The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Release date: 1967
When I got it: July 2001
When I got it: July 2001
Record label: Verve
Styles: Rock & roll, proto-punk, experimental rock, folk-rock
Top tracks: I'm Waiting for the Man, Venus in Furs, All Tomorrow's Parties, Heroin
There's really so much I could write about The Velvet Underground & Nico. It's certainly the most influential album on this list. Although, influential doesn't always mean good. But in this case, it does.
While most bands in the 60s were trying to become the next Beatles or Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground was trying to become the next ... well ... not really the next anything. They were out to make their own name. They were underground rock when underground rock didn't even exist. On this album, they blatently created songs that would never be played on the radio -- songs about drug dealers, S&M, and heroin. And they didn't try to be subtle, singing lines like "Heeeerrrrroooiiiiiin ... be the death of meeeeee."
When I bought this album nearly eight years ago, it really represented a shift in music taste for me. I had just gotten into Sonic Youth and the Pixies a little bit, but I was still somewhat interested in mainstream radio. For some reason, that seemed to stop sometime around when I bought this album. Probably not a coincidence.
"Heroin" is easily the best song on the album, and really is one of the best rock songs ever written. I've listened to the song hundreds of times, and you know what? It doesn't become any less powerful. It was also pretty much my introduction to noise, in a music sense at least. One time, I had the song playing while I shared a room with Sam, and he said to me "I would say that CD is skipping, but I know it's just The Velvet Underground."
This is the only Velvet Underground album with Nico, a female European singer. It took me awhile to really get into her voice (it's kind of deep), but she really does a great performance on "All Tomorrow's Parties." As for the vocals on the rest of the songs, Lou Reed always manages to sound like the coolest guy around.
All Music review of The Velvet Underground and Nico:
The Velvet Underground Wikipedia page:
Listen to The Velvet Underground:
The Velvet Underground page on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame site:
The band performing an acoustic version of "Femme Fatale" live:
An acoustic version of "Heroin" live:
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