AR: The Velvet Underground & Nico

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

• Good timing with the recent John Cale review - an excellent example of the experimental mindset infecting rock n' roll and birthing a proto-alt rock classic. This is a seminal art-rock album, brilliant along a variety of generic axes, and an absolute thrill to hear even after a bajillion listens. Kinda provokes the track-by-track account...
• "Sunday Morning" is a sunshine pop-rock classic with just enough off about it to render it excellent. A personal fave, and one I quote often.
• "I'm Waiting For the Man" = slacker yowled garage rock - thanks Lou Reed - about waiting for a heroin fix. The dirty drive combined with the vaguely homosexual yearn is superb.
• "Femme Fatale." Ah, Nico. Ali W infected this one quote a bit for me with her spot on Nico impersonation, and yes, it's true, Nico couldn't really sing. Again, the slightly off-key vocals, the barely distorted vocals - these details kill. The monotone backing vocals slay!
• "Venus in Furs" is a trance-inducing, Doors-esque drone number about BDSM. Cellos included. Genius.
• Back to the garage and a rough-run freak-out guitar solo for "Run Run Run." The driving rhythm is downright meditative.
• Nico's back for the epic "All Tomorrow's Parties." Matter of fact grandeur. Sprawl and pounding piano and the drone of the after-hours, the monotone delivery resonates well.
• And the epic and dynamic are not OVER yet - "Heroin," via simplistic, spare guitar and cello, delivers an accurate rendition of vein-dripping opiates. Very broad and dramatic, this one's a trip.
• "There She Goes Again" is the snide-delivered grandfather of the La's "There She goes." Good, but a bit of filler, methinks.
• "I'll Be Your Mirror" puts Nico back up to deliver that bad-vocaled sappy sentiment. Cute love song of devotion; the fact that something this bright and eyelash-flashing is on the same disc as "Heroin" in incredible and dizzying.
• "The Black Angel's Death Song" lets the drone get to be a bit too much - it's one of two songs on here that the drone effect kills.
• The second one being "European Son," a noise-rock prototype which is too chaotic for its own good. Not a great closer at all.
• The ending drags an otherwise magnificent album down. Perhaps appropriate that a couple of experiments did not entirely work, of course. This one is a personal favorite despite its flaws - its ragged edges give the tracks undeniable soul, and teach of a time where fractured noise and art were well on the same side of the fight. Nowhere near perfect, but a must for anyone who remotely likes rock. This album is, in short, filthy great, and resonates well with my art-dirty heart.

Status: Recommended

Nyet's Fave: "I'm Waiting For the Man"