That's such a tough call, have to say Sweet Jane's got everything - the best lyrics, the infectious rhythm & changes, a scorching cover from Maria McKee fronting Lone Justice, & the sultry & smoldering Cowboy Junkies take. Think I'll Be Your Mirror comes a close second for perfect pop brilliance & the insanely addictive lilting version recorded by The Primitives.
Abby, seriously…You’re fast becoming one of YT’s treasures. You take Rock history in the correct context, taking the Art seriously yet injecting your reviews with a golden sense of humor. And that’s something most critics never could get right. Here’s to a wonderful 2024!
@randydoak6638 I beg to differ. I think it’s all too important for young people in Abby’s age group (especially as engaging and with public influence) to continue to advocate for the music that those of born closer to the middle of the last century love so much
I just remembered! Rock and Roll Animal, also known as the glam phase and Lou cut and bleached his hair and used heavy mascara to as to give him a stylish living dead look. Steve Hunter on guitar, that has to be why I bought the album. I get my Lou Reeds all mixed up. See a film called Home of the Brave if you want to meet his wife. I saw a video from a few years ago - I can't watch Laurie Anderson in recent interviews she is grieving in her own way. O Superman...(huh-huh-huh-huh-huh...). Laurie Anderson Reed. I like the sound of that.
I love when VU shows up in a movie or show; but recently I had a big music nerd moment. In a recent episode of Loki, there was this cool scene where Sophie went into a record shop and the proprietor handed her Loaded to spin. So she goes over to the turntable, puts on side 1 track 1 and Oh Sweet Nuthin comes out. Immediately, I said "that's not where that song is on the album!" But I was alone so nobody heard me, and nobody would know what I was talking about except the fine crowd here.
Summer 1985 I was 20 years old and backpacking in Europe with my younger brother and sister. In the past month we’d been through Hungary and Yugoslavia, which were communist back then, and into Greece. We’re Texans, had been in Europe for nearly three months, and we were thoroughly homesick. In Athens I bought a little Walkman, managed to splice three sets of earbuds together, and we bought 4 cassette tapes at a big music store. One was VU Loaded. This album has a warm place in my and my brother and sister’s hearts. I know every word.
Yaaaay, Vinyl Monday! Happy holidays. My birthday is this Thursday. I'll be 60. Keef is 80 today. I love The Rolling Stones so much that I predict an apocalypse is near when Mick and/or Keef die. My fave VU song is The Black Angel's Death Song.
"I'm Sticking With You" and "Afterhours" are two of the songs that have moved me the most. Ever. So, well deserved shout out to "I'm Sticking with You" there, in my book.
Loaded is probably the lesser of the real Velvets Albums but that still makes it better than 90 percent of the music that came out that year and 70 had some bangers. Rock and Roll is special to me in so many ways.
Abi, love your music history knowledge, enthusiasm, humor, your beauty, review, and editing. On this one I have to disagree with you about Train Coming Round The Bend. I love how it comes in sounding far away, like a train in the distance, and, like a train, it chugs along with the funky and off kilter sound of a slow moving train. I love the high pitched guitar bends that punctuate throughout, but, most of all, I love Lou Reed’s street punk attitude and raspy growls towards the end. For me it’s one of the best songs on the LP. Glad you appreciate the most beautiful and romantic song on the album, I Found a Reason. I remember playing it for a friend of mine one day and she started bawling in tears. Lou wrote it for a girlfriend at University of Syracuse. He played it for her on an acoustic guitar. So, it’s one of Lou’s oldest songs.
Fun video. I love Lou's vocal performance on this album. The dude leans hard into performing the HELL out of these songs: swagger, attitude, grit, abandon. Whatever the song calls for, he does it and then goes a little farther.
there is a band called The Fall, that has a song called "Shoulder Pads" where there is a lyric that says "and you can't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule" about the Bowie incident.
It's really not crazy that he mistook the two of them - he certainly wasn't going to expect that they would be playing without Lou, and the two of them looked similar, both with the big curly hair at the time. On the Live 1969 album, Lou even introduced him as "my brother Doug" - they looked similar enough that people thought they were brothers.
Could be my favorite VU album. I certainly taught myself to play rhythm guitar to this album. This a wonderful review and all the details you bring are very appreciated. Thank you Abigail. :) Merry Christmas 🎄
I had 99 albums in 1975. Amongst them were THREE Lou Reed albums...Transformer? I do noot like that title. It sounds like someone wanting to be David Bowie and hiding it. I have no idea why I had 3 LR albums. My best guess is that there were, maybe, 2 or 3 songs that I love love love on each album. Wacky record-buying days, the seventies. I also had THREE Yes albums. 3 Rolling Stones. I, as L.A.'s most articulate gumshoe do hereby deduce a pattern in my record collection. FOUR David Bowie albums. One Doors album. If you got this far...(there are no high notes). Infinite Vocals (yes I just made that up because, well, L.A.) state in it's Third Law of vocals: There are no high notes. I will explain when I can type. Yes goshdangitt I am also a vocal coach and I'm good. I have an epic bag o' tricks. (well why don't you make a video nurf doh bluh...)
