It is a debut album never to be forgotten. In 1967, the world of rock 'n roll was introduced to the Velvet Underground. And though they didn't know it until many years later, music would never be the same.
In the mid '60s, songwriter/poet Lou Reed assembled a group of musicians with the intention of fusing rock 'n roll with the avant garde. The group consisted of Reed, John Cale (on bass, viola, and organ), guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Maureen Tucker. From the beginning, the Velvets produced a sound different from anything heard before. Driven by Reed's melodies and lyrics, the group focused on experimentation -- both in sound and in subject matter. Tales of drugs and kinky sex abounded, backed by offbeat noises new to the time.
In 1965, before the Velvet Underground had even produced an album, pop art icon Andy Warhol heard the band in a club and recognized its potential. Within a year, he was producing its first album. It was a lucky break for the Velvets, perhaps the only one they ever had -- Warhol gave them the studio start they needed.
Warhol was also responsible for introducing the group to Nico, a mysterious German beauty with a deep voice. Although Nico's personality and image fit in perfectly with the bleak, troubled attitude of the group, it accepted her rather reluctantly, including her in only three of the album's songs. The Velvet Underground and Nico, often known as the "Banana Album" or the "Andy Warhol Album," because of the cover art designed by Warhol, was the best that the group would ever produce.
The album demonstrates the incredible diversity and musicianship of the group, as well as its knack for new sounds. It starts off docile, with the sweet, gentle arpeggios of "Sunday Morning" welcoming the listener. Throughout the album, the tension mounts, until the near eight minutes of screeching noise of "European Son," the last track. No two songs are alike; they range in style from the underrated love song "I'll Be Your Mirror," to the tough garage-rock like sounds of "There She Goes Again" and "The Black Angel's Death Song." Cale's piercing viola feedback may at first seem unbearable to the ear unacquainted with the Velvet Underground, but the noise and chaos characteristic of their style is always rooted in strong melodies, chord progressions, and the metronomic drumbeats of Tucker.
The album climaxes with the song "Heroin," which models the overall feeling and direction the album takes, starting off slow, measured, and controlled, speeding up, slowing down, and speeding up again, exploding in noise, feedback, and confusion until it crashes, ringing in the listener's ears. Lou Reed's speak-sing vocals echo lyrics such as "I'm gonna try to nullify my life," reflecting the depressed, bleak attitude of most of the group's songs.
Although today the Velvet Underground is considered to be one of the most influential rock 'n roll bands of all time -- one that paved the way for punk and new wave music and introduced the world of rock 'n roll to avant garde jazz with social awareness -- it was terribly unappreciated in its time. The group did not receive the critical acclaim it deserved until ten years after its short time together was over. Today, record sales continue to mushroom as music lovers become increasingly aware of this incredible band.
The Banana Album only reached number 171 in the charts, and that was as far as any of the Velvets' albums would ever get. But it is an album that changed many lives. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio considers it one of the albums that changed his. It is amazing that an album with such incredible diversity can have such a consistent feeling. Each song is a masterpiece on its own, and yet all are assembled in a way that it is impossible not to listen to all 11 tracks consecutively to appreciate the album's full effect. This album is truly a case of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole.
