Oldish Psych and Prog

Nico left the band at this stage to pursue a solo career, and Warhol began to loose interest, withdrawing his financial support. Nico's departure inevitably affected their musical policy and their second album, White Light/White Heat which, lacking the gentle songs written for her on the first LP, was aggressively harsh. It contained two stand-out tracks, Sister Ray, a 17 minute story about a group of sailors who are interrupted by the police while visiting a drag queen, and The Gift based on a short story Reed had composed. In both songs, the lyrics were augmented by a storm of unorthodox electronic music. Commercially, the album represented another failure peaking at only No. 199 in the Album Charts and Cale quit the band to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by Doug Yule (bs, gtr, keyb'ds). From hereon, Reed became the dominant figure in the band.

The third album, The Velvet Underground, again represented a change in musical direction being composed of softer, more harmonious songs. The album was based around a girl's search for significance through nihilism (Candy Says), religion (Jesus), adultery (Pale Blue Eyes) and ended with a jovial song about loneliness (After Hours). However, the band's repeated changes in style had left their audience way behind and this album failed to make a popular impact. Mid-1969 saw them without a record contract, but in 1970 they recorded Loaded, generally regarded as a dynamic rock'n'roll album. Unfortunately, Reed quit a month before its release, when the band, benefiting from a renewed wave of public interest, appeared on the brink of achieving commercial success. The album contained at least three further classics Sweet Jane, the story of a resilient city girl, Sweet Nothing, an account of city kids able to live on next to nothing and Rock and Roll. The remaining members attempted to keep the band going with new recruits, but quit after the inevitably disappointing Squeeze was released in 1970. Posthumously two live albums were released, the poorly recorded Live At Max's Kansas City and 1969, a recording of gigs in Texas and San Francisco that year.

VU, which appeared in February 1985 was their previously unissued fourth Verve/MGM album, the missing masters for which were recently unearthed in the States. 9 of the 10 tracks from circa 1968-69 were previously unreleased. It became their most successfull album commercially, climbing to No. 87 in the U.S. Album Charts.

Cale and Reed later achieved the popular success that eluded them with The Velvets, through a series of solo albums. Nico, who had appeared in Warhol's movie 'Chelsea Girls' prior to joining Velvet Underground, also released three solo albums (Chelsea Girl, The Marble Index and Desertshore) with assistance from Cale before emigrating to Paris in 1971.

In retrospect, The Velvets' first album, with its harsh loud music and its lyrical obsession with decadence, was probably the most significant album of this era in that it previewed the aggressive punk sounds to emerge in the late seventies.

Guitarist Sterling Morrison died at the age of 53 on August 30th, 1995.

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cd1:
"Waiting for My Man" – 7:03
"Lisa Says" – 5:52
"What Goes On" – 8:55
"Sweet Jane" – 4:00
"We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" – 3:15
"Femme Fatale" – 3:04
"New Age" – 6:36
"Rock and Roll" – 6:06
"Beginning to See the Light" – 5:30
"Heroin" – 8:14

cd2:
"Ocean" – 10:55
"Pale Blue Eyes" – 5:51
"Heroin" – 9:49
"Some Kinda Love" – 4:48
"Over You" – 2:17
Medley: "Sweet Bonnie Brown"/"It's Just Too Much" – 7:55
"White Light/White Heat" – 8:35
"I Can't Stand It" – 7:51
"I'll Be Your Mirror" – 2:21

Sterling Morrison – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
Lou Reed – Vocals, rhythm guitar
Maureen Tucker – percussion
Doug Yule – bass guitar, organ, backing vocals, lead vocal on "I'll Be Your Mirror"

sharingmatrix: p1, p2, p3, p4, p5 = depositfiles: p1, p2, p3, p4, p5