You're welcome sir. I was the same way for a while but it grew on me a lot. Still, I'm listening to TVU&N right now and it's winning be back over. They're both brilliant in my opinion.

I feel like The Gift takes up a bit too much space, but otherwise White Light/White Heat is pretty much perfection.

Great review of one of the finest albums that I have ever heard. In terms of influence The Velvet Underground & Nico has been massive with me and obviously many artists. The minimalistic approach of Cale on this album left an indelible stamp on my approach to music over the years. I constantly hear the influence of The Velvet Underground in so much that I listen to.

Just to add to the OP I am sure that I read years back that Reed considered Dylan an influence and the track that I can say that shows that is Run Run Run. I also consider Cale to be genius. I have a fair bit of his music. I had the pleasure of seeing him live last year on his Circus Circus tour. He was outstanding. Are there many better 65 year old rockers out there? The interesting thing is that I actually consider Cale's last 2 albums Hobo Sapiens and Black Acetate to be as strong as anything that he has done since his 2 VU albums.

Vu3
 

"Murder Mystery" late on side 2 carries some experimental, sort of an extension of Lady Godiva's Operation concepts in a way. Otherwise you could say 1) it's a chance to explore Lou's songwriting which had been somewhat obscured prior or 2) to make such a chill album (well, sort of - it's a weird one when you look lyrically at "Jesus" and "I'm Set Free" and "Candy Says" and then there's "Some Kindsa Love" and "Beginning To See The Light" and "What Goes On" which all rock and have either a weird lyric or a weird sound per each) after such a noise-pit as White Light / White Heat is a pretty insane move on its own

:whythis:

I thought this performance far outshined All Tomorrow's Parties. It's probably my 2nd favorite on the album next to Heroin.

EDIT: Oh, and I was just revivng this because I searched for a review of this album. And now that I think about it, I haven't seen JJJ on much, so good luck to me if I get a reply :\

I concur; great review. I really love Nico and am a huge Andy Warhol fan.
I wish I were around to see them live in late 60's. I have heard such amazing stories about the Velvets and days of The Factory. Cheers for this! :-)

I love the brutal honesty in "Heroin"; also the elastic rhythms of the song emulate the heartbeat adrenaline rush of a street junkie married to his drug.
It is a visceral and painful piece of urban poetry in a gem of a song.

First songs I learned on guitar were from this album. The simplicity yet complexity of it is just great : )

I love this album, as well as their self-titled, and Loaded (each so different, yet all awesome). Been kind of apprehensive about shelling out money for White Light/White Heat though because I hear such mixed reviews of it. I'm sure I will get around to it at some point though.

This is a great album. I really love Sunday Morning. I think it's a perfect introduction to everything that follows.