Another killer review, Abby! Mentioning Bertha Tillman was a highlight for me as well as the Flamingos and Skyliners. Good work. Thanks for continuing to keep record collecting fresh and exciting.
I think Lester Bangs was to music what Pauline Kael was to movies. He turned me on to Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band with a review of Lick My Decals Off Baby in Downbeat magazine. What any if this has to do with Loaded and The VU is beyond me. Thanks, Abby for a great take on Loaded, and another wonderful year of insightful videos.
I'm a pedestrian VU fan. I actually like a handful of their songs, but I rarely listen to the band, not sure why. I always gave them credit for being unique. You really can't compare them to many other groups. But yeah......Loaded is cool, and Sweet Jane is great......although the live version Lou released a few years later on Rock and Roll Animal is my fave. Great video once again. Have a great holiday season!!
@abigaildevoe Fantastic episode again on one of my all time favorite artists The Velvet Underground. I love the "dumpster fire" tale, as anyone who discuss The Velvets, you make it to this point in the band's history it is utter chaos. Loaded is my least favorite of the Lou Reed era Velvets sometimes that comes off with a negative connotation that the album sucks, which isn't the case. I still find Loaded a five-star masterpiece, it's hard to really figure which direction they were going collectively. You could look at Lou Reed's solo career and get a glimpse, but I feel the essence of the VU was toast by this point. I enjoy "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll," and "New Age" (more on these in a second) are my favorites. While this recommendation isn't vinyl - and if they every released it on vinyl they can have my bank account information - the box set Peel, Slowly & See is a MUST have in any collection of anyone who holds the Velvets in high esteem. I have the 5-disc CD box set and having all the studio releases plus demos, live cuts, and the full intended Reed versions of "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll," and "New Age" I get why Reed peaced out. I prefer his vision and look he went on to do Transformer amongst other classics, I think he was on to something. Again thank you for all you do! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
Abigail, we have all the same records. And we enjoy them. No matter i'm double your age, i still remember the excitement when i discovered something completelly different. I adored WHITE LIGHT and V.U. & NICO, you can imagine my disapointment with the 3rd and LOADED. I adore them now, but in '88 i had different taste (THEE HYPNOTICS, LOOP, SPACEMEN 3...). Music is in a constant change, so is our taste
You mention how the song Rock And Roll is like an epiphany for someone in their 20’s. I think Lou was looking back at his own epiphany when he wrote it. I remember seeing an interview with him when he mentioned that it was during the 1950s when he first heard Alan Freed play DuWop music on his late night radio show. That was the moment for him.
always love getting to hear you talk about one of my fave bands! i'd love to see a video about laura nyro, she's one of the great singer-songwriters of the 60s in my opinion who got unduly shafted from the public eye. love your work, i tune in every week :)
Hey Abby! Man I’m really going through some shit right now and all your new uploads have been doing a lot to help. Thanks. Wish me luck and merry Christmas
You're missing out Angus MacLise on the list of people being fired/leaving the band. I love Lou's quote about Angus being told that the band had to start at playing at a certain time of night and him quiting on the spot.
Loaded is kinda the best album of the 60's, despite coming out in 1970 -it's almost a coda to 60's music in genereal, and 60's pop in particular. Putting Who Loves the Sun as the first track was a statement -yes, this was the Velvet's pop album, but they were still the antibeatles; not only was this song an almost direct response to songs like Here comes the Sun, but they weren't afraid to put their George on the first track. Cool It Down might be fogetable on another VU record, but here it's sequenced perfectly -maybe not the most memorable of the A-side, but placed where it would give the set the most breathing room and stand out for doing so.
Lou Reed is a legend at syracuse University , after he left , what's new with a tortured artist, my all time favorite tune by the velvets is the upbeat rock and roll , I was a boy in the 60,s and as I got older I discovered 60,s rock , the best , I've seen pictures of Patti boyd , you Abby are her doppelganger, fun fact about Andy Warhol , becks mother was part of his art cult , just throwing out an idea , a collaboration with the professor of rock , you both are a wealth of information, new york
bowie and lou reed also did a duet at the end of one of david bowies shows a few days after the top of the pops starman performance ive got the bootleg
Hey - I’m 70 and I’ve loved this album since it dropped. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to, but I still love it today. I’ll give you props for the depth of your knowledge and your observations are spot on. Well done!!!
Listened last night to your review of Blonde on Blonde and now another classic reviewed: "Loaded". Now I have to make space in my life for your old soul reviews of LPs ingrained on my vinyl life. Thanks, and have a happy new year
I appreciate ‘Who Loves the Sun’ as an opener but I do get where you’re coming from. …after all ‘Velvet Underground’ (s/t) opens with ‘Candy Says’. I can’t imagine that album opening any other way, no matter how unorthodox it might seem. It’s actually appealing that it does. Bravo! to you for putting together these informative and fun Lp studies.
