151-537: White Light/White Heat is the second studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground . Released on January 30, 1968, by Verve Records , it was the band's last studio album with multi-instrumentalist and founding member John Cale . Recorded after band leader Lou Reed fired Andy Warhol , who had produced their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico , they hired Steve Sesnick as
302-613: A Rolling Stone article from 1970, "it wasn't eighteen groups, [Curb] was misquoted. The cuts were made partly to do with the drug scene—like maybe a third of them had to do with drug reasons. The others were dropped because they weren't selling." Lou Reed would later remark in the 1987 issue of Creem that while he did not believe that MGM dropped the Velvets for drug associations, he did acknowledge, "We wanted to get out of there." Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul ) signed
453-412: A cantaloupe , at the request of Frank Zappa , who was recording in the same studio. For " Sister Ray ", the band worked individually instead of coordinating together–the drums were drowned out due to the level of noise. The song was intentionally recorded in one take to prevent constant shifting of the sound of it, which was what happened with " Heroin " on the previous record. Tucker was disappointed with
604-526: A sellout ; he was also unwilling to be told when to start and stop playing. "Angus was in it for art", Morrison reported. MacLise was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker , the younger sister of Morrison's friend Jim Tucker. Tucker's playing style was rather unusual: she generally played standing up rather than seated and had an abbreviated drum setup of tom-toms , snare and an upturned bass drum , using mallets as often as drumsticks, and rarely using cymbals (she admits that she always hated cymbals). When
755-423: A 1985 review of the first three records of the band, said it stood out even compared with contemporary songs, stating that no wave and hardcore songs didn't meet its "sheer industrial discord and locomotive propulsion". Reviewing the deluxe edition of the record, Douglas Walk of Pitchfork labeled it a "best new issue". Walk called the album "mysterious" and “a relentless, screeching, thudding, scoffing assault on
906-477: A Welshman who had moved to the United States to study classical music upon securing a Leonard Bernstein scholarship. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage , Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young , and had performed with Young's Theatre of Eternal Music , though was also interested in rock music. Young's use of extended drones would be a profound influence on the band's early sound. Cale
1057-459: A cast of characters, which Soumes noted is reminiscent of Reed's general songwriting style: it is "a semi-abstract story with use of repetition and drug slang , also playing with the sounds of words, stuttering and jamming words together". Soumes also noted that it contains similar themes to Reed's favorite and most influential books, Hubert Selby Jr. 's Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964) and John Rechy 's City of Night (1963). The instrumental jam
1208-403: A choice of either no Cale or no band at all, the pair reluctantly sided with Reed. It has often been reported that before Cale's departure (following White Light/White Heat ) there was a struggle between his creative impulses and Reed's: Cale's experimentalist tendencies had contrasted with Reed's more conventional approach. According to Tim Mitchell, however, Morrison reported that while there
1359-453: A claim of $ 500,000 ($ 4,568,862 in 2023 dollars ) for use of his image. Instead of compensating Emerson for damages, MGM Records canceled all distribution of the album for nearly two months until the legal problems were settled (by which time the record had lost its modest commercial momentum), and the still was airbrushed out of the remaining copies of the album. By the time the record was re-distributed into stores, it faced stiff competition in
1510-472: A few other session musicians in an unspecified London studio. While Yule intended to recruit Moe Tucker to play drums on Squeeze and the handful of promotional shows, Sesnick vetoed his decision and claimed she was "too expensive" to hire. Yule was also prevented by Sesnick to participate in the mixing of the album's tracks prior to the album's release the following year. Squeeze was released in February
1661-419: A final album under the Velvet Underground name, Squeeze (1973), recorded mostly by Yule with session musicians, before the band dissolved shortly after. The former band members collaborated on each other's solo work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and a retrospective "rarities" album, VU , was released in 1985. Reed, Cale, Tucker and Morrison reunited for a series of well-received shows in 1993, and released
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#17328009511431812-418: A live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII , later that same year. After Morrison's death in 1995, the remaining members played a final performance at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996. Reed died in 2013. In 2004, the Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone ' s list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ". The New York Times wrote that the Velvet Underground
1963-455: A lot on Loaded . It sort of devolved down to the Lou and Doug recreational recording." While the third Velvets' LP was recorded mostly live in a collaborative atmosphere, the bulk of Loaded was crafted in the studio. In addition to handling all the bass and piano duties on Loaded , Yule also contributed several lead guitar parts and played drums on five of the album's ten tracks (most notably on
2114-618: A majority of Nico's albums. Reed started his solo career in 1972 after a brief sabbatical. Sterling Morrison was a professor for some time, teaching Medieval Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, then became a tugboat captain in Houston for several years. Moe Tucker raised a family before returning to small-scale gigging and recording in the 1980s; Morrison was in several touring bands, including Tucker's band. Moe Tucker Maureen Ann " Moe " Tucker (born August 26, 1944)
2265-587: A manager and hired producer Tom Wilson , who had worked on the band's debut. White Light/White Heat was engineered by Gary Kellgren . The album includes lyrically transgressive themes like their debut, exploring topics such as sex, amphetamines , and drag queens . Reed was inspired by a variety of authors, including William S. Burroughs and Alice Bailey , and the lyrics create a cast of characters, such as in " The Gift " and those named in " Sister Ray ". Musically, he took influence from jazz music and players such as saxophonist Ornette Coleman . Warhol conceived
2416-557: A now-legendary nine-week residency (from June 24 – August 28, 1970) at the New York nightclub Max's Kansas City , playing two lengthy sets per night, and showcasing altered arrangements of older songs from their previous albums, as well as showcasing the new material that would soon make up Loaded . Reed's last live performance with the band at Max's was informally recorded and was released two years later in 1972 as Live at Max's Kansas City , also on Atlantic Records. Disillusioned with
2567-529: A number of others' records, including producing Fire in the Sky (1992) for Half Japanese , whose guitarist, John Sluggett, plays drums on her own recordings. In Jeff Feuerzeig's documentary about Half Japanese, The Band That Would Be King , Tucker performs and is interviewed extensively. Also, she has appeared with Magnet and former Velvet Underground band members Lou Reed ( New York ) and John Cale ( Walking on Locusts ). Tucker also played drums on and produced
2718-756: A number of these songs for his solo records over the years: "Stephanie Says", "Ocean", "I Can't Stand It", "Lisa Says", and "Andy's Chest", as well as "She's My Best Friend", which had been originally sung by Doug Yule. By 1969 the MGM and Verve record labels had been losing money for several years. A new president, Mike Curb , was hired and he decided to cancel the recording contracts of 18 of their acts who supposedly glorified drugs in their lyrics, including their many controversial and unprofitable acts. The drug or hippie -related bands were released from MGM; nonetheless MGM insisted on retaining ownership of all master tapes of their recordings and according to an MGM representative in
