Trout Mask Replica vs. The Velvet Underground & Nico

**Goofle** · 02-19-2012, 12:10 PM

ARGH. I am currently at the beginning of Heroin and I am already starting to change my mind... Not even hot the best song on the album (I'll Be Your Mirror).

Agree with Bob about TMR after listening to it throughout the day. Tough ask to get through it all.

Also, it's insane that I discovered Captain Beefheart in HMV... It literally blows my mind that I bought the album on the strength of the cover... in HMV!

blastingas10 · 02-19-2012, 12:29 PM

I go with The VU. I'm not a big fan of Nico but I really like the rest of the band. They were really experimental without going off the deep end, like Beefheart. That's not to say I don't appreciate Beefheart, I do. I like his music. The VU, to me, is just quite a bit better. Sneer said it best when he/she said "the songs are beautifully crafted, full of depth and meaning, whilst despite the experimentation fizzes and crashes throughout, there is an accessibility to the music."

Sparky · 02-19-2012, 12:54 PM

Having never been able to finish either album, I would have to go with VU&N. "Venus in furs" is a great song, and is one of my favorite scenes in gus van sants "Last Days"

I've always wanted to love beefheart because he's such a nutcase, but never able. I might not have a mature enough palette to appreciate him. Certain songs like "ella guru", which had a clear melody I could enjoy, but most of it was just too abstract.

It's crazy that he couldn't read and spent his childhood in his parents basement making pots

TockTockTock · 02-19-2012, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky

It's crazy that he couldn't read and spent his childhood in his parents basement making pots

He could read. He also attended high school and started to attend college. He just made up a bunch of lies about himself to either mess with the media, or it was because he might have been a pathological liar.

thevelvetunderground3866 · 02-19-2012, 04:43 PM

i have to say tvu is the better but listening to tmr i can also see the preparation it took to create and perform. but jack not just out of the two but any band who is your favorite and least favorite musician,songwriter,or band?

TockTockTock · 02-19-2012, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thevelvetunderground3866

i have to say tvu is the better but listening to tmr i can also see the preparation it took to create and perform. but jack not just out of the two but any band who is your favorite and least favorite musician,songwriter,or band?

I'm sorry, but I am unable to answer this question.

thevelvetunderground3866 · 02-19-2012, 04:48 PM

why?

TockTockTock · 02-19-2012, 05:24 PM

Well, I went ahead and voted for Trout Mask Replica. While both are veritably important albums to me and have both garnered about the same amount of listens, I am more inclined to favor TMR due to its innovation and uniqueness. There's so much crammed into the album, and I am always surprised with each listen.

I mean... it's so many different things... It's a sound collage of Beefheart's crazy ideas and his various experiences. It's a record of traditional American music. It features an almost completely unique and different way of composing music. I mean... even the poetry (yes, poetry) behind the album is complex and well thought-out. What other album can boast the lyrical influence of Dadaism, Surrealism, and that of Langston Hughes' use of traditional blues idioms?

Another characteristic of the album that intrigues me is what Fred Frith had said in the 70s... it managed to harness the spontaneity and idiosyncratic aesthetic of free improvisation and convert it into something that was entirely composed and repeatable (aside from Beefheart and his cousin's use of saxophones, musettes, bass clarinets, etc).

I adore The Velvet Underground's debut album, and anyone who knows me knows I do. This was a very difficult choice to make, but Trout Mask Replica wins by a hair... (I would describe my love for The Velvet Underground & Nico, but I feel I have ranted and raved about it enough to where you could find a few throughout the site)

Quote:

Originally Posted by thevelvetunderground3866

why?

You're asking a person who is relatively obsessed with music to name his favorite artist in the history of music. There are so many genres and so many variations of those genres that it's rather impossible to answer, haha.

Guybrush · 02-19-2012, 05:30 PM

For me, The Velvet Underground & Nico would be my preferred choice for listening pleasure, but Trout Mask Replica would be my choice for curiosity value. Today, pleasure trumps curiosity, so it's Velvet Underground.

thevelvetunderground3866 · 02-19-2012, 06:14 PM

everyone who frequents albums like tmr have specific likes and dislikes whether u know it or not thats why i asked who was your least favorite also. see as for me finding my favorite is easy but for the other i just try to opposite from my favorite bands so what would be ur least favorite

View Poll Results: Choose.
Trout Mask Replica (1969)	29	44.62%
The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)	36	55.38%
Voters: 65. You may not vote on this poll

02-19-2012, 05:30 PM	#19 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	For me, The Velvet Underground & Nico would be my preferred choice for listening pleasure, but Trout Mask Replica would be my choice for curiosity value. Today, pleasure trumps curiosity, so it's Velvet Underground. __________________ Something Completely Different

02-19-2012, 12:29 PM	#12 (permalink)
blastingas10 Music Addict Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 2,126	I go with The VU. I'm not a big fan of Nico but I really like the rest of the band. They were really experimental without going off the deep end, like Beefheart. That's not to say I don't appreciate Beefheart, I do. I like his music. The VU, to me, is just quite a bit better. Sneer said it best when he/she said "the songs are beautifully crafted, full of depth and meaning, whilst despite the experimentation fizzes and crashes throughout, there is an accessibility to the music."

02-19-2012, 12:54 PM	#13 (permalink)
Sparky not really Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 5,223	Having never been able to finish either album, I would have to go with VU&N. "Venus in furs" is a great song, and is one of my favorite scenes in gus van sants "Last Days" I've always wanted to love beefheart because he's such a nutcase, but never able. I might not have a mature enough palette to appreciate him. Certain songs like "ella guru", which had a clear melody I could enjoy, but most of it was just too abstract. It's crazy that he couldn't read and spent his childhood in his parents basement making pots

02-19-2012, 04:43 PM	#15 (permalink)
thevelvetunderground3866 Groupie Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4	i have to say tvu is the better but listening to tmr i can also see the preparation it took to create and perform. but jack not just out of the two but any band who is your favorite and least favorite musician,songwriter,or band?

02-19-2012, 04:48 PM	#17 (permalink)
thevelvetunderground3866 Groupie Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4	why?

02-19-2012, 06:14 PM	#20 (permalink)
thevelvetunderground3866 Groupie Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4	everyone who frequents albums like tmr have specific likes and dislikes whether u know it or not thats why i asked who was your least favorite also. see as for me finding my favorite is easy but for the other i just try to opposite from my favorite bands so what would be ur least favorite