Great video as always, Abby! Maureen Tucker is such an influential drummer; I'm amazed how much versatility she has in her playing style, going from the barely organized chaos of "Sister Ray" to the gentle folk-pop of "Candy Says" in less than a year. Looking forward to the last double album December and hoping you have a happy holidays! 🎄😃
I kept searching on "A Mocha" VU outtake and couldn't find it, until I realized oh! "A Moe cut! Yeah, "I'm Sticking with You" definitely belongs on this album!
I cannot believe how much you remind me of the girl who worked in my local records store when I was a teenager. She knew something about everything and is probably responsible for turning me on to so much stuff I'd never heard at the time.
I love these videos Abby. Keep up the good work. Thank god this is not the final vinyl Monday from you ever. I was gonna be like “oh mama is this really the end?”
I remember the exact moment I heard this album for the first time (the dust of the fallen meteor was just setting down, the moan of the last dying dinosaur left was still reverberating in the air): I was with my cousin (actually, we were shadows of one another at this time), and, when we heard the "Pa- Papa- Pa..." of "Who Loves The Sun" we couldn't help to display an ashamed laughter... It was funny: to us, coming from "The Banana" and "White Light" that was the less VU thing that could exist in the world... But we soon be Okay with the song, and today is one of our fave Velvet's (even not being a real VU's mood though). And you don't like "Train Coming Round The Band"??? How could you... it is amazing!
I agree. It’s sort of a throw-away song, like Lou never bothered to go back and rewrite the demo lyrics, but it’s also one of those that they play so fast you know that they’d been on the road or at least had been playing a lot and were very tight and, if you’d forgotten, reminds you they were a great rock and roll band.
Another great video Abby about a truly great and highly influential band all four of those albums are classic. I don't include squeeze as far as my favorite vu song where do you even begin I'd have to say Venus in furs white light white heat candy says and rock and roll to name a few
It behooves me to mention that Lou didn't include the bridge on the Rock n Roll Animal version of Sweet Jane either and this Michigan guy prefers it mainly because to the guitars of Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter. I adore Who Loves the Sun. It could have been on Sunflower or maybe Surfs Up I also would suggest you do some research on Adrian Barber. Very interesting resume. Great Episode!
When I saw Lou Reed at Massey Hall in Toronto in 2003-his last appearance here-he opened with Sweet Jane. He proceeded to break down the chord progression describing it-accurately-as "genius in motion". Alice Cooper covered Rock and Roll on Detroit Stories.
Rock and Roll is my favorite VU/Lou Reed song, Abby. Sweet Jane and Heroin are not far behind. Reed's Rock and Roll Animal album took the songs to a new height with Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitars. Thank you for all your hard work putting these videos together and all the best to you for the new year.
Seriously Abby, you are the youtube reviewer of the year. Another great review of another great album. I tried every Velvet Underground album in order and Loaded was the one that first grabbed me. I grew to love the other 3 but only because Loaded unlocked the door. "White Light, White Heat" unsurprisingly was the hardest to love but now I thrash my air guitar for all 18 bonkers as shit minutes. Thanks again. Looks like we're getting a redux on Friday. I'm looking forward to it. Hey, do you have Exile On Main St yet?
Great review. It is hrad to understand that it is the album of the moment in 1970. I was just too young to realise it back then but I understand now. Doug Yule is the perfect foild to Lou Reed.
Another awesome review Abby! I have to admit back in the day I wasn't a huge fan of VU, but I'm a late bloomer on a lot of things. I'm going to listen to this album. Thanks!
What a way to end the year, with my favorite band yet again. Just FYI, the new Lou Reed biography by Will Hermes is really excellent. Probably no new revelations for a student of rock history, but it’s much more balanced than the last bio by Anthony DeCurtis. It felt like DeCurtis was getting revenge for every journalist who was ever humiliated by Lou.
Happy Vinyl Monday Abby & congratulations on a fantastic year dishing on many of my all-time favorite records with your deep researching, great intelligence, wit & style, very glad I found your channel! The Velvet Underground are on of the best for sure, took on richly varied styles & inspired so many of my treasured bands not just to cover their songs but to write their own rebellious, genre-defying masterpieces & to start their bands up in the first place, just like Big Star. Every VU song & lp is a journey of discovery & wonderful sounds, a joyous kick when you need it, a comfort for a soft landing from a crash, & some thought provoking introspection & interwoven stories starring wild eyed characters. Looking forward to the last Double Album December on the next to last Friday of the year!