2869-419: A recording solely of pulsating audio feedback culminating in a locked groove , was "a precursor to [Reed's] Metal Machine Music ", say Velvets archivists M.C. Kostek and Phil Milstein in the book The Velvet Underground Companion . "Loop" also predates much industrial music . At Warhol's insistence, Nico sang with the band on three songs of their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico . The album
3020-493: A rock milestone. Robert Dimery included the album in the 2018 edition of his book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . The album was reissued under the title Archetypes by MGM in 1974, though the reason for this is unknown. It was out of print in the United States until 1985, when it received a reissue, along with the group's first three albums. These reissues were unexpectedly successful, which led to further releases under PolyGram such as Another View . The album
3171-559: A shared interest in "Sister Ray". A live cover of "Sister Ray" by British rock band Joy Division , recorded at the Moonlight Club in London on April 2, 1980, was included on the band's 1981 compilation album Still . Jonathan Richman made the song " Roadrunner " with inspiration from "Sister Ray"; the single was influential in its own right and was ranked on Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . David Bowie performed
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#17328009511433322-594: A song inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch 's book of the same name , which dealt with masochism. The band immediately and unanimously adopted "The Velvet Underground" as its new name in November 1965. The newly named Velvet Underground rehearsed and performed in New York City. Their music was generally much more relaxed than it would later become: Cale described this era as reminiscent of beat poetry, with MacLise playing gentle "pitter and patter rhythms behind
3473-428: A song recorded in 1969 but left (officially) unreleased until it appeared on the 1985 outtakes compilation VU . Lou Reed said of "After Hours" that it was "so innocent and pure" that he could not possibly sing it himself. In the early days, Tucker also occasionally played the bass guitar during live gigs, an instrument that was usually played by the band's regular bassist John Cale . Morrison would normally play
3624-512: A stroboscopic-light show designed by Danny Williams. Because of the punishing lights, the band took to wearing sunglasses onstage. Early promo posters referred to the group as the "erupting plastic inevitable". This soon changed to "the exploding plastic inevitable". In 1966, MacLise temporarily rejoined the Velvet Underground for a few EPI shows when Reed was suffering from hepatitis and unable to perform. For these appearances, Cale sang and played organ, Tucker switched to bass guitar and MacLise
3775-696: A teenager, Tucker was an avid fan of Babatunde Olatunji , whose music she first heard on Murray the K 's radio show. Olatunji, along with Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones , inspired her to become a musician. Without any formal instruction, she learned by playing along with popular songs on a second-hand drum kit. Tucker was married in the early 1970s, and divorced some time in the early 1980s. She has five children: Kerry, Keith, Austen, Kate, and Richard. Tucker lives in Douglas, Georgia , where she raised her family. During an April 2009 interview at
3926-563: A theater major, but left the program after one year to continue playing music. Yule had first seen the Velvets perform at a student event at Harvard University in Cambridge in early 1968, and when the band played at the Boston Tea Party later that year, the band stayed at Yule's apartment on River Street, which he happened to be renting from their road manager, Hans Onsager (who worked closely with their manager Steve Sesnick ). It
4077-482: A unique MGM Records UK cover, made in 1971, featuring a white background and abstract toy soldiers. The UK cover was not authorized by the band members. In 1974, the album was reissued by MGM under the title Archetypes . The cover of this version features two men wearing helmets standing in front of a Woolworth's . Like other releases by the group, the lyrical themes and avant-garde instrumentation of White Light/White Heat did not resonate with mainstream audiences at
4228-524: A vast range of lyrical subjects on the first two Velvet Underground albums, the lyrical themes of the third album were more "intimate" in nature. Reed's songwriting also covered new emotional ground as well, as heard in the songs " Pale Blue Eyes ", "Jesus", "Beginning to See the Light", and "I'm Set Free". The personal tone of the album's subject matter resulted in Reed's desire to create a "closet" mix that boosted
4379-527: A viola passage. Reed and Cale recruited Sterling Morrison —a college classmate of Reed's at Syracuse University —as a replacement for Walter De Maria , who had been a third member of the Primitives. Reed and Morrison both played guitars, Cale played viola, keyboards and bass and Angus MacLise joined on percussion to complete the initial four-member unit. This quartet was first called the Warlocks, then
4530-511: A year. Tom Wilson at Verve/MGM only bought the album from me because of Nico. He saw no talent in Lou [Reed]." In 1982, Brian Eno said that while the album sold only 30,000 copies in its early years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band." Filmmaker and music writer, Grant McPhee conducted a 2021 investigation into Eno's famous claim into the popularity of the band's first album and concluded that it may have sold as many as 200,000 copies by 1971 alone. Nico moved on after
4681-425: Is a spoken word track whose lyrics and musical backing are separated by left and right stereo channels, described by Wilson as the band having "stereo prefrontal lobes ". The story is derived from another story Reed wrote for Shelley Albin, his middle school girlfriend. The song itself is derived from a story Reed penned at Syracuse University . It discusses two characters, Marsha and Waldo, over guitar feedback in
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4832-454: Is a faint image of a tattoo of a skull . The tattoo was that of Joe Spencer, who played the lead role in Warhol's 1967 film Bike Boy . Spencer starred as a hustler in a motorcycle gang and is seen taking a shower in the movie. Although he was not credited for the cover design as with their debut, it was Warhol's idea to use a black-on-black picture of the tattoo. Reed selected the image from
4983-413: Is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock band the Velvet Underground . Tucker occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, including the songs " After Hours " and " I'm Sticking With You ". After the Velvet Underground disbanded in the early 1970s, she took a hiatus to focus on her marriage and family. She returned in the 1980s, and, until
5134-628: The Netherlands ) with the band during 1970 and 1971; shortly afterward, she quit the band and the music business altogether to raise a family. Tucker participated in the 1993 Velvet Underground reunion, touring Europe and releasing the double album Live MCMXCIII . In 2017 she played at the Grammy Salute to Music Legends awards ceremony. A band, amongst others, consisting of John Cale, played two Velvet Underground classics "Sunday Morning" and "I'm Waiting For The Man". The Velvet Underground
5285-630: The negatives from the film, and it was enlarged and distorted by Billy Name , one of the members of the Factory . Morrison, however, states that the cover was picked by him. On the physical version of the album, this can only be seen when viewing the cover from a certain angle. On the back of the album is a photo of the band members at the Boston Tea Party , a concert venue. Morrison chose the photo and liked it, while Tucker thought that both she and Reed looked terrible on it. There also exists
5436-580: The pop artist Andy Warhol became their manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, the Factory , and his traveling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable , from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico , featuring the German singer and model Nico , was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales but later drew widespread acclaim. They released three more albums:
5587-576: The " 500 Greatest Albums of all Time " in 2020. After the disappointing sales of the Velvet Underground's first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), their relationship with Andy Warhol deteriorated. They toured throughout most of 1967, and many of their live performances featured noisy improvisations that became key elements on White Light/White Heat . The band fired Warhol, parted ways with Nico (which she would describe as being fired), and recorded their second album with Tom Wilson credited as producer. Jack Donohue, writing for Tech ,
