{"id":27162,"date":"2024-04-27T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T09:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27162"},"modified":"2024-03-21T08:52:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T12:52:20","slug":"take-5-the-pop-side-of-the-velvet-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/27\/take-5-the-pop-side-of-the-velvet-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"Take 5: The Pop Side of the Velvet Underground"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The late Lou Reed is one of rock music\u2019s most iconic artists. With and beyond the Velvet Underground, his work is revered for its boundary-pushing nature, often bringing taboo subjects (drugs, sex, etc.) into the commercial space. And his music helped pave the way for avant-garde and noise rock styles to find a place on the popular music landscape. But against that backdrop, Reed\u2019s enduring pop music sensibility has often been overlooked. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the release of Reed\u2019s monumental <em>Rock n Roll Animal<\/em> LP \u2013 acclaimed as one of the great live albums of the rock era \u2013 here\u2019s a look at five songs from his time with the Velvet Underground that demonstrate the sometimes underappreciated tuneful side of Lou Reed\u2019s music.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cSunday Morning\u201d from <em>The Velvet Underground &amp; Nico<\/em> (1967)<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker launched the Velvet Underground, the group was managed (after a fashion) by pop artist Andy Warhol. As a centerpiece of Warhol\u2019s proto-multimedia \u201chappening\u201d the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, the VU performed their original material to (sometimes perplexed) audiences. Warhol also insisted that German chanteuse Nico join the group, and the band members agreed, if reluctantly. Nico would take the lead vocal for three of the songs on the band\u2019s debut album, but on Reed\u2019s gentle \u201cSunday Morning,\u201d she was relegated to backing vocals, leaving Lou to sing his own lyrics.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3vnRUp9qVZ0?si=CLyNacHmtZlYwjyn\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPale Blue Eyes\u201d from <em>The Velvet Underground<\/em> (1969)<\/strong><br \/>\nReed had dismissed Warhol as the group\u2019s manager, and Nico had departed as well by the time of the uncompromising <em>White Light\/White Heat<\/em> (1968). After that record, violist John Cale departed as well; for the band\u2019s third LP, multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule joined, helping bring a (slightly) more commercial sensibility to the fore. One of few tracks in the VU catalog worthy of being described as a love song, \u201cPale Blue Eyes\u201d ranks among the most beloved tunes from the group.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aNSH8OdHx2A?si=ZsDWim4wm4bXHn_q\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWho Loves the Sun\u201d from <em>Loaded<\/em> (1970)<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen the Velvet Underground\u2019s fourth studio album was first released, <em>Loaded<\/em> received mixed critical response. It has since gone on to be recognized as one of rock\u2019s greatest LPs. <em>Loaded<\/em> also marked a turn toward a more accessible sound, featuring tuneful songs intentionally designed to garner radio play. While that bid didn\u2019t really work \u2013 the album didn\u2019t chart in the U.S. at all \u2013 the chirpy \u201cWho Loves the Sun\u201d eventually took its place as the most pop-oriented song in the VU catalog. With harpsichord and upbeat \u2018ba ba ba ba\u201d backing vocals, the tune \u2013 released as a single \u2013 has shades of sunshine pop, a style more readily associated with The Association, Spanky and our Gang and The Mamas and the Papas. Doug Yule sings lead.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AqVWBVbytXo?si=eSWvcAGWWBgP49Dd\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cStephanie Says\u201d from <em>VU<\/em> (1985)<\/strong><br \/>\nWhat remained of the original lineup of the Velvet Underground ended when Lou Reed left the band for a solo career shortly before <em>Loaded<\/em>\u2019s release. But a fair amount of unreleased material remained unreleased, and as the VU\u2019s posthumous influence continued to grow, interest in that unheard material grew. Many years after the band\u2019s demise, a collection of previously-unreleased material was discovered. A highlight of <em>VU<\/em> is \u201cStephanie Says.\u201d A Lou Reed song dating from sessions in 1968-69, it\u2019s a slice of baroque pop, with gently picked guitar, a lovely classical string section and uncharacteristically sweet backing vocal harmonies from Cale and Sterling Morrison.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P4tS67TDo6Y?si=y_ZqgxrwbryosySx\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe&#8217;re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together\u201d from <em>Another View<\/em> (1986)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe vaults that yielded 1985\u2019s <em>VU<\/em> contained even more material, and when a Velvet Underground boxed set release was scheduled for European markets, an untitled bonus album was included. That disc soon received standalone release as <em>Another View<\/em>. While many of the album\u2019s tracks were alternate versions of songs fans already knew, the studio take of \u201cWe\u2019re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together\u201d received its first official release. Recorded in 1969, the Lou Reed composition leans in a more traditional rock and roll direction than most VU tracks. With handclaps, lyrics about laughing and dancing and \u201cna-na-na\u201d vocalisms, the song is an exemplar of the accessible side of the Velvet Underground.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_GIK7mKN5Sg?si=Pfe7WvfMKwDOOqhC\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The late Lou Reed is one of rock music\u2019s most iconic artists. With and beyond the Velvet Underground, his work is revered for its boundary-pushing nature, often bringing taboo subjects [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1350,2316],"class_list":["post-27162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-lou-reed","tag-velvet-underground","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27164,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27162\/revisions\/27164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}