|
Post by jeffk on Jan 31, 2019 1:16:43 GMT
Was released on this day in 1968.
|
|
|
Post by phenomenalcat on Jan 31, 2019 1:46:16 GMT
Strange, but my least-listened to VU album. Aside from "Here She Comes Now", I haven't been moved to listen to it in years. It's like two EPs.
|
|
|
Post by dipstick on Jan 31, 2019 1:46:58 GMT
We used to blast "Sister Ray" in the college dorms during summer, when most of the hall was empty. There were a surprisingly good number of VU fans hanging around then.
|
|
|
Post by jeffk on Jan 31, 2019 3:01:01 GMT
Strange, but my least-listened to VU album. Aside from "Here She Comes Now", I haven't been moved to listen to it in years. It's like two EPs. It's my least favorite of the 4 official releases. I was never a big fan of Sister Ray either.
|
|
fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,541
|
Post by fange on Jan 31, 2019 5:49:16 GMT
The title track alone is a thing of magic and wonder.
|
|
|
Post by Charlie O. on Jan 31, 2019 6:26:57 GMT
Strange, but my least-listened to VU album. Aside from "Here She Comes Now", I haven't been moved to listen to it in years. It's like two EPs. It's my least favorite of the 4 official releases. I was never a big fan of Sister Ray either. Same here - but I love every other track, especially "Here She Comes Now" and "I Heard Her Call My Name". And "Sister Ray" is great for the first few minutes, at least. I'm glad they made the album. It's funny that it took them so long to get around to it, though. It came out ten months after the first album; in those days that was considered a long gap between albums. Plus there was the long delay in getting the first album released; you'd think the band would've been chomping at the bit to do the second one. Maybe it was Verve. I think they re-promoted And Nico some months after that came out, after the Eric Emerson lawsuit was resolved, so maybe they weren't ready for a second one right away.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jan 31, 2019 8:06:19 GMT
I'm another one who loves the title track (sometimes I think it's my very fave by the band) and 'Here She Comes Now'. The sound of both of those things! the latter's like amplified raindrops, the former, like hell opened up. Just incredible - and they'll never date.
Some live versions of 'White Light/White Heat' from a little later showed they still liked to make an unholy racket despite Cale's departure. It's one hell of a song, just a nice little banging series of chords/changes. That short version Reed did with Jack White just a few years ago at some awards ceremony was really quite thrilling.
|
|
rayge
Administrator
Invisible
Posts: 8,776
|
Post by rayge on Jan 31, 2019 8:45:47 GMT
My favourite VU album by a distance, just The Gift and LGO less than stellar. I Heard Her Call My Name my favourite guitar noise anywhere. Side two my all-time favourite side of any record ever, contains my favourite few seconds of recorded silence anywhere. A thing of pure wonder, although it took a fair few plays before it revealed itself. I remember lying on my back with the top of my head full of acid about an inch from the speaker (I have the mono version) and letting side two drill through my skull, an aural trepanation. A thing of absolute wonder, and people prefer '...and Nico'. It is to weep. I have about six or seven versions of Sister Ray, too, most of them longer than the one on this album. Never tire of them.
|
|
|
Post by DarknessFish on Jan 31, 2019 10:13:39 GMT
I think it's probably the worst of their first three releases (I discount everything afterwards), and I hardly ever dig it out. I think it's just a bit clunkier in parts than the other two, especially the title track. VU & Nico has the strongest songs, and does the freaky stuff better. The 3rd does some charming pop stuff in a lovely way. This sits awkwardly inbetween. I do like "The Gift" and "Sister Ray" an awful lot though.
|
|
|
Post by Reasonable good Nick on Jan 31, 2019 10:37:10 GMT
Strange, but my least-listened to VU album. Aside from "Here She Comes Now", I haven't been moved to listen to it in years. It's like two EPs. It's my least favorite of the 4 official releases. I was never a big fan of Sister Ray either. What Jeff said. Hugely overrated.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. FOLLARD on Jan 31, 2019 12:11:28 GMT
I think it's probably the worst of their first three releases (I discount everything afterwards) 🤬
|
|
loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,781
|
Post by loveless on Jan 31, 2019 12:47:04 GMT
I love it to bits - granted, for me, the title track is holding A LOT of the goodwill. I don't care much about "Sister Ray", but I really do love the remainder A LOT. There's a menace there (LGO, The Gift, and the overall sound of WLWH and IHHCMN) that just feels satisfying. They definitely pulled off the trick of using a considerably different palate on each record - people aren't sitting around today trying to get THESE nutrients from Loaded or vice versa.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Jan 31, 2019 16:09:54 GMT
I've always found it patchy and unsatisfying. Something like here She Comes Now sounds lovely but there's not much there. The Gift is a fun experiment but it's no Murder Mystery. I do like Lady Godiva's Operation though and I Heard Her Call My Name is fucking wild and fabulous and Reeds skull scraping solo really does sound like it's ripping a hole in the fabric of time.
I honestly much prefer the 3rd.
|
|
|
Post by fearlessfreap on Jan 31, 2019 17:12:35 GMT
It and the third rotate as my favorite. Loaded isn’t in the conversation- no Mo, no Velvets. I have vivid memories of hearing the debut for the first time, and my subsequent disappointment. 1969 Live, Max’s Kansas City and Loaded never went out of print, and I had those first, and understood that their later albums weren’t as batshit nuts as the early ones. I wanted that debut so badly, every time I went to New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, I would look high and low for a copy. Finally, in all places , I found it at a Bradley’s department store in an Upstate NY mall, in a cut out bin. It was not an original pressing, but it had to be close to ten years old, it was a gatefold with one of those older inner sleeves with a cellophane lining. When I got home and played it, my face fell. The guitars were all 60’s and wimpy and Byrds-like, and I was expecting chainsaws—I finally got them on European Son, the last goddamn track. I wished (and still do) that Lou Reed handled all the vocals - I was no fan of Nivo’s flat bored L’Adventurra Eurotrash vocals. Almost as bad as Kim Gordon’s (who I wouldn’t hear for another 6 years or so) but not that horrific— nobody sings that badly. I ended up liking the Marble Index, though, so you never know. Anyway, once I got past the initial disappointment, I grew to love it, not unconditionally, but I saw what the fuss was all about.
No such luck finding the other two. Finally, around 1979-80, I found German imports of the others. WLWH, had a white cover with plastic toy soldiers on it. Anyway , when I got that one home, I had a completely different reaction than I did with the debut. There were the chainsaws I was looking for - It was a glorious mess of noise. This was around the same time I was getting into Jazz, and it was like I had found a fusion of Spiritual Unity and rock. So here it is 40 years later, and I still love the album, Sister Ray, Lady Godiva and all.
|
|
nolamike
star
Old Fart At Play
Posts: 874
|
Post by nolamike on Jan 31, 2019 17:20:54 GMT
This was, in my younger days, my favorite VU album, though it's the one I listen to the least nowadays.
Like others, though, I'm a big fan of the title cut, and IHHCMN.
|
|