5738-410: The 2001 box set Final V.U. After the brief European tour in November 1971 was finished, the lineup of Yule, Tucker, Alexander and Powers disbanded. In May 1972, Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City , the recording of the Velvet Underground's final performance with Reed (also with Doug Yule, Morrison, and Billy Yule) made by a fan, Brigid Polk , on August 23, 1970. Due to publicity around
5889-551: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , behind Sweetheart of the Rodeo by the Byrds . The album has been listed in unranked "best of" lists, such as Ultimate Classic Rock 's top 100 albums of the 1960s. NME additionally included it on its "101 Albums To Hear Before You Die". Internationally, French magazine Rock & Folk listed it in its 555 albums from 1954–2014, and Italian magazine Ondarock [ it ] listed it as
6040-597: The Falling Spikes. The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh was a contemporary mass market paperback about the secret sexual subculture of the early 1960s; Cale's friend and Dream Syndicate associate Tony Conrad showed it to the group, and MacLise made a suggestion to adopt the title as the band's name. According to Reed and Morrison, the group liked the name, considering it evocative of "underground cinema", and fitting, as Reed had already written " Venus in Furs ",
6191-578: The Family Dog venues in San Francisco; recordings of these shows were released in 2001, as a triple live album, Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes , which included the line up of Reed, Yule, Morrison and Tucker. During 1969 the band recorded on and off in the studio, creating a lot of promising material (both singles and one-offs) that were never officially released at the time due to disputes with their record label. What many consider to be
White Light/White Heat - Misplaced Pages Continue
6342-488: The LP, and a rare Moe Tucker lead vocal is used on "After Hours", which closes the album, because Reed felt her "innocent" voice was more believable for a sad song. The album contains the experimental track "The Murder Mystery", which utilized all four band members (Reed, Yule, Tucker and Morrison) reading different lyrics, sometimes simultaneously, as well as the ballad "Pale Blue Eyes". The Velvet Underground spent much of 1969 on
6493-543: The Rolling Stones . Nothing ever came of this, but the demo was eventually released on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See . Manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group's first paying gig—$ 75 ($ 725 in 2023 dollars) to play at Summit High School , in Summit, New Jersey, opening for the Myddle Class . When they decided to take the gig, MacLise abruptly left the group, protesting what he considered
6644-604: The VU ever got to sounding trippily à la mode in 1967-68, even if it remains as streaked with street dirt as a discarded pie." Unterberger said the album was perhaps the "loudest ... of all time." White Light/White Heat contains a distorted, feedback-driven, and roughly recorded sound, which is regarded as influential; it foreshadowed the start of punk rock and the no wave genre. The Social Distortion album White Light, White Heat, White Trash would be named after White Light/White Heat . Oregano Rathbone of uDiscoverMusic said
6795-406: The Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album with Lou Reed: Loaded . The album's title refers to Atlantic's request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits". Though the record was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the Velvet Underground had performed, and two of Reed's best-known songs, "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll". By
6946-513: The Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording sessions the band had with John Cale in 1968: three pop -like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart", "Stephanie Says" and "Beginning to See the Light") and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr. Rain"). Further, some songs the band had performed with Cale in concert, or that he had co-written, were not recorded until after he had left
7097-463: The Velvet Underground in late 1972, a band with him, Billy Yule, George Kay and guitarist Don Silverman (later known as Noor Khan) was incorrectly billed as the Velvet Underground for two shows in Boston and Long Island. The band members objected to the billing (instigated by their tour manager); according to Yule, the promoter was not supposed to bill the band as the Velvet Underground. In late May 1973,
7248-497: The Velvets as some sort of folk-rock band are advised to crank their stereo up to ten and give side two a spin." Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune described the album as "Loud, abrasive, chilling-the perfect antidote for the Age of Aquarius ." The Guardian singled out the track "Sister Ray," saying the only appropriate sound to follow the "brutal improvisational workout ... is silence". Record Collector contended that it "was as near as
7399-414: The Velvets severed their relationship with Andy Warhol. Reed once commented on their leaving Warhol: "He sat down and had a talk with me. 'You gotta decide what you want to do. Do you want to keep just playing museums from now on and the art festivals? Or do you want to start moving into other areas? Lou, don't you think you should think about it?' So I thought about it, and I fired him. Because I thought that
7550-444: The abrasive White Light/White Heat (1968), and the more accessible albums The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), with Doug Yule replacing Cale for the latter two. None performed to the expectations of record labels or Reed, the band's leader. However, like the band's debut, all albums later achieved critical acclaim. In the early 1970s, all but Yule left the band. Yule led an abortive UK tour in 1973, and released
7701-766: The airport that he was staying in Texas and quitting the band—the last founding member to quit. Morrison's replacement was singer/keyboard player Willie Alexander . This brief line-up of the band played several shows in the US and Canada in September 1971, and in October and November 1971 the band did several shows in England, Wales, and the Netherlands to support the 1971 European release of Loaded , some of which are collected on
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#17328009511437852-653: The album The Lives of Charles Douglas by indie rocker and novelist Charles Douglas (also known as Alex McAulay ) in 1999. She played bass drum, wrote songs, and sang with the New York/ Memphis punk rock – delta blues fusion group the Kropotkins with Lorette Velvette and Dave Soldier , whom she met in John Cale's band, in 1999–2003, recording "Five Points Crawl". In a 2010 interview, Tucker said she had ceased making music several years prior. As
8003-666: The album from November 1970 to August 1971, playing shows around the U.S. By this juncture, Sterling Morrison had received his degree from the City College of New York. Following a show in Houston, Texas , he left the group in August 1971 to pursue a Ph.D. in medieval literature at the University of Texas at Austin . He had packed an empty suitcase and when the time came for the band to return to New York City , he told them at
8154-415: The album purely as a money ploy. "Sesnick dumped the second iteration of the band in England with no money and no equipment and just left us there to find our way back. He gave me six copies of Squeeze as pay. I never got any money. When you sign with ASCAP or BMI you get an advance. He not only made an arrangement with them but actually signed as me and took the money." Despite the negative reviews of
8305-402: The album upon its initial release, in recent years the album has been revisited by both critics and musicians with more sympathetic and favorable reviews. In 2011 music writer Steven Shehori included Squeeze in his "Criminally Overlooked Albums" series for The Huffington Post , and in a lengthy review of the album, offered the following positive assessment of Squeeze : "if you pluck it from
8456-403: The album's cover art, although he is officially uncredited. White Light/White Heat was recorded quickly and modeled after the band's live sound and techniques of improvisation , since they often played loud with new equipment from an endorsement deal with Vox . However, the final product was compressed and distorted—most members were dissatisfied with the final product and it was followed with
