Velvet Underground and Lou Reed

charles21o7 · #1 07-11-2004, 03:31 PM

Hate to say it , but i am not too familliar with one of rocks most famous bands. So if anyone can suggest some albums or songs by the Velvet Underground, or from Lou Reeds solo stuff(Ive heard walk on the wildside,pretty good) I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

Matt Till · #2 07-12-2004, 01:03 PM

This is the obvious one

Matt Till · #3 07-12-2004, 01:04 PM

FYI: I don't think it's anything like walk on the wild side. More experimental. Trippy Garage Rock or whatever... phht genres.

**rickbass** · #4 07-12-2004, 01:27 PM

FWIW - Lou Reed is one of my biggest musical influences, even though I didn't try to make him one. But I heard the Velvet Underground playing at the Whisky A-Go-Go in St. Louis, as I stood, freezing on the sidewalk on New Year's Eve, since I was too young to get in the club.

So, this is a tough call because, when you're that young, a band becomes an influence whether you like it or not.

The album Matt shows was their classic - if you have an original copy, (which is worth mega-bucks), you can peel off the banana peel and reveal something that your imagnination can probably guess at correctly.
That album is the essence of the Underground.

As far as my reco's go - I'd reco 2 albums;

1. Rock n' Roll Animal - It's the most "accessible" and hard rock, IMO. HOWEVER, it's really just Lou Reed with super musicians instead of the early Underground. Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter on guitars and Prakash John on bass just burn your ears off.

2. Lou Reed - NYC Man, is a collection of mostly Velvet songs. Even if the original musicians aren't performing, the essence is still captured, IMO.

My personal fave is "White Light/White Heat." But then again, I'm out of my mind and that helps with this album......very "challenging" music but, for one thing, it shows the artistic freedom bands had in those days. It's not "formula" like the garbage coming out so often today.

charles21o7 · #5 07-12-2004, 05:27 PM

From what I gather they have a very different sound with each song or album what have you. So do you think a Greatest Hits collection would do them justice for me???

Gia · #6 07-13-2004, 07:02 AM

yes. especially the greatest hits collection with the Nico cd as well.

i am the reincarnation of nico

. seriously.

brianrost · #7 07-13-2004, 07:07 AM

The VU had no hits, so it would be the world's shortest "greatest hits" album!

Actually while the first two VU records ("VU with Nico", "White Light White Heat") are historically important they are pretty inconsistent ranging from bad Dylanesque folk rock to atonal noise. The next two ("Velvet Underground" and "Loaded") are a lot more, uh, normal and those are the records that spawned a million indie bands. The rest of their catalog includes stuff recorded after Lou quit (yuck), various poorly recorded live albums and outtakes which are for fans only.

A good place to start is the budget "20th Century Masters" CD on Universal. Yeah, silly packaging but it does have most of the famous songs and leaves out the real crap. There's also a set called "Introduction to the VU" that's got a decent selection (although it lacks both "Heroin" and "Sister Ray").

As far as Lou solo, good luck. He has the most diverse catalog this side of Neil Young. Everything from his infamous noise album "Metal Machine Music" to pop and about every other one he puts out sucks.

There's a couple of OK compilations on BMG/RCA: Very Best Of Lou Reed, The Wild Side, NYC Man.

cobrasneverdie · #8 07-14-2004, 10:22 PM

i recently picked up "set the twilight reeling" by lou reed, needless to say it is good. it has some really interesting groves in there too. i really enjoy lou reeds stuff, hit me up on aim my sn is cobrasneverdie. ive listened to/have most of lou reeds stuff.

Against Will · #9 07-14-2004, 10:50 PM

A Best-Of disc would have all the songs that they are well known for, "Sweet Jane" "Rock n Roll" etc. I have a personal prejudice against Best of/greatest hits collections, but if you have no such grudge then VU disc will suffice. Personally, I'd go for the Box Set....but that's just me.