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The Velvet Underground

Velvet Underground, The

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1969 — The Velvet Underground Live

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1974

THE LAST YEAR has seen sufficient scholarly exegeses on the subject of Lou Reed to see us through the decade; and the release of 1969, ...

The Velvet Underground: Peel Slowly And See

Review by Lenny Kaye, MOJO, October 1995

The brief, brilliant life of The Velvet Underground, from jug-band rags to hypercool chronicles – experiments, cast-offs, fights and all – on five CDs. Immortal, ...

Audio interviews

Velvet Underground's Mo Tucker (1991)

Interview by Richard North, Rock's Backpages audio, 1991

Ms Tucker talks about the Velvet Underground, Andy Warhol and the Factory scene, and about her life post-Velvets and becoming a solo artist.

File format: mp3; file size: 43mb, interview length: 46' 58" sound quality: ***

The Velvet Underground (1993)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1993

Messrs. Cale and Reed (with short contributions from Morrison and Tucker) talk about the current reunion and look back at the original band: the dynamics of the Reed/Cale relationship; Cale's ouster from the band; the sound of the band; and the songs they play and the characters that surrounded the band at the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.

File format: mp3; in 3 parts, total file sizes: 92.6mb, total interview length: 1h 42' 05" sound quality: ***

List of articles in the library

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The Velvet Underground, Nico, the Mothers of Invention: The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 May 1966

Gimmicky 'Explosion' ...

Psychedelics: That's The New Fad

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 17 July 1966

The Pop movement has become old-hat now. In its place a brand new gimmick has started to sweep American discotheques. ...

Pop Eye: Mover

Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 19 January 1967

"HOW MANY columns you get in Newsweek?" ...

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve)

Review by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 13 April 1967

THE VELVET Underground is not an easy group to like. Some of the cuts on their album are blatant copies: I refer specifically to the ...

Mama Cass: Andy Warhol And the Big Bird — Pop Pope Casts Cass

Report by Danny Fields, Hullabaloo, May 1967

SHE HAD ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED WITH HIM... AND HE HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET HER ...HULLABALOO SAW THEM TOGETHER, SAW HER POSING, SAW HIM FILMING ...

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground and Nico (Verve — 32s 5½d)

Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 18 November 1967

'Sunday Morning'; 'I'm Waiting For The Man'; 'Femme Fatale'; 'Venus In Furs'; 'Run, Run, Run'; 'All Tomorrow's Parties'; 'Heroin'; 'There She Goes Again'; 'I'll Be ...

Small Faces, Velvet Underground etc.: New Albums Reviewed

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 8 June 1968

Cockney Rock LP puts Small Faces in West Coast bracket ...

Andy Warhol: A Mirror Of American Death

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 13 June 1968

2012 note: Cometh the hour... Paul Barker, the second and last editor of the UK weekly journal New Society, was once asked to speak on ...

20 Revolutionary Singles, as requested

Letter by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 28 October 1968

25 FLORENCE TERRACE, FALMOUTH, CORNWALL TELEPHONE: FALMOUTH 1840 23rd October 1968 ...

1968: The Shaken City Walls

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 December 1968

"AN ELECTRIC caterwauling of power... burning it, flashing it, whirling it down some arc of consciousness, the sound screaming up to a climax of vibrations ...

Letter to a Mystified Man

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 28 January 1969

DEAR Mr Davey — You write a neat letter, and I smiled, too. Last week you wrote to the editor of the Guardian (January 20). "If you ...

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground (MGM SE-4617)

Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 4 August 1969

TAKE IT OR leave it I've never known anyone who was neutral toward The Velvet Underground. They either turn you on, or it's the worst ...

The Velvet Underground: It's a Shame that Nobody Listens

Overview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 25 October 1969

THE VELVET Underground have made just three albums, none of which have sold particularly well in Britain. But that trio of albums constitutes a body ...

The Velvet Underground, Danny Cox: the Matrix, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 November 1969

Underground Competition ...

The Velvet Underground c/o New York, NY

Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Fusion, 6 March 1970

NONE OF THIS concerns anything except maybe the back room at Max's Kansas City, which is on Union Square in Manhattan but not worth finding ...

The Velvet Underground: Max's Kansas City, NYC

Report by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 4 July 1970

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND was playing experimental rock in 1965 when the Beatles just wanted hold your hand and San Francisco was still the place where ...