8607-452: The album's title track routinely after May 1973, and Nirvana covered "Here She Comes Now" in 1990. Reed later boasted that "no group in the world can touch what we did" on the album. White Light/White Heat has been included in several lists by music publications as one of the greatest albums of the 1960s decade and of all time. It was listed at number 292 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time , with
8758-405: The album, declaring it unique and ahead of its time like the band's debut. Lenny Kaye of New Times said the cover artwork could be juxtaposed with that of The Velvet Underground & Nico . Retrospective reviews have been much more positive, and White Light/White Heat eventually sold over half a million copies internationally before Reed's death in 2013. David Fricke of Rolling Stone , in
8909-401: The band sold out when it took a paying gig. Tucker was drafted because Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison remembered her as the younger sister of his high school friend, Jim, who played the drums. Tucker was frequently noted for her androgynous appearance. In spite of this, Tucker has said that she never experienced difficulties due to sexism during this time. Tucker's style of playing
9060-453: The band "had the patience to rehearse" the album, even after numerous attempts to do so. Most of the recording was done straight through; 'Sister Ray' was one piece. 'I Heard Her Call My Name' and 'Here She Comes Now' evolved in the studio. We never performed them live. 'The Gift' was a story Lou had written a long time ago when he was at Syracuse University. It was my idea to do it as a spoken-word thing. We had this piece called 'Booker T' that
9211-404: The band and that Reed had been aware of most, if not all, of the edits. With manager Steve Sesnick looking to fill bookings (following the departure of Lou Reed), and with the pending release of Loaded in November 1970, the band, now with Sterling Morrison on guitar, Moe Tucker on drums, Walter Powers on bass, and Doug Yule taking over lead vocals and guitar, played periodic shows to promote
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#17328009511439362-565: The band and the tour manager parted ways, thus bringing the Velvet Underground to an end until the classic line-up of Reed, Tucker, Morrison and Cale reunited in the 1990s. Reed, Cale and Nico teamed up at the beginning of 1972 to play a concert in Paris at the Bataclan club . This concert was bootlegged, and finally received an official release as Le Bataclan '72 in 2003. Before that, Cale and Nico had developed solo careers, with Cale producing
9513-507: The band asked her to do something unusual, she turned her bass drum on its side and played standing up. After her drums were stolen from one club, she replaced them with garbage cans brought in from outside. Her rhythms, at once simple and exotic (influenced by the likes of Babatunde Olatunji and Bo Diddley as well as Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones), became a vital part of the group's music, despite Cale's initial objections to
9664-425: The band blamed on airplay bans and lack of promotion from Verve. The album was dismissed by many contemporary mainstream music critics, although underground newspapers took notice. Ultimately, White Light/White Heat had a significant impact on early forms of punk rock and no wave and has appeared on several lists of the greatest albums of all time, including being placed at number 272 on Rolling Stone ' s list of
9815-469: The band for a couple of days in response. While mixing the album, Reed discovered how the sound of it was distorted since the band played too loudly, and the band couldn't resolve the issue as they had limited studio time. Cale said the band neglected how playing loud would affect the technical quality of the record, and Morrison concluded that it was "doomed" due to its level of distortion and compression . Before its release, Wilson resigned from MGM Records ,
9966-446: The band gain a higher profile. He helped the band secure a recording contract with MGM's Verve Records, with himself as nominal " producer ", and gave the Velvets free rein over the sound they created. During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable , which combined Warhol's films with the band's music, which made use of minimalist devices, such as drones. Warhol included
10117-429: The band simply didn't have enough songs prepared for recording, which led to a reduced track list. White Light/White Heat would have far more involvement from Wilson, who originally only produced " Sunday Morning " on The Velvet Underground & Nico ; however, he would not participate heavily, as he would talk to his girlfriends for most of the time. Reed purposefully wanted to go "as high and as hard as we could". At
10268-415: The band to get an endorsement deal with Vox to enable them to use Vox equipment, including special effects pedals and an organ, for free. Sterling Morrison believed they were the first American band to get a Vox endorsement. Sterling Morrison offered the following input regarding the recording: There was fantastic leakage 'cause everyone was playing so loud and we had so much electronic junk with us in
10419-500: The band was scheduled to take the stage the following night before notifying him that Reed was not coming. "I was expecting [Lou] to show up, I thought he was late." Yule blamed Sesnick for Reed's departure. "Sesnick had engineered Lou's leaving the group. He and Lou had a relationship where Lou had depended on him for moral support, and he trusted him, and Sesnick basically said 'screw you.' ... It must have been hard for Lou to hear that because he depended on him, so he quit." While Loaded
10570-574: The band with his show in an effort to "use rock as a part of a larger, interdisciplinary-art work based around performance" (McDonald). They played shows for several months in New York City, then traveled throughout the United States and Canada until its last installment in May 1967. During a short period in September 1966, when Cale was ill, the avant-garde musician Henry Flynt and Reed's friend Richard Mishkin took turns to cover for him. The show included 16 mm film projections by Warhol, combined with
10721-597: The band with the necessary equipment and tour funds, they played the handful of dates to secure enough money for flights back to the US, and Yule left the band when the brief tour ended in December 1972. It was during this brief period in the UK that Yule recorded the Polydor album (ultimately titled Squeeze ) under the Velvet Underground name virtually by himself, with only the assistance of Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and
10872-414: The band's history with Warhol as a selling point. MGM included songs from the album as a part of a promotional set of interviews and songs—the set includes an interview with the band members. Bockris, another biographer of Reed's, said that the reaction to it was "even harsher ... than the first", with particular criticism directed towards its transgressive lyrics. The band had difficulties distributing
11023-478: The bass if Cale was occupied with viola or keyboards, despite his lack of enthusiasm for playing the instrument. However, some songs had Reed and Morrison playing their usual guitars and Cale was occupied with viola or keyboards and as a result, nobody was on bass: two examples of this are " Heroin " and " Sister Ray ". Tucker temporarily left the group when she became pregnant with her first child, Kerry "Trucker" Tucker, in early 1970. Because of her pregnancy, Tucker
11174-425: The beginning of a new age" as sung by Yule) was repeated many more times. A brief interlude in "Rock and Roll" was also removed. (For the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See , the album was presented as Reed intended; the "Fully Loaded" two-disc edition includes the full versions of "Sweet Jane" and "New Age".) On the other hand, Yule has pointed out that the album was for all intents and purposes finished when Reed left
11325-443: The best contemporary bass players. McGuire also considered the album a symbol of progression for the band. Sandy Pearlman, writing for Crawdaddy , noted its technological and "mechanical" sound while questioning why Warhol wasn't credited for contributing to its cover. The Listener ' s Tim Souster praised "Sister Ray", saying the track shows "pop is at last making decisive steps in a direction with far-reaching implications for
