The Velvet Underground & Nico (studio album) by The Velvet Underground & Nico

Great Album

One of the strongest first halves on any album no debate, and the only reason the second half is lacking is because of the drawn out European Son

Good album, but took me a couple listens over 6 months to get it.

From Strangel 02/07/2024 01:51

It’s cool to be drug-fueled, seedy, artsy, underground innovators that draw in the edgy young ‘It’ crowd. I’m not being facetious.

Just an iconic album that reaches subliminally into your subconscious realm.

This record is one of the most important to ever be released with it influencing the landscape of music for over 50 years now. A lot of influential albums don't hold up in terms of their quality but this is the opposite with the musical feat that is achieved on here becoming more and more evident as time goes on. When you first experience it the music can be quite abrasive and can easily be disregarded by new ears but if it is given some patience and you adjust to the production it will only be a matter of time before you see the masterpiece that is this album. This raw sound they create is completely intentional with them fabricating a dark and heavy atmosphere that completely engulfs us. This is accomplished by the weighty and distorted guitar work complimenting the deadpan voice of Lou Reed perfectly. Reed is consistently phenomenal throughout with his distinctive guitar and vocal work elevating this record to the level it is at. His lyrics are sensational as well with them going into dark but realistic themes of drug use, prostitution and sadomasochism. These themes, when not wrote about intelligently, come off cheap but Reed writes about them in such a poetic and genius way that they are anything but cheap. His lyrics are rich and unique solidifying the fact that he is one of the greatest song writers of all time. Another major contributor to the success of this record is Nico. She is outstanding on here with every song she appears on acting as a brief respite from the gloom with her deep but still distinctively feminine vocal elevating every song it appears on. She adds such beauty and elegance to the music and provides us with an amazing contrast between the male and female vocal which sounds so pleasing to the ear. Overall, The Velvet Underground And Nico created a musical marvel on here that gives us one of the greatest lyrical, instrumental, vocal and atmospheric displays ever recorded.

Sunday morning sounds about 40 years ahead its time.

The rest of the album is pretty consistently great. Production, songwriting, voices, instrumentation, all top notch. Innovative to boot. Miles ahead of other albums of this period (including the Beatles, sounds decades ahead of them.)

I will say other than the first track nothing really makes my playlist. Still a great album.

Really beautiful. Can see why it's so highly rated and influential. Shame about the last track, which is genuinely quite difficult to listen to. Ruins the album a little bit but overall really good album. My favourites are Sunday Morning, Femme Fatale, I'll Be Your Mirror and Venus In Furs.

Perhaps a bit overrated.

I made an embarrassing comment about this album 3 years ago on this site so I thought I’d give an update. This is one of the few albums that I considered an absolute perfect masterpiece with a perfectly executed vision by the artist. Other examples are In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Pet Sounds, what would have been the album Smile, Sgt.Pepper. Only a few albums like this exist. When I first listened to it 4 years ago I didn’t understand it. For those who are struggling to understand it, it’s basically a drug album. If you haven’t done drugs or haven’t spent time in New York City it might not click for you. I had previously judged the production and thought it was shit, but, now that I think about it, although songs like Femme Fatale sound rough, it’s supposed to sound like that. It has a texture unlike any song I’ve heard. The Nico songs are my favorite on the album, and are a great contrast to Lou Reeds mania and darker songs. This album was recorded in 1966 (a whole year before Sgt.Pepper really changed music forever), and the Velvet Underground essentially invented alternative music. Lou Reed was a true mad genius, it’s a shame they fired Warhol and changed their sound a bit after this album.

Absolutely superb. Heroin remains the highlight to me; the continuous change in pace is simply exhilarating. "I'll be your Mirror" is a gem of a love song.