get this on vinyl, go for this version. Sounds great.

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.