The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground (abbreviated as The Velvets or V.U.) were an American rock and roll band of the late 1960s. Its best-known alumni are Lou Reed and John Cale.

White Light/White Heat (1968)

The Velvet Underground performed live often, and their performances became louder, harsher and often featured extended improvisations. Cale reports that at about this time, The Velvet Underground were one of the first groups to receive an endorsement from Vox. The company pioneered a number of special effects, which the Velvet Underground utilized on White Light/White Heat.

Related Topics:
Improvisations - Vox

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Reed fired Warhol as manager, and Nico was jettisoned, partly due to her unreliability. In September 1967, the VU recorded what would become their second album, White Light/White Heat, with Tom Wilson as producer. It was released January 1968.

Related Topics:
1967 - Tom Wilson - 1968

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The recording was raw and oversaturated, one of the harshest, loudest records yet released. Cale has stated that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty". Isler and Robbins suggest that the record "is almost unbearably intense."

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The title track and first song starts things off with Cale pounding on piano like a demented Jerry Lee Lewis. The eerie, hallucinatory "Lady Godiva's Operation" remains Reed's favorite track on the album.

Related Topics:
Piano - Jerry Lee Lewis - Hallucinatory - Lady Godiva

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Despite the dominance of noisefests like "Sister Ray", (covered by Joy Division) and the title track (later covered by David Bowie), and "I Heard Her Call My Name", there was room for the darkly comic "The Gift", a Reed-penned short story narrated in Cale's deadpan Welsh accent. The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500 and Nirvana.

Related Topics:
Joy Division - David Bowie - Short story - Deadpan - Welsh - Galaxie 500 - Nirvana

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The second album cover was a subtle black-on-black picture of the tattooed arm of Billy Name, one of Warhol's "Factory" members. White Light/White Heat entered the Billboard top 200 chart for exactly one week, at number 199.

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Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for their hard work, and Reed and Cale were pulling the Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording session the band had with John Cale in February 1968: two pop-like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart" and "Stephanie Says"), and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr Rain"). None of these songs were released until they were included on the VU and Another View compilation albums.

Related Topics:
1968 - Pop - VU - Another View - Compilation album

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