The Velvet Underground and Nico

Good morning! How 'bout them Chargers? They had me biting my nails last night. Let's see what we've got today, iTunes...

Today's album: The Velvet Underground & Nico

Genre(s): Classic Rock, Proto-punk
Released: January, 1967
Running Time: 11 tracks, 48:51
In a nutshell: seminal classic rock

There's not a lot to say about this album that hasn't already been said a million times before. This is, after all, a critic's album: it was widely acclaimed, but made very little money initially.

What really strikes me about this music is how Lou Reed and Nico mix glam and grit. A lot of Lou Reed's songs are dirty, lo-fi rock pieces about scoring drugs, the prime example of this being the screechingly loud Run Run Run. When Nico steps up to the plate, the infielders move in, so to speak. The music becomes much cleaner to match her exotic vocals, but at the same time the band still finds ways to muck it up just a bit. Take, for example, the stuttering of the eastern guitar lines in All Tomorrow's Parties. The hiccups in the guitar's timing, along with the slightly-too-heavy bass/drum combo make the song a little more unnerving than your typical 60's psychadelic trip.

I regret not owning this record on vinyl. I'd love to hear it with some crackle and pop, au naturel. This album is also a lot better if listened to as loud as possible. This is definitely a lo-fi album; you won't get anything from it with a pair of headphones.