The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
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Free Music Notes for White Light/White Heat
Free Music Review: White Light / White Genius
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not the type to write reviews, but when I looked at several of the reviews bashing this album, I had to speak up. I own all the studio albums by The Velvet Underground, and this one is by far my favorite. That being said, as you probably already read, it is the least accessible. Don't let that discourage you. Easy come, easy go, right? I recommend starting with another Velvet album if this is your first exposure to them. Come back to this one, and give it some patience; You will be rewarded.Free Music Review: A great album ... horrible value
Hit: 3 Stars
I love this album. It features my favorite two Velvet Underground songs, the title track and "I heard her call my name". I also like "Here she comes now" and both "Lady Godiva's Operation" and "The gift" have a strange appeal, despite also being bizzare. ("The gift" is really a musical accompaniment to a short story read by John Cale, "Lady Godiva" is a song with sections that are just bizarre) "Sister Ray" is a good idea drawn out far too long. All in all, this is the Velvet Underground at their most experimental and most abrasive moment. It also only has six songs on it and, in terms of song per dollar, I feel cheated.
This album is also a bad choice as your first Velvet Underground album. All four Albums have a distinct personality.
The Velvet Underground and Nico : Mellow, Abrasives, Experimental, Conventional, Minimalistic, and extremely raw.
White Light/ White Heat; Very Expiremental and abrassive, mellow only during "here she comes now"
The Velvet Underground : Very mellow; almost a folk album.
Loaded : The Velvet Underground finally plays traditional rock & roll
If you think you might like VU's experimental, abrasive side then the first album is really the best choice, if you don't like abrasive, poorly produced music then there is some chance you might still like their third or fourth albums.
I think "White Light / White Heat" is an album mainly for people who loved "Murder Mystery" and the experimental side of "The Velvet Underground and Nice" so much that they are willing to over-pay for six more songs of that type. But that won't stop me from complaing about being over-charged.
Free Music Review: It doesn't get much heavier than this!
Hit: 4 Stars
If you were around in 1968 then you remember the times, the vibe and the violence in the air. Drawn from such times the Velvets released this masterpiece. There is a reason they're in the Rock & Roll Hall of fame my friend. Even their "lesser records" (like this one) were masterpieces. They were light years ahead of their time. This is one HEAVY record. Definetely worth a listen to the younger generation. The Velvets did it first and sometimes better than some of the rest.Free Music Review: White Light/White Heat - Velvet Underground
Hit: 5 Stars
As a Velvet Underground/Lou Reed fan from the foggy sixties, I was very pleased to find this "album" still available. It is a perfect example of the raw, edgy, unsophisticated & repetitious rock that drew such a loyal base. I attended a VU concert in a small, popular venue that packed us in shoulder to shoulder. VU came out, played out of key, out of tune and seemingly totally stoned, for a very short set. About a third of the audience left disgusted, leaving room, and comfort, for the remaining devotees. Reed came back on stage, scanned the remaining audience, and proceeded to apologize for the bad performance - then said, 'we saw how packed and uncomfortable it was, and played crappy on purpose to make room for our true fans'. They proceeded to play a super long, incredibly tight set, that blew us all away. Superb!Free Music Review: A Key Factor to the Punk Movement
Hit: 5 Stars
Something that needs to be be remembered about The Velvet Underground is their willingness to make each of their studio albums different from its predecessor. When you hear The Velvet Underground & Nico, you hear different sounds and genres. Examples are the following: Pop-flavored sounds like in "Sunday Morning", Moderate sound, (neither too loud nor too soft) like in "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "There She Goes Again", Slow moving ballads like, "Femme Fetale" and "I'll Be Your Mirror", and finally, songs of intensity and dread, like "Venus in Furs", "Heroin", "All Tomorrow's Parties", and "European Son". With the album, White Light/White Heat, you get extreme loudness and intensity throughout just about all of the songs. In the title track, "White Light/White Heat", you hear a moderately loud tone and tempo, then towards the end, both the tone and tempo get much louder and faster. I'm not so sure what the subject matter of the song is. My guess is that it's about sex and drugs. But you the listener should make your own interpretation of it. In "The Gift", the band plays approximately at a walking tempo, and John Cale narrates a story about not so wonderful love relationship. A man named Waldo Jeffers decides to put himself in a postal package and mail himself to his ex-girlfriend, Marsha Bronson. Ironically, her best friend Sheila Klein takes a knife, plunges it straight into the package, and winds up having Waldo meet his demise. In "Lady Godvia's Operation", Lou Reed depcicts a woman named Godvia who is in tears beacuse she has to undergo surgery. Once the doctor starts to operate, he realizes, he did not give her enough anesthesia, because she wakes up yelling after having his scalpel inserted into her. Towards the end of the song, you hear strange sound effects. My interpretation is that it resembles sleeping and snoring during and operation. However, you should listen to the song yourself and draw your own conclusions. The song, "Here She Comes Now" tells about a woman who has a great form and fits a certain man's visual taste. The instruments are played in a not too loud tone. In the song, "I Heard Her Call My Name", a man laments over the death of a woman who cared about him to the extreme. You hear a fast tempo by Maureen Tucker and abstract guitar solos by Lou and Sterling Morrison. Finally, in the song "Sister Ray", you have different people in different verses being depicted. In each verse, you have certain people, committing certain sins. Most of these sins are either violent, or sexual, or both. Along with that, you have this imaginary nun, Sister Ray, permitting them and discussing with them on how to committ these sins. Once again, draw you own conclusions. The song at a moderate tempo with extreme loudness and distortion from the guitars. During the middle of the song, Mureen starts playing the drums faster and you hear it accelerating more towards the end. John plays effective organ chords and licks thoughout the song. This album has been I huge influence on the punk and heavy metal scene. I think that members were influenced by several tracks in The Velvet Underground & Nico. However, most of their style is borrowed from the album, White Light/White Heat. This kind of music is not for everyone. But it is definitely an album that is beyond its time. You can hear its influence in groups like Black Sabbath, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Judas Priest, Guns 'n' Roses, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Slayer, Nine Inch Nails,etc..