Such good form! Loaded great album! What Blond on Blond double Dylan classic album! Have you done this before Abi? Probably me thinking positive vibes! Great videos love them! 😂
This is brilliant. Never seen your channel before. And as a lifelong Reed and Velvets devotee I agree with much of what you say. Except for Train Coming Round the Bend's dismissal of the hippy ideal is culturally relevant for the time, and was echoed by Reed and his cohorts. The screech of feedback and choppy guitars is delightfully obtuse but it still keeps the song as a whole moving at a pace. Granted it isn't a great song but I think it is justified and one of the necessary filler songs on the album IMHO. Lou seemed to be willing to play with Dougs naivety by letting him interpret songs on face value. I also remember reading that Lou was having real issues with his voice during the final few years of the VU and decided to let Doug loose on a few songs. Where it works on say Sweet Nuthin its because Yule goes for it in a conventional, yet emotive manner. It transcends and its fucking great. Lonesome Cowboy Bill lacks irony and is Octopus's Garden by another name for me. New Age - is a beautiful song, and a missed opportunity by Lou - His live versions are excellent. WHY did he not sing it??? Bad throat? Nodules? Or just another experiment with Doug singing? Even though - Doug nails it and the codas are epic and truly uplifting Rock'n'Roll - a really wonderful song. Ironically the stand out moment for me was its inclusion in the Civilization IV(?) - complete with lyrics read aloud by Lonard Nimoy. Unexpected and touching. And Doug deserves his flowers. Love your channel so far - subbed.
Loaded isn't my favorite album by the velvets my favorite being the self titled 3rd album but it's still a good album sweet Jane is always one of my favorite and who loves the sun is a great beatles style song great job abby ❤❤❤ keep it up and I love the gag of throwing the album covers 😂 it made my day
"Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll" are my two favorite VU songs and both make this album great, but IMAO the best performances of each song are not found here but came later -- Lou's version of "Sweet Jane" with that killer twin guitar intro from Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on the live "Rock N Roll Animal" LP is hard rock at its gritty best. The best version of the song "Rock & Roll" I've heard is not from Lou but from the great Mitch Ryder on the criminally over looked "Detroit" LP -- brilliant.
WOW! I was JUST listening to Loaded this morning on the train. Not GETTING loaded, but LISTENING TO Loaded. I look forward to seeing this in a bit. I'm showing a Dylan Mulvaney clip to a friend, first.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
what’s your favorite VU song? the stuff lou recorded solo is up for grabs - comment below!
Mine is "Who Loves the Sun?" It is the song that made me fall in love with the band
Mine is femme fatale, sunday morning, and candy says. Hope one day you will do theirs 3rd album.
That's such a tough call, have to say Sweet Jane's got everything - the best lyrics, the infectious rhythm & changes, a scorching cover from Maria McKee fronting Lone Justice, & the sultry & smoldering Cowboy Junkies take. Think I'll Be Your Mirror comes a close second for perfect pop brilliance & the insanely addictive lilting version recorded by The Primitives.
Oh Sweet Nuthin’
Stephanie Says and After Hours, After Hours was the first VU song I heard and I genuinely thought they were a modern day band for a hot minute 😅
Abby, seriously…You’re fast becoming one of YT’s treasures. You take Rock history in the correct context, taking the Art seriously yet injecting your reviews with a golden sense of humor. And that’s something most critics never could get right. Here’s to a wonderful 2024!
Agreed, brightens my Monday morning drab-ass work from home existence.
Becoming a treasure ... well, she undoubtedly is already.
I agree. Born in the wrong decade, that one.
@randydoak6638 I beg to differ. I think it’s all too important for young people in Abby’s age group (especially as engaging and with public influence) to continue to advocate for the music that those of born closer to the middle of the last century love so much
“Let’s take off the plastic” is a phrase I now use when something comes in a plastic wrapper.
Sometimes it's followed by " ...shall we?"
@@chrismcgovern1647 oh yes I will and I will add “shall we” thanks
“If you shoot for the moon
and miss, you land amongst the stars” … Nice !
Of course if your head hits something on impact, you see stars anyway
‘who loves the sun,’ ‘sweet jane,’ and ‘rock & roll’ is such a great way to open the album. ‘oh! sweet nuthin’ ‘ is also a fantastic closing song
I hate how people discredit because it isn’t experimental like their previous albums but damn it’s still a good record
@@StoneColdSour nah, let's be real. Loaded is alright, but the first 3 are flawless
Now that you mentioned CBs, would love an episode on Patti
Smith and Suicide
I just remembered! Rock and Roll Animal, also known as the glam phase and Lou cut and bleached his hair and used heavy mascara to as to give him a stylish living dead look. Steve Hunter on guitar, that has to be why I bought the album. I get my Lou Reeds all mixed up. See a film called Home of the Brave if you want to meet his wife. I saw a video from a few years ago - I can't watch Laurie Anderson in recent interviews she is grieving in her own way. O Superman...(huh-huh-huh-huh-huh...). Laurie Anderson Reed. I like the sound of that.
I 've always felt like "Cool It Down" has been unjustly ignored. The thing has a dope-stenched swing to it that just makes me happy.
These videos are so perfect how they come out exactly when schools over on a Monday
I love when VU shows up in a movie or show; but recently I had a big music nerd moment. In a recent episode of Loki, there was this cool scene where Sophie went into a record shop and the proprietor handed her Loaded to spin. So she goes over to the turntable, puts on side 1 track 1 and Oh Sweet Nuthin comes out. Immediately, I said "that's not where that song is on the album!" But I was alone so nobody heard me, and nobody would know what I was talking about except the fine crowd here.