The Velvet Underground: Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Featuring Nico (MGM)

Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 14 December 1970

Soft Moments From 'Velvet Underground' ...

The Velvet Underground: Loaded

Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 24 December 1970

LOU REED HAS always steadfastly maintained that the Velvet Underground were just another Long Island rock 'n' roll band. But in the past he really ...

Velvet Underground: Loaded (Cotillion Import)

Review by Jonathon Green, Oz, January 1971

BACK IN ILLUSORY flower power 1967, when most people wanted to go to San Francisco, and those who didn't made up for it by pickling ...

The Velvet Underground

Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 8 January 1971

Update, 2020: Judging by what I play most as I work at home, the Velvet Underground and also Lou Reed are tops, together with Them ...

The Velvet Underground: Loaded (Cotillion)

Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times Special Features Syndication, 31 January 1971

'Velvet Underground' Bridges Rock Gap ...

That Shock Of Recognition Tells You Where He's Been

Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Chicago Sun-Times, 7 February 1971

Author's note, 2018: I met and interviewed Lou Reed twice, in early 1971 and mid-1972, in New York. He gained a reputation for being horrible ...

Shards of Velvet Afloat in London: Nico and John Cale

Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 18 February 1971

JOHN CALE REACHES too hard for the pay phone in the lobby of his hotel. Bang. It explodes into the soft corner of his forehead, ...

The Velvet Underground: Loaded (Cotillion import)

Review by Hugh Nolan, International Times, 11 March 1971

HAVING BEEN overtaken back in the early days by the Airplane, the Dead et al as the Most Identifiable sound of the underground, the Velvets ...

The Velvet Underground: Loaded (Atlantic Super)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971

The most important album since Tommy? ...

John Cale: Welsh Underground

Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 April 1971

Author's note, 2018. The Velvet Underground and Nico and to a lesser extent White Light/White Heat are the albums that above all others up to ...

Velvet Underground: From Sader-Masoch to a Top Rank Ballroom

Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 16 October 1971

EVERYBODY KNOWS who the Velvet Underground are, but who are they? Disclosed to the world in 1965 as though they had descended from the sky ...

Velvet Underground: Lowdown on the Underground

Profile and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 30 October 1971

Tony Stewart reports on the 'mysterious' Velvet Underground – a super-hip cult based on four reluctant 'intellectuals' ...

Lou Reed — End of the Black Comedy

Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 22 January 1972

LOU REED is the founder member of the Velvet Underground. Together with John Cale, he wrote New York as he saw it from Greenwich Village ...

Gerard Malanga: Screen Test

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

Interview with poet GERARD MALANGA, former associate of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground ...

The Velvet Underground: Live At Max's Kansas City (Cotillion 9500)

Review by Greg Shaw, The Berkeley Barb, 7 July 1972

Rumpled Velvet ...

The Velvet Underground: Live at Max's Kansas City (Atlantic)

Review by Jonathon Green, International Times, 25 August 1972

THE VELVET Underground were New York's premier rock band. Max's Kansas City still is a club that makes the Speakeasy something like a pale reflection ...

Blue Oyster Cult, the New York Dolls: New York's Beasty, Brutal Music Explosion

Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1973

The N.Y. Dolls & Blue Oyster Cult Revive Manhattan ...

The Velvet Underground: 1969 Live

Review by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974

IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT. I'm alone and all I don't wanna do is keep leafing through this copy of Vogue I got in my mits - ...

The Velvet Underground: 1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury SRM 2 7504)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 4 July 1974

MANY OF Lou Reed's fans continue to believe that his significant achievements came as leader of the Velvet Underground rather than on his recent solo ...

The Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground Live With Lou Reed (Mercury)

Review by Gene Sculatti, Zoo World, 4 July 1974

THE GREATEST thing about Lou Reed is that, until recently, his lyrical vocabulary was the perfect compliment to his music. His capacity in both depts. ...

Up From The Underground: Sterling Morrison

Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Sun, 19 October 1975

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND was often accused of being ahead of their time. Not true. The band was very much of their time. But it was ...

Tom Wilson: The Man Who Put Electricity Into Dylan

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 31 January 1976

TOM WILSON is an elegant, very tall (6ft 4in) black American, a former Harvard man who talks a little like Bill Cosby but whose pencil-thin ...

The Velvet Underground

Book Excerpt by Lenny Kaye, David Dalton, Rock 100, 1977

OBVERSE, REVERSE, INVERSE, PERVERSE. A whiplash girl-child waits in the dark, splintered in blue fragments, pinpricks of white heat. The Velvet Underground cauterized their time, ...