11476-545: The club La Cave. Upon meeting Reed, Sesnick and Morrison at Max's, Yule was asked to handle bass and organ duties in the band, and he would soon contribute vocals as well. After several months of shows in the US, the band swiftly recorded their third album The Velvet Underground in late 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California . It was released in March 1969. The cover photograph was taken by Billy Name . The LP sleeve
11627-410: The creative development not only of pop itself but of 'serious' music too". Internationally, Dutch magazine HitWeek gave the album a positive review, while noting its poor sound quality. British magazine NME noted its short track list and called it "weirdo stuff". Disc found it to be "staggering". A detailed review by Gene Youngblood in the underground newspaper Los Angeles Free Press praised
11778-465: The double album. In his notes, Murphy described a scene 100 years in the future, with a student taking a class on "classical rock'n'roll" and listening to the Velvet Underground. He wondered what the student would make of the music and concluded, "I wish it was a hundred years from today (I can't stand the suspense)". During this period the band played a series of shows in November 1969 at the Matrix and
11929-404: The drone". In July 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape at their Ludlow Street loft without MacLise, because he refused to be tied down to a schedule and would turn up to band practice sessions only when he wanted. When he briefly returned to Britain, Cale attempted to give a copy of the tape to Marianne Faithfull , hoping she would pass it on to Mick Jagger , lead singer of
12080-503: The energy and the electronics, but we didn't know it couldn't be recorded...what we were trying to do was really fry the tracks. Cale has said that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty". The title track sets a harsh opening; bassist Cale overdubbing a piano that has been described as "a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Henry Cowell ". Along with brash songs like " Sister Ray " and " I Heard Her Call My Name ", there
12231-437: The final product, as Wilson forgot to turn on some of her drum microphones while recording. According to Reed, Kellgren walked out during the recording of "Sister Ray". " I Heard Her Call My Name " was remixed by Reed after the recording process to boost his vocals, which Tucker said ruined the sound of the song. Morrison considered the album a technical failure, additionally citing "I Hear Her Call My Name"; Morrison would quit
12382-532: The following year, 1973, in Europe only, with minimal promotion by the label, and was held in low regard by fans and critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that the album received "uniformly terrible reviews" upon initial release, and in the early 1970s, the NME Book of Rock counted it as "a Velvet Underground album in name only". When asked about Squeeze , Yule hinted that band manager Steve Sesnick orchestrated
12533-523: The form of a blues-rock instrumental. This would be Cale's first vocal performance for the band, and it showed the group's improvisational roots. " Lady Godiva's Operation " contains a lyrical style influenced by William S. Burroughs . Partially inspired by his teenage experience with electroshock treatments , the track is another of Reed's short stories set to music, but is more instrumentally advanced than "The Gift". Cale adds backing vocals, which are "sung" rather than spoken, and he shuddered and imitated
12684-592: The group (such as "Walk It and Talk It", "Ride into the Sun", and "Countess from Hong Kong"). Reed called Morrison and Tucker to a meeting at the Riviera Cafe in the West Village without Cale's knowledge, and informed them that Cale was out of the band; when Morrison objected, Reed said it was either Cale was sacked or the Velvets were dissolved. Neither Morrison nor Tucker was happy with the idea, but faced with
12835-672: The group, " All Tomorrow's Parties ". Kurt Loder would later describe "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a "mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece". Closing out the album was the avant-garde " The Black Angel's Death Song ", followed by the lengthy, feedback-laden " European Son ", which Reed dedicated to his Syracuse professor Delmore Schwartz . The overall sound was propelled by Reed and Nico's deadpan vocals, Cale's droning viola, bass and keyboards, Reed's experimental avant-garde guitar, Morrison's often R&B - or country -influenced guitar, and Tucker's simple but steady and tribal-sounding beat with sparse use of cymbals. A technique used on many songs
12986-438: The guitar solo was influenced by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman . Reed biographer Howard Sounes summarized the track as "[Tucker] maintaining a frantic beat as [Reed] delivered a speed rap ending with a mind-splitting guitar solo". Reed said in a Rolling Stone interview that "Sister Ray" was included at the suggestion of Warhol, who asked that he "gotta make sure that you do the 'sucking on my ding-dong' song". The track
13137-474: The influence of the new equipment. Morrison's ringing guitar parts and Yule's melodic bass guitar and harmony vocals are used prominently on the album. Reed's songs and singing are subdued and confessional in nature, and he shared lead vocals with Yule, particularly when his own voice would fail under stress. Doug Yule sang the lead vocal on "Candy Says" (about the Warhol superstar Candy Darling ), which opens
13288-512: The lack of progress the band was making, and facing pressure by manager Steve Sesnick , Reed decided to quit the band during the last week of the Max's Kansas City shows in August 1970. Although Reed had informed Tucker, who was attending the show but not playing with the band because of her pregnancy, that he planned to leave the group on his last evening, he did not tell Morrison or Yule. In a 2006 interview, Yule said Sesnick waited until one hour before
13439-573: The late 2000s, released four studio albums and performed as a session musician . In 1996, Tucker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Velvet Underground. Maureen Tucker was born in Jackson Heights, Queens , New York City , and grew up in Levittown, New York in a middle-class Catholic family. Her father, James, was a housepainter and her mother, Margaret,
13590-568: The less experimental The Velvet Underground the following year; Cale would leave the band later in 1968. The distortion level became a prototype for punk rock , shoegaze and noise rock . The 17-minute "Sister Ray" is widely considered the standout track by critics and fans. White Light/White Heat sold fewer copies than The Velvet Underground & Nico , and peaked at 199 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. The album's only single, " White Light/White Heat ", failed to chart, which
13741-472: The limitations of the studio", according to Morrison. They were well prepared, and the tension between Cale and Reed wasn't apparent in the studio. White Light/White Heat was recorded in September 1967 at Mayfair Sound Studios at Seventh Avenue in Manhattan , with work to form its songs being done in the previous summer. The band specifically passed on songs that sounded gentler—though Cale also said that
13892-616: The line "She's just suckin' on my ding dong/I'm searchin' for my mainline". Reed called the song "Sister Ray" in a nod to Ray Davies of the British band the Kinks . The title track "White Light/White Heat" was released as a single in November 1967 but failed commercially. The B-side was "Here She Comes Now"; these tracks are the two shortest tracks on the album. The band claimed that it was banned in San Francisco —Reed said that this
14043-493: The live shows the band played during this period would end up released as live albums many years later. The live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (with Reed, Yule, Morrison & Tucker) was recorded in October 1969 but not released until 1974, on Mercury Records, at the urging of rock critic Paul Nelson , who worked in A&;R for Mercury at the time. Nelson asked singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy to write liner notes for
14194-611: The lyrics "interesting" and the narrative-heavy songs such as "The Gift" joyful, albeit drowned out by the "pulsating instrumentation". Melody Maker , on the other hand, wrote off the album as "utterly pretentious, unbelievably monotonous". Peter Reilly of HiFi/Stereo Review , while erroneously describing the album's release as headed by Warhol, assigned the album ratings of "fair" for recording, "distinct" for stereo quality, and "not so good" for performance. Wayne McGuire, writing for The Boston Sound , praised Cale's bass playing, particularly on "White Light/White Heat", calling him one of