Summer 1985 I was 20 years old and backpacking in Europe with my younger brother and sister. In the past month we’d been through Hungary and Yugoslavia, which were communist back then, and into Greece. We’re Texans, had been in Europe for nearly three months, and we were thoroughly homesick. In Athens I bought a little Walkman, managed to splice three sets of earbuds together, and we bought 4 cassette tapes at a big music store. One was VU Loaded. This album has a warm place in my and my brother and sister’s hearts. I know every word.
Yaaaay, Vinyl Monday! Happy holidays. My birthday is this Thursday. I'll be 60. Keef is 80 today. I love The Rolling Stones so much that I predict an apocalypse is near when Mick and/or Keef die. My fave VU song is The Black Angel's Death Song.
happy early birthday to you (and happy birthday keith!)
@@abigaildevoe thank you so much. ✌️♥️🎸🎂
All Tomorrow's Party's is my favorite Velvet Underground song.
"I'm Sticking With You" and "Afterhours" are two of the songs that have moved me the most. Ever. So, well deserved shout out to "I'm Sticking with You" there, in my book.
Loaded is probably the lesser of the real Velvets Albums but that still makes it better than 90 percent of the music that came out that year and 70 had some bangers. Rock and Roll is special to me in so many ways.
So great to see Yule period Velvets get some love. So many Velvets documentaries act like the first two albums are the only ones that matter.
Abi, love your music history knowledge, enthusiasm, humor, your beauty, review, and editing. On this one I have to disagree with you about Train Coming Round The Bend. I love how it comes in sounding far away, like a train in the distance, and, like a train, it chugs along with the funky and off kilter sound of a slow moving train. I love the high pitched guitar bends that punctuate throughout, but, most of all, I love Lou Reed’s street punk attitude and raspy growls towards the end. For me it’s one of the best songs on the LP. Glad you appreciate the most beautiful and romantic song on the album, I Found a Reason. I remember playing it for a friend of mine one day and she started bawling in tears. Lou wrote it for a girlfriend at University of Syracuse. He played it for her on an acoustic guitar. So, it’s one of Lou’s oldest songs.
Fun video. I love Lou's vocal performance on this album. The dude leans hard into performing the HELL out of these songs: swagger, attitude, grit, abandon. Whatever the song calls for, he does it and then goes a little farther.
Our cool aunt is FEEDING us this month I love it!! also do Patti Smith’s “Horses”
COOL AUNT :’) life is made
there is a band called The Fall, that has a song called "Shoulder Pads" where there is a lyric that says "and you can't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule" about the Bowie incident.
that is SO funny
The Fall covered Victoria by The Kinks & did it justice.
It's really not crazy that he mistook the two of them - he certainly wasn't going to expect that they would be playing without Lou, and the two of them looked similar, both with the big curly hair at the time. On the Live 1969 album, Lou even introduced him as "my brother Doug" - they looked similar enough that people thought they were brothers.
Merry Christmas 🎄 🎅 Abby ! 🎸
Could be my favorite VU album. I certainly taught myself to play rhythm guitar to this album. This a wonderful review and all the details you bring are very appreciated. Thank you Abigail. :) Merry Christmas 🎄
I had 99 albums in 1975. Amongst them were THREE Lou Reed albums...Transformer? I do noot like that title. It sounds like someone wanting to be David Bowie and hiding it. I have no idea why I had 3 LR albums. My best guess is that there were, maybe, 2 or 3 songs that I love love love on each album. Wacky record-buying days, the seventies. I also had THREE Yes albums. 3 Rolling Stones. I, as L.A.'s most articulate gumshoe do hereby deduce a pattern in my record collection. FOUR David Bowie albums. One Doors album. If you got this far...(there are no high notes). Infinite Vocals (yes I just made that up because, well, L.A.) state in it's Third Law of vocals: There are no high notes. I will explain when I can type. Yes goshdangitt I am also a vocal coach and I'm good. I have an epic bag o' tricks. (well why don't you make a video nurf doh bluh...)
And yes I've been inside that subway station pictured on the album and seen the smoke rising too...
Another brilliant review. I’ve been a Velvets fan since I was 16 … that was 40 years ago! You absolutely nailed this review. Doug is so understated.
Another killer review, Abby! Mentioning Bertha Tillman was a highlight for me as well as the Flamingos and Skyliners. Good work. Thanks for continuing to keep record collecting fresh and exciting.
I think Lester Bangs was to music what Pauline Kael was to movies. He turned me on to Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band with a review of Lick My Decals Off Baby in Downbeat magazine. What any if this has to do with Loaded and The VU is beyond me. Thanks, Abby for a great take on Loaded, and another wonderful year of insightful videos.
I'm a pedestrian VU fan. I actually like a handful of their songs, but I rarely listen to the band, not sure why. I always gave them credit for being unique. You really can't compare them to many other groups. But yeah......Loaded is cool, and Sweet Jane is great......although the live version Lou released a few years later on Rock and Roll Animal is my fave.
Great video once again. Have a great holiday season!!
