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“I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico”

sfilzen — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 17:41:49 +0000

“I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico” 2021. A comp of various artists’ renditions of tracks, in order, from The Velvet Underground & Nico which just celebrated its 55th anniversary release date (March 12th, 1967). It was the brainchild and last project of producer and Lou Reed buddy Hal Willner (d. 2020) who also collaborated with Reed on the box set “Lou Reed: The RCA & Arista Album Collection”(2016). I’ll Be Your Mirror came out to coincide with The Velvet Underground documentary film, also from 2021.

There’s some biggish-name musicians on this tribute like Michael Stipe covering “Sunday Morning” (it’s OK), Kurt Vile’s “Run Run Run” (only on the vinyl edition, not CD) which is pretty great, Thurston Moore’s perfectly tortured “Heroin” and Iggy Pop (with Matt Sweeney) on the feedback filled freakout “European Son.” While it could never touch the original, Andrew Bird’s and Lucius’ cover of “Venus in Furs” is still pretty haunting. Also great are the jangly 60’s Dylan-goes-Kinks/garage-goes-girl-group vibe of King Princess’ “There She Goes” and the post-punk interpretation of the pre-punk “The Black Angel’s Death Song” by Fontaines D.C. I do not believe I’ll Be Your Mirror charted in the US nor the UK but it did alright in the EU, going to #6 in The Netherlands, #26 in Germany and to #41 in Switzerland.

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Velvet Underground “The Velvet Underground”

sfilzen — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 16:25:54 +0000

Velvet Underground “The Velvet Underground” 1969. Today, August 26th, is VU drummer Maureen “Moe” Tucker’s 75th birthday (b. 1944). The Velvet Underground was the band’s third album and the last studio LP that Tucker played on. By this time both John Cale and Nico were gone, Cale replaced by Doug Yule who played bass and organ as well as singing lead vocals on “Candy Says.” Tucker rarely sang on VU albums but took the lead on “After Hours,” because according to Lou Reed “the song was so innocent and pure that he couldn’t sing it himself.” (wiki) Though The Velvet Underground did not do that well when it was released, barely cracking the Billboard Top 200 chart at #197 and that was in ‘85 – over 15 years after its release, in retrospect it has been recognized as one of the best records of all-time by publications like Rolling Stone and NME. It is at times sparse and sweet (the excellent “Pale Blue Eyes”), rocking (“Beginning to See the Light” and my favorite “What Goes On” which VU released as a single), light and folky (on “Jesus,” the b-side to “What Goes On” and “I’m Set Free”) and experimental (“The Murder Mystery” an epic psychedelic organ freak-out with overlapping spoken word cacophony).

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The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat”

sfilzen — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 18:57:13 +0000

The Velvet Underground “White Light/White Heat” released 50 years ago on this day, January 30th, 1968. VU’s second studio album, post-Nico and Warhol and the last with new tracks from John Cale (whose quote about White Light/White Heat is superbly accurate: it’s “a very rabid record…consciously anti-beauty”). Allmusic calls it the least accessible of VU’s recordings, a “no-holds-barred frontal assault on cultural and aesthetic propriety” but it also set the standard for avant-garde and experimental noise-rock and inspired musicians from David Bowie to the Buzzcocks.

The Velvet Underground released two singles from the album, the title track “White Light/White Heat” (which gleefully expounds on the rush from shooting up methamphetamine) and the manic free-form garagey “I Heard Her Call My Name.” My favorite tracks on White Light/White Heat are “Lady Godiva’s Operation” (weird and psychedelic and I am repeatedly startled by Lou Reed shouting “SWEETLY” out of the mix) and “Sister Ray,” an epic 17+ minute song filled with sex and depravity that was recorded in one amazing take.

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sfilzen — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 15:04:30 +0000

“The Velvet Underground & Nico” 1966/67. Verve Records. Original pressing (V6-5008) gatefold with the Andy Warhol “peel slowly and see” banana. Today, March 2nd, is Lou Reed’s birthday (b. 1942 d. 2013). This album is so massive, so influential: it’s #13 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Brian Eno said of its original (and low-selling but we have a copy!!! not bought by us in 1967 though) release that “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.” I wonder if “Jan,” whose name is scrawled on the record label and I assume was the original owner of this copy, started a band back in the 60′s.

It’s been reviewed only about a million times, so just highlighting my favorite tracks here: “I’m Waiting For the Man”, “Run, Run, Run” (which I like to sing in my head when I run – OK, plod – along sometimes), “Venus in Furs,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Heroin.” Those last three always make me feel like I should be draped over a settee in an opulent den of disrepute, shrouded in a haze of candles and incense.

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