Gather in the same room the following people: the S&M enthusiastic Lou Reed, the tall and German model Christa Päffgen (Nico), the guitar hero John Cale and "the without necessity of introduction" Andy Warhol. The result is the first album of one the most copied and honored band in the history of music. Needless to say that in its time, this album (and Velvet Underground) did not have any success.
First of all, I warn you that this album may sound horrible to you from beginning to end, perhaps because of the poor production of each of the tracks, something that may be attenuated in remastered versions. "Femme Fatale", "Sunday morning" and "I'll be your mirror" are the only songs with a gentle and digestible melody, but ... who said that horrible can not be at the same time extremely beautiful?
Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
This album has electrifying passages and raw beauty, examples of which are the incredibly obsessive "Venus in Furs" where Lou Reed unleashes all his sadomasochistic fantasies, which include: a woman with a whip, allusions to Severin (the main male character in the Venus in Furs novel, where Severin becomes obsessed with Wanda and requests to be her slave) and the inevitable "Kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather ".
Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs
But wait to track seven where all hell unravels. "Heroin" shreds the album in two, this track of seven minutes shows without any remorse that it’s not going to be necessary to get high with heroin to understand what that feels like:
Heroin, be the death of me,
Heroin, it's my wife and it's my life, ha-ha,
because a mainer to my twenty
Leads to a center in my head ...
And then I'm better off than dead.
Yeah, totally creepy. Listening to those verses can break anyone's heart. Although the true highlight of the song appears in the last minutes. That noise or hellish scream that you implore to finish, begins to question loudly the truth of our supposed sanity, and while we listen those finals notes, Reed with that incommensurable impatience, hopes the wait will end soon so he can shoot himself again.
Velvet Underground - Heroin
Evidently the album does not have much of "I want to hold your hand" or " She loves you yeah yeah yeah “. It’s for the ones who likes to take some risk when listening to great music .... but it is worth, trust me.
You know, from time to time it can be hypnotic to immerse yourself into the madness of others and then, why not, measure the level of your supposed mental stability. As the song goes: "I'll be your mirror (reflect what you are)".
Velvet Underground - I'll be your Mirror
What do you think of this album? Do you like VU? See you tomorrow!