BTW, I luv your takes on "Sweet Jane" and "Head Held High"! 😅
@abigaildevoe Fantastic episode again on one of my all time favorite artists The Velvet Underground. I love the "dumpster fire" tale, as anyone who discuss The Velvets, you make it to this point in the band's history it is utter chaos. Loaded is my least favorite of the Lou Reed era Velvets sometimes that comes off with a negative connotation that the album sucks, which isn't the case. I still find Loaded a five-star masterpiece, it's hard to really figure which direction they were going collectively. You could look at Lou Reed's solo career and get a glimpse, but I feel the essence of the VU was toast by this point.
I enjoy "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll," and "New Age" (more on these in a second) are my favorites.
While this recommendation isn't vinyl - and if they every released it on vinyl they can have my bank account information - the box set Peel, Slowly & See is a MUST have in any collection of anyone who holds the Velvets in high esteem.
I have the 5-disc CD box set and having all the studio releases plus demos, live cuts, and the full intended Reed versions of "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll," and "New Age" I get why Reed peaced out. I prefer his vision and look he went on to do Transformer amongst other classics, I think he was on to something.
Again thank you for all you do! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
Oh Sweet Nuthin' is my favorite song of theirs too. It's just perfect.
Abigail, we have all the same records. And we enjoy them. No matter i'm double your age, i still remember the excitement when i discovered something completelly different. I adored WHITE LIGHT and V.U. & NICO, you can imagine my disapointment with the 3rd and LOADED. I adore them now, but in '88 i had different taste (THEE HYPNOTICS, LOOP, SPACEMEN 3...). Music is in a constant change, so is our taste
You mention how the song Rock And Roll is like an epiphany for someone in their 20’s. I think Lou was looking back at his own epiphany when he wrote it. I remember seeing an interview with him when he mentioned that it was during the 1950s when he first heard Alan Freed play DuWop music on his late night radio show. That was the moment for him.
I had a slight panic when you threw the VU and Nico record. 🤣🤣
I love how I can watch vid's about LP's I've never heard, and still have a fun and entertaining time. 👍 Can't wait until you get to the Pretenders!
Ah, that Rolling Stone the Lenny Kaye review comes from was two days after I was born!
White Light/White Heat is my favourite, VU & Nico is very cool too, VU (b/w) is groovy as well… big fan since an 80s teenager.
You started 2023 with the first Velvet album and you're closing the year with the (true) last. Look at that!
It feels like a very natural bookend for the year! (Discounting the other upcoming vids lol)
great video! yay! i love the story about bowie and doug yule ahahahahah. would you ever consider making a vinyl monday about the modern lovers?
A modern lovers episode would be amazing
always love getting to hear you talk about one of my fave bands! i'd love to see a video about laura nyro, she's one of the great singer-songwriters of the 60s in my opinion who got unduly shafted from the public eye. love your work, i tune in every week :)
Hey Abby! Man I’m really going through some shit right now and all your new uploads have been doing a lot to help. Thanks. Wish me luck and merry Christmas
Luck
Good luck! I dislike it when people tell me that things could always be worse but when you listen to Oh! Sweet Nuthin' you realize that its true!
@@if6was929 thanks man. I dig your name I was just listening to Jimi this morning
You're missing out Angus MacLise on the list of people being fired/leaving the band.
I love Lou's quote about Angus being told that the band had to start at playing at a certain time of night and him quiting on the spot.
Loaded is kinda the best album of the 60's, despite coming out in 1970 -it's almost a coda to 60's music in genereal, and 60's pop in particular.
Putting Who Loves the Sun as the first track was a statement -yes, this was the Velvet's pop album, but they were still the antibeatles; not only was this song an almost direct response to songs like Here comes the Sun, but they weren't afraid to put their George on the first track. Cool It Down might be fogetable on another VU record, but here it's sequenced perfectly -maybe not the most memorable of the A-side, but placed where it would give the set the most breathing room and stand out for doing so.
Lou Reed is a legend at syracuse University , after he left , what's new with a tortured artist, my all time favorite tune by the velvets is the upbeat rock and roll , I was a boy in the 60,s and as I got older I discovered 60,s rock , the best , I've seen pictures of Patti boyd , you Abby are her doppelganger, fun fact about Andy Warhol , becks mother was part of his art cult , just throwing out an idea , a collaboration with the professor of rock , you both are a wealth of information, new york
bowie and lou reed also did a duet at the end of one of david bowies shows a few days after the top of the pops starman performance ive got the bootleg
The VU may be the most influential band that most people never heard of.
they’re right up there with sonic youth and the pixies yeah
Yep
Interpol heard The Pixies ..Check out My Chemistry ✅️
Hey - I’m 70 and I’ve loved this album since it dropped. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to, but I still love it today. I’ll give you props for the depth of your knowledge and your observations are spot on. Well done!!!
Doug Yule rules! Thanks for mentioning the Live 1969 album Abigail it’s my favorite album of all time.
Just found the channel to binge until new years. I love you Abigail.......
Mondays are my end of the work week and it's always such a nice treat to come home to Abi's vibrant smile and intellect!