14345-475: The marketplace. The album was re-distributed at nearly the same time as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967, which further hindered the release. Regarding MGM/Verve's delay in releasing the album, Warhol's business manager Paul Morrissey once offered the following: "Verve/MGM didn't know what to do with The Velvet Underground and Nico because it was so peculiar. They did not release it for almost
14496-435: The most influential bands in rock, underground , experimental , and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, experimentation, and nihilistic attitude were also instrumental in the development of punk rock , new wave and several other genres. The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior . In 1966,
14647-532: The next album with the amplifiers underwater, and [Lou] just couldn't have it. He was trying to make the band more accessible." Ultimately, Morrison was dispatched by Reed to tell Cale that he was out of the band. Before work on their third album started, Cale was replaced by musician Doug Yule of the Boston group the Grass Menagerie, who had been a close associate of the band. Yule, a native New Yorker, had moved to Boston to attend Boston University as
14798-509: The other instruments. Rock critic Robert Christgau said of Tucker, "Mo was a great drummer in a minimalist, limited, autodidactic way that I think changed musical history. She is where the punk notion of how the beat works begins." Apart from drumming, Tucker sang co-lead vocals on three Velvet Underground songs: the acoustic guitar number " After Hours " and the experimental poetry track "The Murder Mystery", both from 1969's The Velvet Underground album, as well as "I'm Sticking with You",
14949-460: The owner of the band's label at the time, and would never work with the band again. White Light/White Heat has been described as experimental rock , noise rock , proto-punk and art rock . Record Mirror called it a "menacing set of acid-rock tunes." "White Heat", at the time, was a slang term for the speed rush from amphetamine . The record's lyrics vary from themes of drug use to sexual references (such as fellatio and orgies ), such as
15100-616: The phrase "White Light". Reed was interviewed by a radio station in Oregon, which Richie Unterberger summarizes: [Reed]'s recently been investigating a Japanese form of healing in Los Angeles that's "a way of giving off white light ... I've been involved and interested in what they call white light for a long time." He briefly discusses Alice Bailey and her occult book A Treatise On White Magic ... "It costs like ten dollars, unfortunately," he notes apologetically. "The Gift"
15251-399: The physical effects of amphetamine usage. It consists of a simple two-chord progression of G5 and D5, and contains elements of both heavy metal and doo-wop . It is one of the album's songs that has more traditional rock'n'roll elements, and while discussing amphetamine it is also equally influenced by one of Reed's favorite books, Alice Bailey 's A Treatise on White Magic , which inspired
15402-517: The pop sensibilities of its time". Thomas Hobbs, in a review for Crack , praised its production but was divided on its lyrics, saying they “make it a record that's a lot harder to love; perhaps that was the aim all along". Other reviews praised the album's abrasive production. Mark Deming of AllMusic considered it "easily the least accessible" of the band's albums, saying: "anyone wanting to hear their guitar-mauling tribal frenzy straight with no chaser will love it, and those benighted souls who think of
15553-520: The presence of a female drummer. The group earned a regular paying gig at the Café Bizarre and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble. In 1965, after being introduced to the Velvet Underground by filmmaker Barbara Rubin , Andy Warhol became the band's manager and suggested they use the German-born singer Nico (born Christa Päffgen) on several songs. Warhol's reputation helped
15704-402: The prime songs of these recording sessions were released years later, in 1985, in a compilation album called VU . The album VU marks the transitional sound between the whisper-soft third album and the band's movement to the later pop rock song-style of their final record, Loaded . Two of the songs the Velvets recorded during this period were later used on film soundtracks: "Stephanie Says"
15855-595: The ranking slipping to number 293 in the 2012 revision and climbing to number 272 in the 2020 reboot of the list. It was voted number 309 in the third edition of Colin Larkin 's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). Pitchfork ranked it number 26 on its list of the best albums of the 1960s, behind Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone . NME ranked it number 89 in its inaugural 1974 list of the top 100 albums of all time, eventually listing it as number 352 on its list of
16006-495: The record signalled a significant turn in rock music and for the band; similarly, Mike Boehm of the Los Angeles Times considered it a "raw, brutal milestone in the development of what would become punk rock". Joe Viglione of AllMusic called it a grunge classic. Tracks from the record were covered by underground and contemporary artists. British rock band Buzzcocks were formed by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto out of
16157-411: The recording of Loaded , Doug Yule played a more prominent role in the band, and with Reed's encouragement, sang the lead vocal on four songs: "Who Loves the Sun", which opened the album, "New Age", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and the final track, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin". Yule once commented on the recording of Loaded : "Lou leaned on me a lot in terms of musical support and for harmonies, vocal arrangements. I did
16308-566: The release, and growing interest in the Velvet Underground in Europe, Sesnick was able to secure a single album deal with Polydor in the UK, and a handful of promotional shows were booked in the UK in November and December 1972. After Sesnick reached out to Yule, a new Velvet Underground lineup was quickly assembled by Yule to do the UK shows. This brief lineup of the Velvet Underground consisted of Yule, guitarist Rob Norris (later of The Bongos ), bassist George Kay (Krzyzewski), and drummer Mark Nauseef . After Sesnick failed to show up in London to meet
16459-548: The road both in the US and Canada, and not making much headway commercially. Despite these commercial setbacks, the band focused on performing live shows on the road, playing both re-worked songs from their past albums, and debuting new songs that would find their way onto the Loaded album, such as "New Age", "Rock and Roll", and "Sweet Jane". While the band continued to do extended improvisations in their live shows, by 1969 they were focusing on tight live performances, and several of
16610-523: The sessions, Sterling Morrison resumed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York . Although he contributed guitar tracks to the album, he began to split his time between classes, the sessions and the gigs at Max's, thus leaving Reed and Yule to handle the bulk of the arrangements. It was during the Loaded recording sessions that the Velvets (with Billy Yule deputizing on drums) secured
16761-450: The shackles of its murky back-story, Squeeze is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience." The UK band Squeeze took their name from its title according to band member Chris Difford , who offered the following opinion of the album in a 2012 interview: "It's an odd record, but the name came from that, definitely. ... In a retrospective way I really enjoy it. It has kind of a naivety about it." Although Yule had put an end to
16912-535: The single "White Light/White Heat" and received the most revenue through touring. They also had difficulties attracting larger audiences, even after promotion after appearing at Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable . Ultimately, tension between Reed and Cale led to Cale being fired in a meeting called by Reed. The cover is a black-on-black picture of a motorcyclist tatoo [ sic ] by Billy. Beautiful. ALL BLACK! Lou Reed, Letter to Gerard Malanga The original album cover for White Light/White Heat
