The Velvet Underground
Velvet Underground

THE REVIEW

Third official album for the very famous, at least nowadays, band led by Lou Reed and last noteworthy chapter for this seminal and essential American formation. After the stunning debut played on Rock experimentation and Pop format, on gloomy litanies and airy melodies, on angelic passages (I wonder why I think of Nico) and real descents into the depths of hell (I wonder why I think of Reed) and after the legendary and dissonant "White Light, White Heat", the first work of Noise Rock according to the writer, here is the album of maturity and complete fulfillment of their dirty craft.

"Velvet Underground" therefore deviates from the previously experimented extremes to land on a meditative acoustic sound, born from a thousand disappointments and reflections. Missing is the Beatrice of Reed's inferno, known to most as Nico, who did not appear in the previous Velvet Underground album either, and missing is the mysterious and emblematic John Cale, but the band, as a whole, has not been drastically changed. Besides the already mentioned frontman, there's still the legendary Sterling Morrison on guitar, the unforgettable Maureen Tucker on drums, and a new bassist, one Doug Youle.

Let's now talk about the purely musical aspect of the album, since this is a music review and not one of those boring and well-known cheap biographies that too many people nowadays put on the Web.

And precisely "musically speaking" some not insignificant novel elements are noted in this third chapter of the most famous New Yorkers of Rock, novel elements that make us understand how our heroes have always been, in reality, lovers of the acoustic sound and a certain singer-songwriter attitude.

Indeed, in this work, there is not a single reference to the guitar roar of "White Light, White Heat" nor is there any significant element to revive the glories of their essential debut. Gentle and acoustic music, as already written, characterized by a slight melancholy and an unusual delicacy. Music that aficionados of the Velvet "early days" will disdain but that, if listened to with the heart, can arouse a thousand emotions. And it is precisely on this album that Reed, Morrison, and Tucker (let's leave the unfortunate Youle aside) offer now famous and highly appreciated tracks like "Candy Says", "Jesus", "After Hours" and the haunting "Pale Blue Eyes".

An album to listen to calmly and to savor like a good old wine, perhaps in front of the fireplace and perhaps in the company of one's own solitude. A few years later the disappointing "Loaded" will be released, but this, as they say, is a whole other story and will mark the compositional decline of the underground velvet.