(TV) OT: Thouroughly random comments on VU and White Light/White Heat & John Cale

["Russ Van Rooy" <russvr@blarg.net>]

In the yet another tired perusing of the case files of the Velvet
Underground Department: , I ,too, must express myself. It will soon become
clear to those of you who really know The Velvet Underground  that I do not
know of what I speak, so forgive me Lord.  I've been listening to the Velvet
Underground  pretty casually since I was a teenager ,but in the past few
years I've been listening to them more "studiously", if you can imagine
that.  Recently I realized I did not have White Light/White Heat ( the "best
of"s only carry "White Light/White Heat"  but none of the other (better)
songs), so I bought it. I was totally amazed how different it was from both
Loaded, The Velvet Underground, and The Velvet Underground & Nico. The most
interesting aspect for me was to hear John Cale sing and narrate some of the
songs.("The Gift", "Lady Godiva's Operation") The songs, too, seemed
different - harder rocking , the guitar sound more over-driven, the drums
louder - something I can't quite articulate I guess. This also lead me to
buy John Cale's first solo, Vintage Violence, which I just listened to for
the first time yesterday. (First impression - way different fromwhat I
expected - almost folky/Van Morrison-ish) I found it kind of amusing how
similar, at least to my ear, Yo La Tengo's "Mushroom Cloud of Hiss" is to "I
Heard Her Call My Name" .  I read the Bokaris bio of Lou Reed. I get the
impression from this list that that book is not very truthful ? Reed comes
off pretty horribly, an artistic enfant terrible. But Bokaris still
portrayed him to be a genius musician. This is gonna piss someone off, now
did I read this in Bokaris, or did I just dream this up myself: Lou Reed is
the Jerry Lewis of rock and roll ? I guess that might sound sort of
insulting but I really mean it in an affectionate way...
Okay , one more random thought. I don't know how it is in other parts of
North America. or in Europe, but here in Seattle I cannot find one good book
on the Velvet Underground at all . Does such a book exist ? What is the
definitive history of this band ?

Over and Out. Nanu nanu. - Russ
Oh, my personal favorite on White Light/White Heat is "Here She Comes Now"
which I like because it's the Velvets attempt at something Flower power-y !
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