Velvet Underground: 1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury)

Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 February 1979

BUT LOU REED, Lou’s got real problems. Ever since he started out he’s been trying to wheedle Jehovah into making him Keith Richard (‘Rock And ...

Velvet Underground: 1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury)

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979

THE VELVETS, specifically Lou Reed – maybe even this 'invisible' live double – say more about rock'n'roll, its implications and complications, than anyone else. ...

Pop Art/Art Pop: The Warhol Connection

Report and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 16 February 1980

Like to be a galleryPut you all inside my show— David Bowie, 'Andy Warhol' Some people claim that only James Brown can match Andy Warhol's ...

John Cale: Conversation With A Saboteur

Interview by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, March 1980

NY Rocker: You've been around the industry for a while, doing A&R, producing, performing and whatnot. I was wondering if you had any theories on ...

After Punk, What? The Velvet Underground

Essay by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, July 1980

THOSE MUSIC-business "pundits" have often repeated the claim that a music-industry phenomenon rears its head every ten years — you know, Elvis in '54, the ...

Maureen Tucker: "Quiet, Mommy's Recording"

Interview by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, July 1980

I GUESS THERE must be people out there who aren't aware of who Mo Tucker is. If you're one of them, listen up: MAUREEN TUCKER ...

The Lost History of the Velvet Underground: An interview with Sterling Morrison

Retrospective and Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 25 April 1981

THE VELVET Underground were the first avant-garde rock band, and the greatest. ...

The Velvet Underground: Mo Tucker

Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981

LIKE STERLING MORRISON, Maureen Tucker went in the opposite direction when she left the Velvet Underground in 1971. She moved back to Long Island, became ...

Velvet Underground: White Light/Dark Shadows

Essay by Robot A. Hull, Creem, July 1981

But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen. – T.S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ ...

In The Nico Time

Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, Spring 1981

HEY-HO, is it really that time of the decade already? Once again Nico has surreptitiously floated into the public consciousness – just when she was ...

Velvet Underground: Everything You've Ever Heard About… (VU Records)

Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 December 1982

THE LEGEND rolls on and on, the more it grows the more it encourages. In the context of the semi-legal this was the one we'd ...

The Velvets Hit Hollywood

Book Excerpt by Victor Bockris, Gerard Malanga, Omnibus Books, 1983

An extract from Uptight: The Velvet Underground Story by Victor Bockris & Gerard Malanga, first published by Omnibus Press in 1983. (Currently available as a ...

The Velvet Underground: VU

Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985

"IF YOU PLAY the albums chronologically they cover the growth of us as people from her to there, and in there is a tale for ...

Velvet Underground: VU (Polydor)***.5

Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 February 1985

CONFUSION REIGNS. The deliberately-leaked rumours of the last few months maintained that Polydor had uncovered 'The Great Lost Velvet Underground Album', a disc that never ...

The Velvet Underground: Sterling Behavior

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 18 April 1985

An Interview With the Most Hermetic Velvet, Sterling Morrison ...

The Velvet Underground: VU (Verve/Polygram)

Review by Mick Farren, Spin, May 1985

ONE OF THE great strengths and also the fatal weakness of the Velvet Underground was that they made their greatest statements as a band at ...

Velvet Underground: Oh God, Not The Bloody Velvets Again!

Report by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986

Fingers on the "Record" button… Rock's most name-dropped group, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND have finally arrived in the high brow world of The South Bank Show. ...

The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground Boxed Set (Polydor)

Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 3 May 1986

WHEN POP-JOURNALISTS say "classic", we mean a record that we’ll still be playing in ten years. Marketing sharpies, however, have a far surer handle on ...

The Velvet Underground: Another View

Review by Cynthia Rose, Creem, September 1986

INTO THE HANDS of today's waiting worshippers – and yet, the mystery remains. ...

Nico: A Baleful Dark Brown Voice

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 July 1988

NICO, THE baleful Teutonic queen of sixties New York, has died in Ibiza after a cerebral haemorrhage suffered while cycling in intense mid-day heat. She ...

Nico: Last of the Bohemians

Obituary by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988

NICO, HIGH priestess of Teutonic angst, died in Ibiza last Monday night of a brain haemorrhage. She was found unconscious by the side of her ...

Velvet Memories of Andy Warhol

Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 22 April 1990

Simon Reynolds on Lou Reed's reunion with John Cale. ...