17063-414: The songs "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane") since Moe Tucker (who was erroneously credited as the album's drummer, despite not playing on it) was absent on maternity leave to have her first child, a daughter named Kerry. Other drum parts were performed by engineer Adrian Barber , session musician Tommy Castanaro, and Billy Yule (Doug Yule's younger brother), who was still in high school at the time. During
17214-410: The sounds of an oxygen machine while recording the track. What type of operation Lady Godiva is undertaking is unclear, though it seems to be about a transsexual and related to sex change; Reed sings about gender-altering surgery, as seen in the lines "Doctor arrives with knife and baggage / sees the growth as just so much cabbage". The title of "Here She Comes Now" is a double entendre . The song
17365-465: The student newspaper of MIT , would be one of the first to announce that the band were working on a follow-up. The band had access to new electronics through an endorsement deal with Vox . The sound of the album was designed from the beginning to be against the Summer of Love in San Francisco and also to capture their live sound. Steve Sesnick was chosen as the replacement manager for the band, and he
17516-412: The studio—all these fuzzers and compressors. Gary Kellgren , who is ultra-competent, told us repeatedly: "You can't do it—all the needles are on red." and we reacted as we always reacted: "Look, we don't know what goes on in there and we don't want to hear about it. Just do the best you can." And so the album is fuzzy, there's all that white noise...we wanted to do something electronic and energetic. We had
17667-410: The time, Reed played a 12-string guitar , Gibson , and Epiphone guitars; he also used Vox amplifiers. The band also used Vox distortion pedals to the fullest extent; recording engineer Gary Kellgren reportedly said "you can't do it – all the needles are on red" during the recording sessions. To get the sound of a character receiving a blade through their skull in " The Gift ", Reed stabbed or smashed
17818-644: The time. For example, Rolling Stone refused to review the record. Though Billboard predicted that the album would become a hot-seller for record stores catering to underground acts, it only briefly appeared on the Billboard Top LPs chart. For Record Mirror , Peter Jones and Norman Jopling called it "a hippy must", with repetitive, "growling" blues-style instrumentation and deadpan vocals. The reviewers singled out "Sister Ray" as "behemoth" while comparing "The Gift" to Dylan Thomas ' 1940s radio drama Under Milk Wood . A reviewer for Billboard called
17969-469: The tip. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, peeled banana beneath. Eleven songs showcased the Velvets' dynamic range, veering from the pounding attacks of " I'm Waiting for the Man " and " Run Run Run ", the droning "Venus in Furs" and " Heroin ", the chiming and celestial "Sunday Morning", to the quiet " Femme Fatale " and the tender " I'll Be Your Mirror ", as well as Warhol's own favorite song of
18120-452: The title track " White Light/White Heat ", which implies intravenous use of methamphetamine . " Here She Comes Now " is built around a double-entendre . On the album's last track, "Sister Ray", Reed tells a tale of debauchery involving drag queens having a failed orgy. Reed eventually commented on how "Sister Ray" was ahead of its time, particularly its early form of heavy metal . The record opens with "White Light/White Heat" which details
18271-550: The vocals to the forefront, while reducing the album's instrumentation. The second (and more widely distributed) mix is the stereo mix done by MGM/Verve staff recording engineer Val Valentin. Another factor in the change of sound was the band's Vox amplifiers and assorted fuzzboxes were rumored to have been stolen from an airport while they were on tour and they obtained replacements by signing a new endorsement deal with Sunn . In addition, Reed and Morrison had purchased matching Fender 12-string electric guitars , but Doug Yule plays down
18422-400: Was "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time". The foundations for what would become the Velvet Underground were laid in late 1964. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed had performed with a few short-lived garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records (Reed described his tenure there as being "a poor man's Carole King "). Reed met John Cale ,
18573-409: Was a clerical worker. She had an older brother, Jim, who was friends with Sterling Morrison , and a sister, Margo. Tucker began playing the drums in 1963, at age 19. When she was asked to join the Velvet Underground, she had dropped out of Ithaca College and was working for IBM as a keypunch operator. The band's original percussionist, Angus Maclise , had left in November 1965 because he felt
18724-547: Was a commercial disappointment. It peaked at position 199 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, which was lower than their debut. Although the band was disappointed by Verve and MGM's lack of promotion, Verve nevertheless ran a full-page ad in Rolling Stone and ran other ads in underground newspapers, including a full-page one in Hullabaloo , a teen magazine. Verve also ran radio ads advertising "The Gift" and also used
18875-487: Was accepted by all band members except bassist John Cale ; drummer Moe Tucker even considered him a fifth member of the group. Singer Lou Reed influenced the album with his obsession with astrology , especially his interest in the Virgo-Pisces astrological opposition . Rehearsal was similar to the band's debut, with the band's best pieces being reworked mostly in the studio. However, Cale would state that no one in
19026-575: Was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised the singer and guitarist Lou Reed , the Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale , the guitarist Sterling Morrison and the drummer Angus MacLise . In 1965, MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker , who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of
19177-418: Was because of the former's references to drugs and the latter's references to sex. The album was released on January 30, 1968. The original pressing of the record incorrectly listed the track "Here She Comes Now" as "There She Comes Now". Initially, the band had a high ego after its release, but were nevertheless disappointed by its lack of promotion from MGM. Like the band's debut, it was banned on radio , and
19328-432: Was consciously anti-beauty." Sterling Morrison , the lead guitarist, said: "We were all pulling in the same direction. We may have been dragging each other off a cliff, but we were all definitely going in the same direction." Tucker would estimate that the album took two weeks to record, with about seven recording sessions. It was "almost" recorded in one day—the band would not "accommodate what [they] were trying to do due to
19479-436: Was creative tension between Reed and Cale, its effects have been exaggerated over the years. Cale played his last show with the band at the Boston Tea Party in September 1968 and was fired shortly afterwards. According to Michael Carlucci, a friend of Robert Quine , "Lou told Quine that the reason why he had to get rid of Cale in the band was Cale's ideas were just too out there. Cale had some wacky ideas. He wanted to record
19630-418: Was designed by Dick Smith, then a staff artist at MGM/Verve. Released on March 12, 1969, the album failed to make Billboard' s Top 200 album chart. The harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two records were almost entirely absent on their third album. This resulted in a gentler sound influenced by folk music , prescient of the songwriting style that would soon form Reed's solo career. While Reed had covered
19781-468: Was during this period that Morrison heard Yule playing guitar in his apartment, and mentioned to Reed that Yule was practicing guitar and was improving quickly. It was following this discussion that led to a phone call from Steve Sesnick inviting Yule to meet with the band at Max's Kansas City in New York City in October 1968 to discuss joining the Velvets before two upcoming shows in Cleveland, Ohio, at
19932-442: Was finalized and mixed, it had yet to be mastered and was not set to be released by Atlantic until November of that year. Reed often said he was completely surprised when he saw Loaded in stores. He also said, "I left them to their album full of hits that I made". Reed was perturbed about a verse being edited from the Loaded version of " Sweet Jane ". " New Age " was changed as well: as originally recorded, its closing line ("It's
