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.