The Velvet Underground (album)

Lou Reed, the band's principal songwriter, said of the album: "I really didn't think we should make another White Light/White Heat. I thought it would be a terrible mistake, and I really believed that. I thought we had to demonstrate the other side of us. Otherwise, we would become this one-dimensional thing, and that had to be avoided at all costs."[4] Drummer Moe Tucker said, "I was pleased with the direction we were going and with the new calmness in the group, and thinking about a good future, hoping people would smarten up and some record company would take us on and do us justice." Doug Yule said the album "was a lot of fun. The sessions were constructive and happy and creative, everybody was working together."[4]

The Velvet Underground was the band's first album for MGM Records, its first two albums having been issued on Verve, an MGM subsidiary. The previously strong Andy Warhol influence is diminished, with the most notable ties to the Factory being the cover and back photographs taken by Warholite Billy Name, and the opening track "Candy Says" about Warhol superstar Candy Darling (who reappears in Reed's 1972 song "Walk on the Wild Side"). The song was sung by Yule at Reed's insistence.[5] The LP sleeve was designed by Dick Smith, then a staff artist at MGM/Verve, with Billy Name's photo of the band sitting sedately on a couch at Andy Warhol's Factory.

"The Murder Mystery" included all four band members' voices. During the verses, Lou Reed and guitarist Sterling Morrison recite different verses of poetry simultaneously, with the voices positioned strictly to the left and right. For the choruses, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule sing different lyrics and melodies at the same time, also separated left and right. The album's closing song, "After Hours", has a rare solo lead vocal by Moe Tucker, again requested by Reed as he felt the sweet, innocent quality of her voice fit the song's mood better than his own.

The album was produced by the band themselves, and issued in two different stereo mixes. The more widely distributed mix is the one done by MGM/Verve staff engineer Val Valentin. The other mix was done by Lou Reed, boosting his vocals and guitar solos, while reducing the level of other instruments. This version was dubbed the "Closet Mix" by Sterling Morrison, because it sounded to him as if it had been recorded in a closet.[6] The most dramatic difference is that the two versions use entirely different performances of "Some Kinda Love", both taken from the same recording sessions.

The restraint and subtlety of the album was a significant departure from the direct abrasiveness of White Light/White Heat.[7][8] Music critic Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune characterized it as folk rock,[9] and Rolling Stone magazine's Troy Carpenter said that it focused on mellow, melodic rock.[7] According to music journalist Steve Taylor, The Velvet Underground is a pop album because of its more accessible songs and "has been called Lou Reed with a backing band due to the emphasis placed on songs rather than experimental sound work."[10]

Apart from the forceful rockers "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light", the album contains reflective, melodic songs that are about various forms of love,[8] such as "Pale Blue Eyes", "Some Kinda Love", "Jesus", "I'm Set Free" and "That's the Story of My Life". Reed and Morrison's twin-guitar playing became the band's most prominent sound,[8] and the album had spare arrangements that lacked distortion. The only song that exhibited the band's avant-garde roots is "The Murder Mystery", which incorporated a raga rhythm, murmuring organ, overlapping spoken-word passages, and lilting counterpoint vocals.[8]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Blender	[12]
Chicago Tribune	[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[13]
Pitchfork	10/10[14]
Q	[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[17]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[18]
The Village Voice	A[19]

The Velvet Underground was released in 1969 and did not impact the Billboard 200 until 1985, when it reached No. 197. According to Billboard in 2013, it had sold 201,000 copies since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking record sales.[20]

Reviewing the album for The Village Voice in 1969, Robert Christgau viewed it as the band's best work and found it tuneful, well written, and exceptionally sung, despite "another bummer experiment" in "The Murder Mystery" which he referred to as "some questionable stereo recording."[19] Lester Bangs, writing in Rolling Stone magazine, felt that it is not on-par with White Light/White Heat and has missteps with "The Murder Mystery" and "Pale Blue Eyes", but ultimately said that its combination of powerfully expressive music and profoundly sentimental lyrics will persuade the band's detractors into believing they can "write and play any kind of music they want to with equal brilliance."[21] In his ballot for Jazz & Pop magazine's annual critics poll, Christgau ranked it as the sixth best album of the year.[22] He later included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[23]

In a review of the album's 1985 reissue, Rolling Stone's David Fricke remarked that both The Velvet Underground and its predecessor lack the diverse range of the band's 1967 debut album and the precise accessibility of Loaded (1970). However, he felt that the album is still edifying as a tender, subtly broad song cycle whose stark production surprisingly reveals the essence of Reed's more expressive songwriting. Fricke cited the "ironic pairing" of "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Jesus" as the best summary of "the hopeful warmth at the center of the Velvets' rage."[16] Colin Larkin, writing in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1998), said that the album showcased a new subtlety because of Reed's larger role in the band and that it "unveiled a pastoral approach, gentler and more subdued, retaining the chilling, disquieting aura of previous releases."[24]

In 2003, The Velvet Underground was ranked number 314 by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The 2012 edition saw it moved 316th.[25][2] NME magazine named it the 21st best album of all time in a similar list.[26] In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rob Sheffield wrote that after Cale's departure, the band became "acoustic folkie balladeers" and that Reed was unexpectedly charming on the album, whose "every song is a classic".[17] Q magazine called the album "a flickering, unforgettable band performance".[15] Sputnikmusic's Nick Butler felt that, although it is not as good as the band's debut album, The Velvet Underground is "still a brilliant album."[27]

All tracks written by Lou Reed, except where noted. Running times listed are for the Valentin Mix.

• Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

Disc 1 of the 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is the Valentin mix.

Original mixes of the 1969 sessions were previously released on VU and Another View compilations.

The Velvet Underground

• Lou Reed – lead and rhythm guitar; piano; lead vocals except where noted, verse co-vocals on "The Murder Mystery"
• Doug Yule – bass guitar; organ; lead vocals on "Candy Says"; chorus co-vocals on "Jesus" and "The Murder Mystery"; backing vocals
• Sterling Morrison – rhythm and lead guitar; verse co-vocals on "The Murder Mystery"; backing vocals
• Maureen Tucker – percussion; lead vocals on "After Hours"; chorus co-vocals on "The Murder Mystery", backing vocals

• Jovanovic, Rob (2012). "10) 1968–1969: The Story of My Life". Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground. Macmillan. pp. 133–40. ISBN 1429942266. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
• Mauro, J-P (April 13, 2018). "The Velvet Underground's earnest prayer: "Jesus"". Aleteia.

• The Velvet Underground at Discogs (list of releases)