Velvet Underground And Nico, The [Remastered] - Velvet Underground (The)/Nico

...little information but the name Velvet Underground sealed it. Yes, this was sure to be weird and it would show Rosemary Thurston a thing or two.

Returning home, I went to my room and whacked it on. Boy was I disappointed! Whilst production techniques were becoming increasingly sophisticated, this sounded like it had been recorded in a heavily tiled public toilet. It was brittle and strident. Furthermore, as the likes of Jimmy Page ...
...increasingly grandiose and irrelevant. The Velvet Underground offered a raw energy, dreams and nightmares and an urban landscape populated by a gallery of transvestites, drug dealers, sado-masochists and exotic characters in stories told with humour, irony and directness.

It's legacy is enduring and it's mark can be seen in the likes of The Stooges, Brian Eno, Bowie, Wire, Patti Smith, The Fall and White Stripes to name but a few. ... more

Whilst other girls were drooling over David Cassidy, I was adorning my walls with posters of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and I'm ashamed to say, feeling rather superior about it. Cadging chips off classmates, I forewent lunch and saved the dinner money for the weekly Saturday pilgrimage to the record store in the nearest town. The shop was tiny and the LP's were simply categorised Easy Listening, Popular or Progressive. Naturally, I chose the last and pawed over the records in search of something new or interesting. That week , I noticed a cover with a lurid cartoon, captioned, 'Weasles Ripped My Flesh' - it was tempting but I carried on and passing the numerous pictures of hirsute men I came across the now famous banana design. ( Although recorded in 1967, it had taken a further four years to find its way to Spalding where I was living at the time). For a moment I thought it might have been misfiled, it had very little information but the name Velvet Underground sealed it. Yes, this was sure to be weird and it would show Rosemary Thurston a thing or two.

Returning home, I went to my room and whacked it on. Boy was I disappointed! Whilst production techniques were becoming increasingly sophisticated, this sounded like it had been recorded in a heavily tiled public toilet. It was brittle and strident. Furthermore, as the likes of Jimmy Page and Steve Howe were contemplating just how long and convoluted a guitar break could be, this outfit seemed stuck on one chord; two on the more complicated songs. Well I had paid good money and gone hungry for this so I put it on again and kept playing it until I liked it. In fact the penny finally dropped that this was something quite special. That was over thirty years ago and after moving around so much, I must have lost it, sold it or given it to Jack. I have just started to rebuild my complete collection. Here is why this is a special album.......

Firstly, let me introduce the band. Formed in 65 by John Cale and Lou Reed the line up for this album was:

Lou Reed; Vocals and Guitar - sexy vocals, it's not singing, not talking; just a Lou Reed thing.

John Cale - famously Welsh, electric viola, bass, piano and general row.

Stirling Morrison; Guitar and bass - would like to play surf and psychobilly but those little fingers only have a two fret range.

Mo Tucker - sounds like she's escaped from Bonanza and plays like it too.

Nico - Blond, depressive, equine looking German model with a voice almost as low as Barry White's

How did they get here?
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Through their association with Andy Warhol and the 'Factory' - an open all hours, drop out, drop in centre for performance art, minimalist film and all things pretentious.

Make no mistake; Warhol was a marketing genius and knew exactly what he was doing. The Velvet's needed a 'scene' to be credible and he provided the context - amazingly, they lived up to the hype, so here goes - track breakdown.

Track 1 Sunday Morning - 9/10
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A little xylophone twinkles in like a sugar plum fairy as an acoustic bass clonks lazily around. It must be Sunday morning because Lou sounds particularly languid and dreamy. The vocals are soft and sweet and the melody is comforting. Backing vocals reaffirm the hookline with added reverb. You hug your pillow and drift back to sleep.

Track 2 - I'm waiting for my Man - 10/10
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Vying for top spot on the album is the raunchy classic..'Look everybody - we're a rock band!' From the first chord, it's full throttle all the way as the track is relentlessly jammed on the same volume and intensity. Pounding between two chords for much of the song, it gives Reed the chance to find his unique voice.

'I'm waiting for my mayn
Twenty six dollars, in my hayned'

The conclusion of each verse shows Reed's skill with simple couplets that on face value are banal but tell the story (in this case buying drugs) and create mood and context in few words.

Some of my favourite lines from the song are:

Up to Lexington, 125
Feel sick and dirty more dead than alive

He's never early, he's always late
First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait

I feel so good, I feel oh so fine
Until tomorrow but that's just another time

Eventually it fades out. There is no escape from the two chord riff and it echoes in your mind long after the track has ended.

Track 3 - Femme Fatale 8/10
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This track switches back to a dreamy, wistful rendition by Nico.

'You're written in her book
No 37, have a look!

Like Abba, the accent borders on the comical but sung so earnestly, you have to succumb. There is also an incongruity in the male backing vocals, chanting 'Femme Fatal' with adenoidal New York accents. Somehow it all fits together.