Really liked your explanation of New Age’s strengths. One of my favorite songs by a band that means a lot to me. Great video, as usual.
This is such a great album. "Who Loves The Sun", "New Age" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" are all incredible songs.
Thanks for the good handle on this album.
Slightly surprised to hear no mention of Phish’s cover of it live in Las Vegas on 10/31/1998.
Thank you so much for making my year a bit more bearable :)
Hoping for more great videos in 2024!
Abby, PLEASE review WLWH! I’d love to hear your thoughts on sister Ray 😁🤘🏼
Listened last night to your review of Blonde on Blonde and now another classic reviewed: "Loaded". Now I have to make space in my life for your old soul reviews of LPs ingrained on my vinyl life. Thanks, and have a happy new year
For someone that’s not a musician you sure do know your stuff!
nice! I just got atlantic 75 reissue, sounds great! really love it, velvet's only 'pop' album, now hunting for white light white heat
Always very cool! See you next year!
Absolutely loaded!
I appreciate ‘Who Loves the Sun’ as an opener but I do get where you’re coming from.
…after all ‘Velvet Underground’ (s/t) opens with ‘Candy Says’.
I can’t imagine that album opening any other way, no matter how unorthodox it might seem. It’s actually appealing that it does.
Bravo! to you for putting together these informative and fun Lp studies.
Great video as always, Abby! Maureen Tucker is such an influential drummer; I'm amazed how much versatility she has in her playing style, going from the barely organized chaos of "Sister Ray" to the gentle folk-pop of "Candy Says" in less than a year. Looking forward to the last double album December and hoping you have a happy holidays! 🎄😃
I kept searching on "A Mocha" VU outtake and couldn't find it, until I realized oh! "A Moe cut! Yeah, "I'm Sticking with You" definitely belongs on this album!
Damn Abby, you’re on a roll!! You’re covering some of my favorite albums! 😃
Awesome video. So much info. Thanks
This is my favorite album of all time
I like Train Round The Bend as the side one opener. Have felt this way for a while.
That outfit though ❤
Happy holidays, and thanks for all the great videos this year!
I cannot believe how much you remind me of the girl who worked in my local records store when I was a teenager. She knew something about everything and is probably responsible for turning me on to so much stuff I'd never heard at the time.
I love these videos Abby. Keep up the good work. Thank god this is not the final vinyl Monday from you ever. I was gonna be like “oh mama is this really the end?”
what a grt year for your channel so looking forward to next yr ur wonderful abby and even though i lived thru thses ties i learn so muc
h ty
I remember the exact moment I heard this album for the first time (the dust of the fallen meteor was just setting down, the moan of the last dying dinosaur left was still reverberating in the air): I was with my cousin (actually, we were shadows of one another at this time), and, when we heard the "Pa- Papa- Pa..." of "Who Loves The Sun" we couldn't help to display an ashamed laughter... It was funny: to us, coming from "The Banana" and "White Light" that was the less VU thing that could exist in the world... But we soon be Okay with the song, and today is one of our fave Velvet's (even not being a real VU's mood though). And you don't like "Train Coming Round The Band"??? How could you... it is amazing!
I agree. It’s sort of a throw-away song, like Lou never bothered to go back and rewrite the demo lyrics, but it’s also one of those that they play so fast you know that they’d been on the road or at least had been playing a lot and were very tight and, if you’d forgotten, reminds you they were a great rock and roll band.
Rock and Roll is one of the best songs in history.
@@caseymckenzie4760 🤝
Great review! Thanks. My favorite one so far.
Another great video Abby about a truly great and highly influential band all four of those albums are classic. I don't include squeeze as far as my favorite vu song where do you even begin I'd have to say Venus in furs white light white heat candy says and rock and roll to name a few
Some of "Loaded" got some FM airplay, "Sweet Jane" in particular.
WNEW FM in NY played it, that's where I first heard Rock & Roll, followed by Geo. Harrison's newly released My Sweet Lord. I thought I was dreaming!
It behooves me to mention that Lou didn't include the bridge on the Rock n Roll Animal version of Sweet Jane either and this Michigan guy prefers it mainly because to the guitars of Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter. I adore Who Loves the Sun. It could have been on Sunflower or maybe Surfs Up I also would suggest you do some research on Adrian Barber. Very interesting resume. Great Episode!
Would love an episode on Rock and Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live. Reed had a great band then with Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitar.
Came here to make the same request! My original vinyls were heavily played. "Vicious" from LRL is still a favorite.
When I saw Lou Reed at Massey Hall in Toronto in 2003-his last appearance here-he opened with Sweet Jane.
He proceeded to break down the chord progression describing it-accurately-as "genius in motion".
Alice Cooper covered Rock and Roll on Detroit Stories.
Rock and Roll is my favorite VU/Lou Reed song, Abby. Sweet Jane and Heroin are not far behind. Reed's Rock and Roll Animal album took the songs to a new height with Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitars. Thank you for all your hard work putting these videos together and all the best to you for the new year.
