To describe the image and sound of "The
Velvet Underground & Nico" would be like asking a blind person to
describe the Mona Lisa without having ever seen it. It is something that
almost cannot be put into words because it is so unique. However, I will give
it my best shot.
"The Velvet Underground & Nico" is a
piece unlike anything else I have ever heard. It begins with a soft, bass heavy
song that conjures up memories of T.Rex records. After three minutes of that,
the band is hit with a shot of adrenaline and powers forward into the
head-pounding riff of "I'm Waiting For The Man." This song reminds me
of the musical stylings of The Pixies, even though they came to fame over a decade
later. On the third song of the album the pace slows down again, and we
are introduced to the disconnected and mysterious, yet kind voice of Nico.
On songs like "Venus In Furs" we have a very desolate image painted
for us, as if the musicians' mere existence is somehow painful and wretched.
The album goes up and down (and every other direction for that matter) covering
a broad range of experimental elements and alternate tunings (Sonic Youth,
anybody?) It is so unique that I cannot compare it to anything other than bands
that most likely took some influence from the band/album. This is truly a
staple recording, despite it's lack of commercial success.
The brilliance contained within the packaging of
this album can be accredited to a few people. Two in particular are the
founding members of The Velvet Underground; John Cale and Lou Reed. These
two were the key writers for most of the band's music. Drummer Maureen
Tucker has said that her main role in the band was solely to keep a beat for
when the rest of the musicians came down from their intricate guitar parts. In
essence, she was the glue of this highly unstable group of musicians. One
interesting thing to note about Tucker, which was pointed out to me by a friend,
was that she did not use cymbals on her drum kit. I went back and
listened to the entire album cover to cover to confirm this. This may be one of
the reasons this album was so revolutionary, because the fact there are no
cymbals was not immediately obvious (quite possibly the best "cover
up" of all time!)
The band's efforts did not go unnoticed, and in
1965, artist Andy Warhol became the bands' manager and forcefully brought on
German-born singer/model Nico as the newest member of the band. Warhol
was the producer of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" although
that title did not hold much weight because he gave the band control of what
they made. He also had them perform in his show, entitled "Exploding
Plastic Inevitable"; a combination of art, film and live music
performance. In a sense, Warhol was the ringleader of this three-ring
circus.
This piece of work was different than many other
pieces of the time. This may have contributed to its lack of commercial
success, the fact that it was so diverse and different from anything else out
at the time. The Velvets (which I guess is a commonly accepted nickname
for the band, which I will use) were pioneers in alternative rock music and no
matter how many times I listen to this album, I cannot put my finger on how
they were able to craft such an innovative album. Despite it's lack of
commercial success, it is widely regarded as one of the most influential albums
of all time. To me that is the equivalent of a presidential candidate getting
more of the popular vote, and still losing the election (Sorry, Benjamin
Harrison.) The instrumentation on this album was also very different from
anything else at the time. It is littered with exotic sounds, instruments, and
playing styles, which are often very sloppy and unorganized but somehow it all
stays together. The band also uses a lot of distortion and non-appealing
sounds on their album which puts it so far out of touch with popular music of
the time.
As a listener, I have never been able to put my finger on exactly why I
enjoy this album. Something about how raw it is and how nothing is held back
may be one of the appealing features. As an industry professional, it is one to
think on and try to break down (which proves to be a daunting task.) It is
incredibly difficult to see where the band was going with this album and what
they were thinking when they created it. In retrospect, this may be a reason it
was so influential; those who listened to it were free to interpret it however
they wanted, because it was so unorthodox and unspecific.