Track 4 - Venus in Furs - 10/10
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This is the tour de france of the album and the most distinctive track. Mo's bass drum thuds ominously like a pounding heartbeat. The guitar is reminiscent of the opening of The End by the Doors but musically the track is dominated by Cale's viola that drones and grates in a tone dangerously close to excruciating. We are plunged into the dungeon of De Sade with a dark tale of sado masochism. The words are unforgettable. However, the true origin of the song lies in the book of the same name published in 1870 and written by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch. It recounts the tale of Severin, a man so obsessed with a woman that he seeks to become her slave. It's from Masoch that the word masochism originates.

Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather
Whiplash girlchild in the dark
Clubs and bells, your servant, don't forsake him
Strike dear mistress and cure his heart

Lou Reed's vocals are soft yet cold and give the narrative an eerie feel which is almost Vincent Price. It's a long way from the Partridge Family.

Track 5 - Run, Run, Run - 8/10
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Considered by some to be the weakest track on the album. I like it. It chuggs along in an almost rockabilly style and Reed rants in a Dylanesque liturgy. The highlight of the track comes when the lead break kicks in and Morrison cranks up the volume only to produce some shrill ear piercing feedback. Like Ravi Shankner in a bad mood he picks and rattles frenetically, creating the sound of a wasp trapped in a rollerblind.

Track 6 - All Tomorrow's Parties 10/10
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This completes the trilogy of the album's strongest tracks. Nico gives the vocal a hymnic quality and a glimpse into her own tragic life. The accompaniment is not invasive but supportive with the omnipresent drone of the one note ostrich tuning (all strings tuned to the same note). The bass helps the tune along without seeking dominance. The overall effect is tender, sentimental yet ultimately pessimistic.

Track 7 - Heroin 7/10
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This track has been criticised for glorifying heroin use but I am happy to accept Reed's explanation of it being reportage. It was a feature of the time and it could be viewed as a musical forerunner to Trainspotting. It's another two chord bash with quiet and frenzied parts alternating. Naturally, it collapses in a spent exhaustion.

Track 8 - There She Goes Again 7/10
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Another contrast is presented with by far the straightest and poppiest track on the album. But for Lou Reed's drawling voice, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to the Byrds or Mama's and Papa's with jangling guitars, woody bass lines and sha, la, la harmonies. To be honest I'd forgotten about this track so it can't be the most memorable but I was pleased to be re-acquainted.

Track 9 - I'll be Your Mirror 7/10
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This is a light cheerful, medium tempo song that is also poppy and in fact wouldn't be out of place on the Muppet Show. Nico is at her most chirpy but her precise Germanic articulation gives the vocal a feel of an obedient autonomic android doll - without this, the track would be too sugary.

Track 10 - The Black Angel's Death Song 8/10
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Yet another mood and style is presented in what is the most ostentatiously arty track of the Banana album. Cale arpeggiates like a demented Vivaldi, (feedback and distortion obligatory)whilst Reed recites poetry as if in a beatnik rapping competition with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. It may surprise some to discover that Cale studied music at the University of London and Reed has a degree in English. Well is it great art or pretentious nonsense? You decide for yourself with the following lyrical extract;

The myriad chance of his fate
Set themselves out upon a plate
For him to choose
What he had to lose
Not a ghost blooded country
All covered with sleep
Where the black angel did weep
Not an old city street in the east
Gone to choose
And wanderer's brother
walked on through the night
With his hair in his face
On a long splintered cut form the knife of G. T.

Track 11 - European Son 7/10
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Well thank God it's the last track because I'm drained just thinking about the sonic and lyrical bombardment this album produces but let's not forget European Son. A real upbeat start to the last track with a busy bouncy bass line and chopped chords that make you want to burst into some 60's go - go dancing. Lou assails with a few hurried words about your 'European Son' (never quite followed what) before the beat is interrupted by crashing garbage cans and a smashing of bottles. Cue the volume for a further six minutes of pulsating, thrashing that can only end in the inevitable multi vehicle pile up and crescendo of feedback 'Ah those were the days!'

Summary
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As the sixties moved towards the seventies, not only the music but the lyrics became increasingly grandiose and irrelevant. The Velvet Underground offered a raw energy, dreams and nightmares and an urban landscape populated by a gallery of transvestites, drug dealers, sado-masochists and exotic characters in stories told with humour, irony and directness.

It's legacy is enduring and it's mark can be seen in the likes of The Stooges, Brian Eno, Bowie, Wire, Patti Smith, The Fall and White Stripes to name but a few. Four decades on it still sounds fresh and I think I can finally say that my dinner money wasn't wasted. If you'd have to skip lunch to buy it, it would be worth the sacrifice. Maybe just have a banana for after all, The Velvet Underground is still top banana after all these years.

Summary: Original, groundbreaking and influential

 

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