Posts Tagged The Velvet Underground
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March 21, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
What Value Do You Place On Recorded Music?
It was a couple of years ago, but I remember being in the local record store when a customer was inquiring about Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. He wanted to know if it was available on vinyl and was shown a sealed copy of the latest reissue; a double LP. The price? $59.99. The customer – […]Archive
February 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The Velvet Underground’s Loaded: Loaded/Fully Loaded, 45 Years On And Still Going…
Those four studio albums by The Velvet Underground all made a huge impact on me. But the sentimental favourite is Loaded – it was the very first CD I purchased. I was a tape buyer, right through until the early-1990s, I wasn’t going to give up that tape collection…I had a tape-deck in my car […]Archive
January 30, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Lou Reed’s Mistrial: The Starting Point
Sometimes it’s the first album you hear by an artist – it has you hooked. It might not be that artist’s best album, you might not even know that at the time (and brilliantly, you won’t care) but it will become the one you know best, refer to, remember fondly. It’s your starting point… My […]Archive
January 4, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
John Cale: Leading From The Fringe
I was a fan of Lou Reed first; then The Velvet Underground and then John Cale. Truth be told – and I don’t mind admitting it a) I was young b) there was no internet then – for a while I thought John Cale and J.J. Cale was the same person. I was 12 years […]Archive
October 2, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 816
Lou Reed and John Cale, Songs For Drella (1990) Okay, here’s an album I owned on tape and then CD and now vinyl…there are a few like that, where it’s never enough…it’s always gotta be there. But also, with this one, check it out: A good friend buys me a copy of this as a […]Archive
July 21, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Radio Nowhere by Michael Ross: # 2 – I Love Lou, I Love Lou Not: Lou Reed’s Street Hassle
It occurs to me I’ve given pretty much every ‘important’ artist an honest try over the years. Not intentionally, it just happened. I liked Hendrix, so I sought out Jeff Beck. Steve Earle mentioned Townes Van Zandt, so Townes sold another record in New Zealand. And God knows every word written in 1992 seemed to […]Archive
June 11, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 876
Lou Reed, Legendary Hearts (1983) I was a Lou Reed fan overnight. I heard the album that came a couple after this first – Mistrial – one of the most (unfairly) maligned of his career. And from there it was to The Velvet Underground and one or two best-ofs, solo and VU stuff…and I was […]Archive
August 27, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Parquet Courts: Sunbathing Animal
Parquet Courts Sunbathing Animal What’s Your Rupture? / Mom and Pop I like this! And the exclamation mark is there because I’m sorta surprised I like this. I mean, sure, it apes Pavement (the band’s name is enough of a clue I woulda thought) and perhaps Malkmus is still talking with his lawyers over one […]Archive
April 11, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: VU
The Velvet Underground took their name from the cover of a cheap trashy porno-novel. That’s kinda neat, don’t ya think? I mean, come on – they sang about sex, and violins were always threatening to stay in tune. They sang about needles and hey, they played on garbage tin lids, when Mo’ lost her drums […]Archive
October 28, 2013 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Lou Reed
There are things you never think you’ll write – never plan, never want to. This is one of those. I never wanted to interview Lou Reed (but of course I’d have given it a go), never planned to see him live (I mean I’d have gone if he’d been in my town when I was, […]Archive
April 28, 2013 by Simon Sweetman