The Velvet Underground
White Light White Heat

THE REVIEW

After the historic "The Velvet Underground & Nico," which unfortunately did not achieve the success it deserved, yet remains a milestone in all of music, Lou Reed & Co. plunged into creating their second album, which was not easy at all starting from the fact that they fired Warhol, who had helped create the Velvet Underground icon and whom they themselves considered tired of them, and especially Nico, the splendid "Femme Fatale" who had so distinguished some of the beautiful compositions of the previous album with her celestial voice.

But these are not the only reasons why the album maintains a more meticulous appearance compared to the previous one. The Velvet were in disarray, they only had money enough to afford basic necessities. Given the failure of the first album, Verve decided to assign the group to a new producer, Tom Wilson. It is said that the latter, throughout the entire work, was not helpful for the songs in any way, which made Lou Reed furious. And so, to show how pissed he was, he decided to record the songs with few channels, and above all, at schizophrenic volumes. This is the main reason why the sound quality of the album is terrible, so much so that it sounds worse than some bootlegs. However, this does not end up being a flaw, but rather it gives the album a special character that distinguishes it from any other album.

And it is already clear from the beginning of the first song "White Light White Heat" that the album is very different from the previous one. Yes, it is true, we are still on vast psychedelic territories, but it's a different psychedelia. All the instruments blend together so much that it's hard to distinguish one from the other. Interesting. But to wait for the first true masterpiece of the album, you have to reach the third song, "Lady Godiva's Operation," characterized by the incredible dichotomy between the sweetness expressed by the guitar and pure madness. The next track, "Here She Comes Now," is a piece discarded from the sessions of the first album which Nico would have sung. Up to now, surely some of you have asked why I gave a 5 to an album made of nice songs with only one elected masterpiece. Fortunately, "I Heard Her Call My Name" raises the average, bringing it back to harshly hard territories. But it's only the prelude to the absolute masterpiece of the album, and in my opinion, of the Velvet: "Sister Ray." The song extends for 17 minutes nested on a frantic rhythm shaken by the wonderful dialogues between the guitar and the organ, perfectly amalgamated by the noise, which is the key element of the album. Truly devastating, aggressive, raw, beautiful, and spiced with a funny text that talks about a party where a gay is present.

And listening to this track, it is easy to perceive how Sonic Youth took this track into consideration to form their most famous bacchanals. And it is especially perceived that the Velvet are simply, despite having a not-so-numerous discography, one of the most fundamental and influential groups ever, inspirers of punk and noise. In the end, the album is undoubtedly more difficult, harsher, and harder compared to the previous one. Sure, obviously it does not have the same historical importance as the previous one, but in my opinion, from a musical point of view, it is more complete and more beautiful. In short, ultimately the real masterpiece is here. (P.S.) "Do not torture me by saying that this review was already there, I preferred to write it because frankly, the other seemed a bit meager."