The Batlord

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground and Nico

Moving on from White Light/White Heat I'm reaquainting myself with VU's debut. Should be sweet...




First of all, "Sunday Morning" is an awesome way to start the album. It's sort of a cliche for a rock'n'roll album to start off with the heaviest/fastest/most bitchin' song on the album to give you a "Welcome to the Asskick Fest" thing, but this album starts off mellow as yellow. This would be a perfect song to just put on first thing in the morning and wake up to.

Much of this album isn't really "avant garde" so much as it is just a more mature, experimental form of garage rock. I don't know what the dividing line between avant garde and just experimental is, but this still feels like rock'n'roll to me, just much more intelligent than most rock bands. It's also highly addictive and does a better job of making rock'n'roll respectable than prog rock ever did. In general it doesn't quite have the energy as White Light/White Heat, but it seems to have a greater diversity of songs. All in all I prefer White Light, but this is still a really cool album. At least for me the second half of the album isn't quite as amazing as the first half though. I know everyone and their mother go on about "Heroin", but it's just a good song as far as I'm concerned. Likewise, as cool as "The Black Angel's Death" song is with Cale's viola, it isn't quite as good as "Venus In Furs". Not that the second half isn't cool, but just not as much as the first half, though "European Son" is pretty damn sweet with it's frantic and at times terrifying noise experimentation.

I'm not really the biggest fan of Nico. Her songs give the album a different atmosphere which is kinda cool, but if they had been left off I wouldn't really be too sad.

Aside from the higher energy songs like "Run, Run, Run" and "Waiting for the Man", the standout song on this album has to be "Venus In Furs". The song itself is suitably bizarre sounding, and with Cale's unsettling viola playing over it, it is a truly weird but unique and bitchin' song.

Edit: I was just listening to White Light/White Heat again after Nico and I have to change my opinion slightly. I said that "All in all I prefer White Light" but now I have to say that White Light destroys Nico. I dig Nico, but I'm already coming to the conclusion that White Light is one of my new favorite albums and it keeps getting better with every listen.

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