Artist bio

See also: Lou Reed

The Velvet Underground made music imbued with the depth and richness of real life, and their work remains among rock's most powerful.

So many bands have just that one thing they do really well, and they can't always stretch out into other realms without losing a bit of what makes them great. But there's so much to love about music. Somehow, VU's got it all. The Velvets' range ensures that there's something in here for any mood that might strike you. Driving down the highway with the windows rolled down? Throw on Loaded for some enervating rock and roll. A late-night conversation with old friends? Maybe the soul-baring melancholy of the third album. Got those blues again and ready to be sonically assaulted? Try the extreme sound palette of White Light/White Heat. You can wake up on Sunday morning listening to the sunbeam instrumental "Ride Into The Sun," a non-album track from the Another View compilation. But if you're walking down 2nd Avenue with headphones on, you might want to go with the steady urban pulse of the group's 1967 debut, The Velvet Underground And Nico.

Because the Velvets were able to accomplish so much in so little time -- six years at the end of the '60s -- their catalog is easily consumed. They only released four records, easy enough to purchase at once (more than one box set includes all four). Yes, there are other places to go -- live albums, two LPs worth of non-album tracks released in the '80s -- but you can hold the Velvets' entire catalog in hand.

Each of the band's four records is a radical, unexpected departure from its predecessor, and each is a rock and roll classic in its own right, offering benchmark songs and timeless inspiration to its listeners. Of course, the group only had its first two albums hit the Billboard charts, and even those with paltry showings. But in retrospect, this lack of any real commercial success made them immune to a lot of common fame-induced pratfalls. During the band's life, none of its members accumulated a great deal of material wealth, they didn't become huge stars, and most importantly, they didn't get stuck in the dangerous mindset of "people will buy our music if it sounds like THIS, so let's keep churning it out." There were no hastily issued follow-up albums to capitalize on chart successes. There was no laughable '80s period. And they dissolved before they put out anything subpar.

The Velvet Underground is the classic rock band for people who really dig music. If they're not your favorite band, odds are that your favorite band was in some way influenced by VU. And if not, you're probably not reading this! Or something like that.

Albums by this artist

Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes (2001)

Loaded (1970)

The Velvet Underground (Recommended) (1969)

White Light/White Heat (Recommended) (1969)

Features

The Velvet Underground: The NATN Pantheon
Published December 11, 2006

The Velvet Underground

Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

The Velvet Underground Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes Polydor, 2001 RiYL: Sonic Youth, Pixies, Nirvana

So Robert Quine has had these tapes in his possession since 1989, and he didn't tell me? The bastard.

Actually, I take that back -- I owe a great debt to the guitarist, who previously I'd only known through his work with Richard Hell and Matthew Sweet. Turns out the guy was a big fan of the Velvet Underground back when the group still existed (a rarity, so they say), and he did posterity a favor by recording a bunch of their shows with his trusty Sony tape recorder and a hand-held mic.

Thirty-two years later, these primitive (by today's taping standards) recordings are getting aired to the public, and it's a good thing. Until now, the only officially available Velvets live material was the two Live 1969 discs and a document of the group's 1993 reunion shows in Europe. But The Quine Tapes provide for a more satisfying listening experience than either of those previous options. Maybe it's the fact that the group was playing in San Francisco for the majority of the set (and possibly had something to prove far from its New York roots), or knew it was being recorded (according to the liner notes, the band was friendly with Quine -- who would later play in Lou Reed's mid-'80s band --and invited him backstage to play his recordings), but there is a passion to the performances that really encapsulates everything good about the group.

Reed proves a very helpful frontman, explaining the topics of many of the songs as introduction: "There's a girl named Margarita and a boy named Tom and they're sitting having a drink at some cafe downtown, having a conversation. This song's about them," he intones prior to "Some Kinda Love" on Disc 1, and later confirms "Femme Fatale" as being about actress Edie Sedgwick. But amicable as his banter might be, the performance of each band member is that much more energetic over the three discs and 23 songs that make up the set.

Mo Tucker is dynamic throughout, defying the simplicity of her mallets-and-toms kit with abrupt stops and feverish tempo shifts, and Doug Yule's bass is limber and versatile, keeping both melody and rhythm in line. Sterling Morrison and Reed, meanwhile, tear things up on the guitar end, especially during the 90+ minutes (!!) worth of "Sister Ray" madness spread over the three discs. Yet for all their recklessness, the band is just as comfortable taking on Mo's innocent "After Hours" and "I'm Sticking With You" or turning "I'm Waiting For The Man" into a plaintive, almost country-slow tune, lightening the song's urban impact for the West-coast audience.

The most impressive of the three discs is the last, which juxtaposes the aforementioned "Waiting For The Man" with regal versions of "Rock And Roll" and "New Age" and a beautiful 11-minute "Ride Into The Sun," a non-album track whose different known versions are here combined into a song rich in both harmonic melody and building intensity. It's capped off with a 28-minute "Sister Ray" that mutates into "Foggy Notion" halfway through.

If it wasn't made clear by the previously available recordings, The Quine Tapes outs the Velvet Underground as essentially a jam band. While they clearly possess none of the hippie righteousness commonly associated with that term, this is a group that will not let songs rest in their originally conceived form, turning simple three- and four-chord rockers into intense musical workouts and routinely closing shows with 30-minute versions of the epic "Sister Ray" (which only clocks in at a miniscule 17 on the original White Light/White Heat LP). The fact that the second disc has five songs and clocks in at 78.47 should tell you something.

But classifications and categories aside, the Velvet Underground remain one of the greatest rock bands ever to stalk the planet. Missed notes or tinny recording quality be damned, three discs worth of previously unheard prime Velvets is a welcome addition to anyone's CD collection. Bravo, Mr. Quine, and will you please bring on Volume II?

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.