White Light/White Heat
by The Velvet Underground

From Mother Nature's Son TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/17/2012 16:02 | #52522 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Drugged out album which involves nearly zero songwriting, the sound of a band that doesn't give a fuck! I can't see its experimental nature, all The Velvet Underground ever did on this record was to turn up the volume and allow the created feed-back and noise to be maintained in the mix. The poem on "The Gift" sounds goofy, most songs consist of monotonous rhythm patterns and the variety on this album is minimal.

I get that most people see this as a groundbreaking wall of noise, but I think the band were lacking discipline in the creating of the album to make it anywhere near great. Besides the opener, which works fine as opener but nothing more, and the idea of a long track to end the album, this album is nothing but free play!

I wasn't looking for a pleasant pop-album, but even from an avant-garde music lover's point of view, I wouldn't be able to see the greatness from this album. After all it isn't very experimental, it's only a pumping rhythm section that never stops, where each member play whatever they want to. We've already seen this from free-form jazz!

So why is this album ranked and rated so high? My guess is because of The Velvet Underground's completely exaggerated image. It's not because I'm scared of the album's dissonant and unstructured composition, but this band's discography and especially this album is like a complex joke: If you don't get it, you're probably just stupid. Hurry up laughing, or someone else will notice! (Edited)

From Mother Nature's Son TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/18/2012 20:25 | #52693 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

It does have little songwriting (as I said it has nearly, but only nearly, zero songwriting), but the songwriting itself is nothing to get excited about at all!

The thoughts behind the album itself are very limited, I don't think anybody will disagree with that statement, and the result of this album is something that reflects a most likely chaotic lifestyle and a band completely out of control. Out of madness comes genius or what? Is that really the case with this album? Or has its praise something to do with the fact that this might be the first album where drugs had completely drawn a band away from the music? This album is different, yes, but only because of its noisier sound and masturbating drive. Something that arguably have inspired many bands, okay, but WHY IS IT GREAT? After all it is in our top 200 OF ALL TIME! Not very far from our top 100 when you think about it!

Sorry if I seem mad, I know this comment will get a lot of negative votes. But I really have a suspicion that people are bandwagoning with this album, a case where the image is bigger than the music. It just frustrates me that so many bands and artists have put really much thought and energy into an album to perfect it and make it really great, and then there is this band who just hurries into a studio (I've read on Wikipedia that the album was recorded in two days) and make this soulless piece of nonsense!

From Defago 09/23/2012 08:08 | #51016 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

F*cking amazing noise. Every track sounds great, from The Gift's droning voice-over to Sister Ray's noisy, long jams to Lady Godiva's Operation's perfect vocal and guitar union. (Edited)

This conclusion was really difficult for me to come to. I decided this past week to explore the Velvet Underground discography beyond their debut album, which I love. I read all about the record before listening to, as I typically do, to understand the context of how it was created and the increase in creative liberty seemed like a positive to me (in the absence of Warhol).

That being said, I found myself disappointing by this record. In one sense the shorter tracks are more of what I liked from their debut, albeit without the strophic song structure that I felt worked for the band. The track "The Gift" was very tense and something that I authentically enjoyed listening to. The record seemed more tonically tense and harsher to listen to, which I am not adverse to in music. I love groups like the Drones and Godspeed You Black Emperor. These compositions, while I saw what they were going for, felt more edgy and sad due to the potential of unrealized ideas than anything.

What killed my opinion of this record was my inability to enjoy the track "Sister Ray", which unfortunately makes up almost half the record. As someone who enjoys long-form music, specifically classical influences in rock music, I found myself utterly bored with this song. The harsh, distorted sound never GOES anywhere, and there doesn't seem to be any meaningful development.

I won't be keeping this record in my library. It has some nice moments, and some great ideas, but the cons are too uncompromising for me to enjoy it further.

This is probably the groups least accessible album by a long way but it is also their most experimental and interesting album to explore both sonically and lyrically. The guitars are allowed to pretty much just run free on this album and we are really rewarded for them doing that. We get that classic VU screeching guitar noise all over this record and there are times when they are fighting over which one can play louder which makes for some incredible moments on Sister Ray. The lyrics are amazing and so diverse and every time I listen to this record I am stunned by the genius and engaging lyrics that Reed gave us. They are delivered brilliantly by him as well. Every track is great and has its moments to shine and each cut is completely unique and the variety we are treated to is amazing. Instrumentally, I think they are at the strongest on this record and also on The Velvet Underground And Nico as demonstrated best on Sister Ray which is up there with one of their best ever tracks. Overall, an absolute classic from VU and while on first listen it may seem a little abrasive, once you have given it a few more tries you will fall in love with this album just like I have. (Edited)