Meanwhile, the music of the Velvet Underground is described by one twisted wordsmith as a combination of "Sado-Masochistic frenzy with free-association imagery... the product of a secret marriage between Bob Dylan and the Marquis de Sade." Another frets that, by comparison with the "far out" headliners, the "great, groovy group which opened the show sounds passe."
But, getting back to the Frankensteinian philosophy of life and internal organs, other liner note contributors display an intimate fascination with dying and danger. You would not have thought death had undone so many...
"Not since the Titanic ran into that iceberg has there been such a collision as when Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable burst upon the audiences at the Trip Tuesday." Embellishing this notion of watery graves, another reviewer opts for "these flowers of evil... in full bloom". To experience this menacing assemblage "is to be brutalized, helpless — you're in any kind of horror you want to imagine, from police state to mad house."
Is the late Nico, the Velvet Underground's resident Teutonic "Chanteuse" (as she is billed), a "beautiful, flaxen-haired girl," as one writer puts it — or, as another attests, "another cooler Dietrich for another cooler generation"? A little less sweetness and light comes when a somewhat obsessed Dante wannabe plunges head-first into the inferno: "Nico, astonishing — the macabre face — so beautifully resembles a memento mori, the marvelous deathlike voice coming from the lovely blond head."
He might be a little head-over-heels for a Necro-Nico persona, but at least he's not gaga over gallbladders.
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
Amazing as this album is....so's White Light/White Heat....as well, the third eponymous release. Nico's Chelsea (sp?) Girl & Marble Index, made after her departure from the VU are standouts as well. This is simply a superficial comment here: any in-depth discussion of the Velvets could take up a whole website in itself.
2 - Mark Saleski
nice.
1. i love old-fashioned liner notes
2. spiffy: soupçon of soup-can
3. i hate the word "chanteuse"
3 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks, Vern. I'm thinking of going on to Lou Reed soon enough. I may be one of the few who really like his first pop-oriented solo album--the anti-Metal Machine Music.
4 - Vern Halen
MMM got discussed on BC about a year ago on BC if you wan to find the thread. I had it on 8 track (!).
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Mark--I kind of like, instead of "chanteuse," "a cooler Dietrich for another cooler generation" for a billing. A litte wordy, but every group should have one...
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Vern--You had an 8-track of "Metal Machine Music"? I hope it was Quad, 'cause that's the only way to experience all the subtleties and nuances.
I think I might've resurrected MMM here as a topic at one or two points last year. Once, when I was relating my experience of working in a record store and, in sampling all four sides in disbelief, unwittingly unleashing it industrial-strength din-in-a-drum force on an ungrateful customer base for a few minutes.
7 - Mark Saleski
i have MMM on vinyl.
AND i've listened all the way through!
8 - Vern Halen
No quad - but I wish I knew where that 8 track was - I'm sure it'd be worth something as a novelty item.
Yes, I heard it all the way through - makes Neil Young's Arc sound (almost) melodic.
Hmmmmm.... now that I think about it, I think I'm going to record a cover version of MMM - bring it into the 21st century, y'know - maybe rap over it & use some samples. Or perhaps a straight bluegrass version would be kinda interesting.....
9 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Listened to Metal Machine all the way through? Did you guys lose a bet or something?
10 - Mark Saleski
i have a high tolerance for weird.
11 - Vern Halen
And I'm eternally hopeful - I kept thinking maybe there was a great song buried as a hidden track or something in there somewhere. Normally, I'd look at the grooves for some clues to sonic changes, but as I said, it was an 8 track.
12 - Mark Saleski
nope. hellacious noise.
i looked on ebay today...no MMM on 8track.
dang.
13 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
doesn't have a good beat, can't dance to it...
I appreciate the wayward experimentalism of the whole project -- but even more, I love the idea of Reed convincing the record company to go to the extra expense with a two-record set. Because one record wouldn't be sufficient to get the shock, if not awe, across?
Would've loved to be the the room for that conversation.