(Universal)
With the recent passing
of Lou Reed, the central figure in much of the Velvet Underground's
output, there has been a lot of evaluating into Reed's legacy to
music, which is no easy task when looking over one of the more
diverse outputs in rock history, spanning close to fifty years.
Still, his influence and impact on music is undeniable. Veering from
the wildly successful pop of Transformer to the alienating
experimentation of Metal Machine Music Reed has covered a
substantial amount of sonic territory, though looking at the recent
remaster of White Light/White Heat, his second album with The
Velvet Underground, it might be the most representative release from
one of the greatest talents in contemporary music.
The history of The
Velvet Underground is already well-documented; especially the
turbulent inter-band relationships (with White Light being the
last album with John Cale as a member of the band). That tension
between the group's members didn't stop them from creating some of
the greatest albums of the sixties. Their ramshackle sound seems like
it would have been stumbled upon by accident, filled with youthful
aggression that paved the way for punk and noise music that wouldn't
really take off for another decade. Their music was out off step with
pretty much everything else at the time, and despite never reaching
widespread renown in their heyday, time has judged the band kindly as
their influence has grown and continues to inspire new generations of
artists.
The
White Light/White Heat Deluxe Box Set is made up of
remastered studio and mono recordings of the album itself alongside
other tracks from the same studio sessions, including alternate takes
as well as a live recording from a show in New York in 1967, shortly
after the band had released their debut album. White Light/White
Heat has always felt to me like a companion piece to their debut,
slightly more accomplished musically and experimenting in new ways,
with recording processes and the spoken word. It doesn't have
anything as basic and primitive as the drum beat to I'm Waiting For
My Man, but it's still much more raw in its sound and maybe more
assured in execution.
The title track kicks
off the album, a ramshackle rock song with jangling piano and Lou
Reed's oddball delivery, it's a perfect culmination of the talents of
the group, creating a unique, catchy rock song obscured under
distortion. Despite the remaster the recording still retains its
scruffy and raw presentation. During the recording sessions, they ran
everything through distortion and compressors, breaking with the
standard record procedures, leaving a muddy and dense recording
sounding unlike anything else.
The Gift can still draw
you into it's narrative after so many listens, with Cale's
unemotional and matter of fact delivery, even when you know every
twist and turn in the unfortunate story of the unhinged Waldo
Jeffers. Cale takes the lead again on Lady Godiva, a song that feels
like its constantly falling out of time with itself, maybe due to
Reed's dazed delivery, or the different sounds that invade the mix in
its second half.
Providing a light
respite from the noise Here She Comes Now features clean guitars and
Lou Reed's calm singing making for a much need change in tone, even
if it doesn't last long. The album closes with the seventeen-minute
long epic Sister Ray, still sounding like nothing else that's come
along since, relentless and overwhelming. Part-freak-out-jam, part
sonic assault, it takes the template of tracks like European Son and
builds upon the ideas creating a larger and much stranger beast in
the process.
Amongst the demo tracks
is the original recording of fantastic Stephanie Says, which wouldn't
be officially released until the eighties, though was remade for Lou
Reed's Berlin album in 1973 as Stephanie Says (II), but the
track makes much more sense surrounded by other tracks from the same
recording sessions, sounding like the sweeter pop moments from their
album with Nico with its picked clean guitar lines, you can see why
it wouldn't have fit so well amongst the dirt and sleaze of the
recordings that made up White Light/White Heat. There are two
versions of the Cale-penned Hey Mr. Rain featuring some of his best
violin playing with the group, with one version adding to the tempo
and noise enough to give it a little more urgency, though turns into
more of an extended jam.
The third disc of this
collection is a live set from The Gymnasium in New York from 1967,
and whilst it is rougher than the studio recordings, it does capture
some of the excitement, and shows the groups' experimentation didn't
finish in the studio, with the versions played here often becoming
wildly different from their recorded counterparts.
White Light/White
Heat proved that their debut wasn't a fluke and cemented their
worth as a band that would be an important piece of musical history.
Many of the band members like Reed and Cale had more successful solo
careers after leaving the Velvet Underground but here their unique
musicianship and approaches to song writing and recording create what
might be the most unique and lasting legacy of all their work. It's
hard to get across just how big of an impact they had, but it is
unlikely that seminal album by acts such as Television, Spacemen 3
and The Strokes would have ever existed without The Velvet
Underground.
The Deluxe remaster of
White Light/White Heat is a comprehensive collection and long
time fans will enjoy hearing the album anew though additions like the
instrumental and vocal only versions of The Gift feel unnecessary.
These kind of box sets have been thrived recently, and whilst they
clearly make their moneys worth from them, there has been an effort
to include something unique for the more dedicated fan or collector.
And that is who it will really appeal to, if only for the few
previously unreleased tracks, but the b-sides and tracks from the
same recording sessions. Whether you want all the bells and whistles
or not, the six tracks that make up White Light/White Heat are
absolutely essential for any music fan, containing an energy and
restlessness that still makes it a vital listen forty five years
after it was first committed to tape.
Originally posted on figure8magazine.co.uk
Originally posted on figure8magazine.co.uk
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