20083-475: Was hired at a Wal-Mart distribution center . She quit the job in 1989 when she was asked to go on tour of Europe with the band Half Japanese . Tucker started recording and touring again, releasing a number of albums on small, independent labels that feature her singing and playing guitar, fronting her own band. This band at times included former Velvets colleague Sterling Morrison . Apart from releasing her own records, Tucker has made guest performances on
20234-467: Was included in the box set Peel Slowly and See , and was later reissued as a Super Deluxe edition for its 45th anniversary, including mono versions of tracks, demos, and live performances. All lyrics are written by Lou Reed Derived from journalist David Fricke and the album's back cover. The Velvet Underground Technical personnel Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground
20385-493: Was just an instrumental, so instead of wasting it, we decided to combine them. John Cale, Uptight: The Velvet Underground Story The album was recorded in a short time frame, and with a noticeably different style from that of The Velvet Underground & Nico . Decades after its release, John Cale (in the liner notes of Peel Slowly and See ) described White Light/White Heat as "a very rabid record ... The first one had some gentility, some beauty. The second one
20536-454: Was on drums. Also at these appearances, the band often played an extended jam they had dubbed "Booker T", after musician Booker T. Jones . Some of these performances have been released as a bootleg ; they remain the only record of MacLise with the Velvet Underground. According to Morrison, MacLise is said to have regretted leaving the Velvet Underground and wanted to rejoin, but Reed specifically prohibited this and made it clear that this stint
20687-631: Was one of the things to do if we were going to move away from that…" Steve Sesnick was soon brought in as a replacement manager, much to the chagrin of Cale, who believes that Sesnick tried to push Reed as band leader at the expense of band harmony. Both Cale and Reed called Sesnick a "snake" in different interviews after leaving the band. In September 1967, the Velvet Underground began recording their second album, White Light/White Heat , with Tom Wilson as producer. The band performed live often, and their performances became louder and harsher and often included extended improvisations . Warhol arranged for
20838-498: Was only able to play on a couple of outtakes for Loaded , which would become the band's fourth and final album with Lou Reed. Billy Yule , the younger and high-school-age brother of bassist Doug Yule , filled in the role of drummer for live performances and some of the songs on the album. Tucker returned to the band in late 1970, by which time Reed had left the group and Doug Yule had assumed leadership. She toured North America (United States and Canada) and Europe (United Kingdom and
20989-468: Was only temporary. MacLise still behaved eccentrically with time and commerce and went by his own clock: for instance, he showed up half an hour late to one show and carried on with a half-hour of drumming to compensate for his late arrival, long after the set had finished. In December 1966, Warhol and David Dalton designed Issue 3 of the multimedia Aspen . Included in this issue of the "magazine", which retailed at $ 4 ($ 38 in 2023 dollars ) per copy and
21140-436: Was packaged in a hinged box designed to look like Fab laundry detergent, were various leaflets and booklets, one of which was a commentary on rock and roll by Lou Reed, another an EPI promotional newspaper. Also enclosed was a 2-sided flexi disk : side one produced by Peter Walker , a musical associate of Timothy Leary ; and side two titled "Loop", credited to the Velvet Underground but actually recorded by Cale alone. "Loop",
21291-527: Was pleasantly surprised to discover that Reed's experimentalist tendencies were similar to his own: Reed sometimes used alternative guitar tunings to create a droning sound. The pair rehearsed and performed together; their partnership and shared interests built the path towards what would later become the Velvet Underground. Reed's first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to issue budget-priced recordings and support an anti-dance single written by Reed, "The Ostrich", to which Cale added
21442-567: Was recorded primarily in Scepter Studios in New York City during April 1966, but for reasons unclear, some songs were rerecorded at TTG Studios in Los Angeles , along with the new song " Sunday Morning ", later in the year with Tom Wilson producing. The album was released by Verve Records the following year in March 1967. The album cover is famous for its Warhol design: a yellow banana sticker with "Peel slowly and see" printed near
21593-400: Was released on March 12, 1967 (after a lengthy delay by Verve), and reached No. 171 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 charts. The commercial growth of the album was hampered by a legal claim: as the album's back cover included a photo of the group on stage with an unauthorized image projected behind them of actor Eric Emerson from a Warhol motion picture, Chelsea Girls , Emerson made
21744-400: Was spontaneous, as Reed desired, and it also has no bass guitar. The guitars in the track created a "dense musical backdrop" to its lyrics before a distorted electric organ , played by Cale, joined in. Tucker would state that it was more than just noise, as everyone playing still followed Tucker's beat. The third verse contains explicit sexual references, which was rare for Reed, particularly in
21895-411: Was the "drone strum", an eighth-note rhythm guitar style used by Reed. Although Cale was the band's usual bassist, if he switched to viola or keyboards, Morrison would normally play bass. Despite his proficiency on the instrument, Morrison hated playing bass. Conversely, some songs had Reed and Morrison playing their usual guitars with Cale on viola or keyboards, but with nobody playing bass. The album
22046-536: Was the darkly comic " The Gift ", a short story written by Reed and narrated by Cale in his deadpan Welsh accent . The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500 , Cabaret Voltaire , and Nirvana , among others. The album was released on January 30, 1968, entering the Billboard Top 200 chart for two weeks, at number 199. Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work, and Reed and Cale were pulling
22197-604: Was the recipient of the 2017 Merit Award. In 2021, Tucker participated in Todd Haynes ' documentary The Velvet Underground . Tucker moved to Phoenix, Arizona , in 1971, where she lived with her husband and children. While living in Phoenix, she played drums in the short-lived band Paris 1942 with Alan Bishop of the Sun City Girls . In the early 1980s, she divorced and relocated to Douglas, Georgia , where she
22348-406: Was unconventional. She played standing up rather than seated (for easier access to the bass drum), using a simplified drum kit of tom toms , a snare drum and an upturned bass drum , playing with mallets rather than drumsticks . She rarely used cymbals ; she claimed that since she felt the purpose of a drummer was simply to "keep time", cymbals were unnecessary for this purpose and drowned out
22499-403: Was used in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums ; "I'm Sticking With You" has a rare Moe Tucker–Lou Reed dual-lead vocal track, with Doug Yule accompanying on piano, and was included in the film Juno . The rest of the recordings, as well as some alternative takes and instrumental tracks were later bundled on Another View which was released in 1986. After Reed's departure, he later reworked
22650-594: Was written on a train home from a poor performance in Connecticut . Reed explained the song as "a bunch of drag queens taking some sailors home with them, shooting up on smack and having this orgy when the police appear". The title is named after a drag queen. The song also has free jazz influences from Reed's interest in Coleman and Cecil Taylor ; it is mostly improvisation. Wilson produced Taylor's album Jazz Advance earlier in 1956. The song tells this story through
22801-493: Was written to be sung by Nico, before the band fell out with her. A folk rock song, it is the only track on the album that resembles contemporary rock. It is also the only song that would be jointly credited to Reed, Cale, and Morrison. "I Heard Her Call My Name" is a love song for a dead girl. Reed's guitar playing was inspired by Jimi Hendrix , and the song has been described as free jazz with " banshee -like guitar breaks" by Unterberger. It has elements of garage-rock , while
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