Moe Tucker: Tucker's Luck

Interview by Richard North, Siren, February 1992

"Like Virginia Woolf, I am aware of the women who are not with us here because they are washing the dishes and looking after the ...

Velvet Underground: No Moe Reunions

Report and Interview by Max Bell, Vox, February 1992

MAUREEN TUCKER, drummer and mother of five, has scotched rumours concerning any further Velvet Underground reunions. ...

The Velvet Underground: What Goes On

Sleeve notes by Clinton Walker, Raven Records, 1993

AT A TIME in the late '60s when the hippies were preaching peace and love – as they would have it, in short, a whole ...

Velvet Underground: Some Velvet Moaning...

Comment by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 June 1993

  TRUE STORY: I'm at the Smash Hits Christmas party, the disco is blamming out non-stop teeny-pop fun stuff and the joint is bopping with the ...

Velvet Underground, Harry Connick Jr.: Pop Myths Trying To Shake Off Their Past

Comment by Mal Peachey, Mail On Sunday, 6 June 1993

POP MUSIC has always been a hit or myth affair. This week Britain has been witness to two of its finest myths, both born 25 ...

The Velvet Underground: Playhouse, Edinburgh

Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 12 June 1993

WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HAIR ...

The Velvet Underground: "We Will Confront The Myth…"

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, July 1993

It was only rock'n'roll before The Velvet Underground brought potent drugs and pervy sex to the party. 25 years after their last live high, they've ...

The Velvet Underground: Party On, Dudes!

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, July 1993

The kinky boots and whips have gone; so have the "interesting" light shows and the medicinal heroin. But, yes, The Velvet Underground — the most ...

Sterling Morrison, 1942-1995

Obituary by Bill Bentley, Musician, December 1995

STERLING MORRISON was one of the prime architects of modern rock 'n' roll, and very few people know it. As guitarist — with Lou Reed ...

A Dark Prince at Twilight: Lou Reed

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1996

THE DAY DOES not begin auspiciously. The first flakes of a snowstorm descend as I open the curtains in my hotel room, adding yet another ...

Time Machine: Velvet Underground

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 1997

Launched largely from a platform provided by their association with the decade’s most celebrated artist, Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground without Nico had become New ...

Name Game: Billy Name

Interview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 25 April 1997

At Andy Warhol's Factory everybody wanted to be a star. Everyone except Billy Name. He designed the Factory, curated it, soothed the egos of Warhol's ...

John Cale: Central Park Life

Interview by Cliff Jones, Arena Homme Plus, Fall 1997

John Cale arrived in New York City in 1963, a 21-year-old classical music prodigy from the Welsh valleys. He never went home. Via the colour ...

John Cale: What's Welsh for Zen?

Interview by David Dalton, Gadfly, January 1999

THE VELVET Underground in their classic phase (1966-1968) lasted barely two years and released only two studio albums, but their influence has been immense. ...

What's Welsh For Zen? By John Cale & Victor Bockris (Bloomsbury Hbk £20, Special Edition £30)

Book Review by Mark Sinker, The Wire, February 1999

OF THE alliance at the heart of the original Velvet Underground, John Cale writes: "We hated everybody and everything. Other musicians were viewed as competition. ...

Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground Bootleg Series, Volume One — The Quine Tapes

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, December 2001

Audience recordings of rare live gigs from 1969 ...

The Last Days of the Velvet Underground

Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2004

ON AUGUST 23, 1970, Lou Reed played his last ever show with the Velvet Underground, the band he had led since its formation as psychotic ...

Heart Of Darkness: The Velvet Underground

Retrospective by Victor Bockris, MOJO, March 2004

The Velvets biographer on Lou Reed, love songs and the band's harrowing third album. ...

The Velvet Underground & Nico – Boxset

Review by David Cavanagh, Uncut, November 2012

AN EXHAUSTIVE, ENTHRALLING BOXSET reissue of the iconic album — with rare and live cuts galore! The banana's back. Not before time. Late last year, Lou ...

Lou Reed Dead: The Day I Interviewed Velvet Underground's Auteur

Memoir by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 27 October 2013

The Velvet Underground may have sold few records during their lifespan but Lou's songs with them became a potent inspiration ...

The Velvet Underground: The Complete Matrix Tapes

Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, January 2016

The live motherlode from San Francisco, 1969 ...

see also John Cale

see also Nico

see also Lou Reed

see also Moe Tucker

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