Posts Tagged VU
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September 16, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love: #7 – The Velvet Underground, “Squeeze”
The Velvet Underground, Squeeze, 1973 Traitor albums! My cousin told me that Led Zeppelin’s Coda album was not to be listened to because it was “a traitor album” – he surely meant a posthumous album; they existed before Coda, there have been thousands since. But I liked his attempt at purity. Is the faithful […]Archive
August 21, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Ezra Furman: Lou Reed’s Transformer (33 1/3)
Lou Reed’s Transformer (33 1/3) Ezra Furman Bloomsbury Academic The death of the album – so greatly exaggerated. And the 33 1/3 series of books in tribute to classic albums (old and new) continues to trot out the titles. Here, musician Ezra Furman looks at Lou Reed’s Transformer album in this volume of the same […]Archive
June 5, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 402
The Velvet Underground, VU (1985) I know I’m not alone in thinking that this is the best Velvet Underground album – and yes I know it’s a compilation; posthumous even – one that was responsible for one of the first waves of re-appreciation, or even appreciation. But I bought this pre-internet, when, as a Lou […]Archive
January 10, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
It Was The Best Gig Ever # 16: John Cale, Auckland 2007
Sometimes you just have to be there. You have to get along. To see the legend. Someone that has meant a lot to you – their music, their place in it, and in your life as a result. It doesn’t have to be a mind-blowing gig to make an impact; the real impact is when […]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
July 30, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Best Guitarist in The World: # 4 – David Kilgour
It was only recently, a couple of years ago, that I stumbled onto the best way to describe David Kilgour: his approach, his playing, his position. I considered him a nonchalant phenomenon. In fact I’d borrowed the term – overheard it on a Paul Kelly song many years earlier. But it seemed to sum up […]Archive
June 28, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: #100 – John Cale, Auckland, 2007
One of the first times – as far as I can remember – that I flew to Auckland specifically to see a show. There had been other times where I’d cash in on seeing something while there, but the whole reason for this trip was to see John Cale. The first – and most likely […]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
December 16, 2014 by Simon Sweetman