Seriously Abby, you are the youtube reviewer of the year. Another great review of another great album. I tried every Velvet Underground album in order and Loaded was the one that first grabbed me. I grew to love the other 3 but only because Loaded unlocked the door. "White Light, White Heat" unsurprisingly was the hardest to love but now I thrash my air guitar for all 18 bonkers as shit minutes. Thanks again. Looks like we're getting a redux on Friday. I'm looking forward to it. Hey, do you have Exile On Main St yet?
I had the great honor to play and record music with Doug Yule. Mellow, humble fellow. It was a blast!
Abby... I have The Velvet Underground "Live At Max's Kansas City"... It is now a 2 CD set recorded in low fi, but the music is very good...
Great review. It is hrad to understand that it is the album of the moment in 1970. I was just too young to realise it back then but I understand now. Doug Yule is the perfect foild to Lou Reed.
Another awesome review Abby! I have to admit back in the day I wasn't a huge fan of VU, but I'm a late bloomer on a lot of things. I'm going to listen to this album. Thanks!
Used to love this album - Sweet Jane and Rock n Roll. Great reviews Abi - season's greetings from NZ!
Merry Christmas Abby and hope you have a great new year 😊
thanks so much for your vinyl mondays!
What a way to end the year, with my favorite band yet again. Just FYI, the new Lou Reed biography by Will Hermes is really excellent. Probably no new revelations for a student of rock history, but it’s much more balanced than the last bio by Anthony DeCurtis. It felt like DeCurtis was getting revenge for every journalist who was ever humiliated by Lou.
Which is nearly every journalist who ever interviewed him!
Man! I can't believe you're hatin' on Train Round the Bend like that! It's my second favorite song on the album, behind Oh! Sweet Nuthin'.
Great job on this, Abby! Moe was right--The Velvets were not the classic Velvets but they were a nice tight little group at this time.
Happy Vinyl Monday Abby & congratulations on a fantastic year dishing on many of my all-time favorite records with your deep researching, great intelligence, wit & style, very glad I found your channel! The Velvet Underground are on of the best for sure, took on richly varied styles & inspired so many of my treasured bands not just to cover their songs but to write their own rebellious, genre-defying masterpieces & to start their bands up in the first place, just like Big Star. Every VU song & lp is a journey of discovery & wonderful sounds, a joyous kick when you need it, a comfort for a soft landing from a crash, & some thought provoking introspection & interwoven stories starring wild eyed characters. Looking forward to the last Double Album December on the next to last Friday of the year!
Such good form! Loaded great album! What Blond on Blond double Dylan classic album! Have you done this before Abi? Probably me thinking positive vibes! Great videos love them! 😂
Bravo, Abby.
This is brilliant. Never seen your channel before. And as a lifelong Reed and Velvets devotee I agree with much of what you say.
Except for Train Coming Round the Bend's dismissal of the hippy ideal is culturally relevant for the time, and was echoed by Reed and his cohorts. The screech of feedback and choppy guitars is delightfully obtuse but it still keeps the song as a whole moving at a pace. Granted it isn't a great song but I think it is justified and one of the necessary filler songs on the album IMHO.
Lou seemed to be willing to play with Dougs naivety by letting him interpret songs on face value. I also remember reading that Lou was having real issues with his voice during the final few years of the VU and decided to let Doug loose on a few songs. Where it works on say Sweet Nuthin its because Yule goes for it in a conventional, yet emotive manner. It transcends and its fucking great.
Lonesome Cowboy Bill lacks irony and is Octopus's Garden by another name for me.
New Age - is a beautiful song, and a missed opportunity by Lou - His live versions are excellent. WHY did he not sing it??? Bad throat? Nodules? Or just another experiment with Doug singing? Even though - Doug nails it and the codas are epic and truly uplifting
Rock'n'Roll - a really wonderful song. Ironically the stand out moment for me was its inclusion in the Civilization IV(?) - complete with lyrics read aloud by Lonard Nimoy. Unexpected and touching.
And Doug deserves his flowers.
Love your channel so far - subbed.
Maybe "DOWTOWN" was a sly reference to New York being the home of the NY Stock Exchange. Guess we'll never know.
Loaded isn't my favorite album by the velvets my favorite being the self titled 3rd album but it's still a good album sweet Jane is always one of my favorite and who loves the sun is a great beatles style song great job abby ❤❤❤ keep it up and I love the gag of throwing the album covers 😂 it made my day
"Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll" are my two favorite VU songs and both make this album great, but IMAO the best performances of each song are not found here but came later -- Lou's version of "Sweet Jane" with that killer twin guitar intro from Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on the live "Rock N Roll Animal" LP is hard rock at its gritty best. The best version of the song "Rock & Roll" I've heard is not from Lou but from the great Mitch Ryder on the criminally over looked "Detroit" LP -- brilliant.
WOW! I was JUST listening to Loaded this morning on the train. Not GETTING loaded, but LISTENING TO Loaded. I look forward to seeing this in a bit. I'm showing a Dylan Mulvaney clip to a friend, first.