Frownland

It's understated and in your face at the same time.

It's experimentation is wild and unmatched for the time.

I can't think if another album that sounds like it.

The production is fine.

Lou Reed is a terrible singer but he's more effective than the majority of other singers.

The drone elements and percussion pulled from Theatre of Eternal Music.

It sounds 0% like Lulu.

The soft moments are very beautiful.

The harder moments are raw as **** and have explosive energy.

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At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

MicShazam

Just checking it again and... yes, although it's a very bright voice on Sunday Morning, it clearly isn't Nico. I did sit and mess around with multiple things when I started this, so I misheard that pretty badly. It actually sounds like Lou Reed doing a different voice. Do they have a third singer?

rubber soul

To add to Elph's comments, the VU didn't particularly like Nico. Yes, she was pushed on them by Warhol and I'm sure she was relieved when they parted ways. She did make a nice album at the end of 1967.

I actually bought a copy of the album at the Salvation Army of all places with the banana peel still intact (of course dummy me peeled the banana off like an idiot). I think what makes the album so special is the contrast of the musical styles compared to the happier psychedelia of the period. While much of the music on the radio wanted you to get high and love life, VU was coming from a dark place with songs about pushers and needles. Maybe that's why it took years for people to really get into them.

Maybe some of it has to do with the later success Lou Reed had with his solo career. I don't think he was ever as good as he was with VU though. After Transformer and, with the exception of a couple of songs, he really doesn't do a lot for me.

But I think there was something special with Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, and Maureen Tucker. Nico, admittedly, was more or less along for the ride, but I don't think she takes anything away from the album at all.

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MicShazam

This goes back to what I said about how our musical sensibilities differ quite strikingly. Essentially, **** no

In didn't mean it as a negative comparison though. It's fine if you disagree, but I really do find that some of the way some shrill, atonal guitar/violin noises relate to a certain Lou Reed vocal approach reminds me very much of some of what Hammett contributed to Lulu. It's what I'm hearing, anyway and I'm only talking about certain moments, certain nuances.

This is interesting. Maybe that's why her vocals (at least to me) seem weaker than usual. If she didn't even feel welcome there.

I do respect what the record and the band has done in terms of their place in musical history and their place in the continuum of influence on future artists, but like I said, I insist on listening to music as if it was released yesterday. Basically, historical importance is fine and all, but what is this album in 2017?

The Batlord

Not much personal history tbh. I don't listen to VU that much for no apparent reason, but when I do I very much enjoy them, and this album. I'm not sure when I first heard it but I only came to it and proto-punk in general after joining the forum. I'm assuming it would have been within a year or two at most, so about five or six years ago I suppose. So I'm not a superfan or someone who can't listen to the album objectively.

I like the album quite a bit, but somewhat less so the second half, and while I no longer hate Nico as a dull, pretentious-sounding twat she's still not my favorite thing about the album. So it's not a flawless classic to me, but what's right about it is right as ****. I don't know about alternate tunings and whatever else are supposed to make this so experimental, but I love that it's the sound of what psychedelic rock could have sounded like in an alternate universe, and is remarkably less dated than a lot of that other stuff to boot. It's definitely garagey, but elevated by a hodgepodge of influences that meld seamlessly to create a very diverse tracklist of catchy, interesting songs that can rightfully be taken seriously but don't forget to be accessible as garage rock should be.

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elphenor

it's Reed softening his vocals is all

a comment about all the "50's rock" you hear

it's because Reed's guitar playing is like everything in his ethos, to the point, no chaser, pure as snow

the appeal is that RocknRoll that straight is a gut punch, it's why he's more a godfather of punk than "old rock"

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Frownland

Nah. He's an amazing singer because he communicates emotion so clearly despite his awful voice. It might sound silly but I don't even think his brilliance in that regard is even subjective. Virtuosity doesn't count for everything.

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At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

MicShazam

I did almost bring up the garage rock connection in my comments on the album but I wasn't sure if it would be dismissed as terrible plebbery. Basically I wondered if it was meaningful to call it garage rock just because it sounded raw. Also, is it raw on purpose or by accident? I guess I'm thinking of garage rock as being intentionally recorded with a potato.

The simple and raw approach is probably a better fit than anything more ornate would be. I can't see Reed backed by an orchestra. I also see the Godfather of punk angle. He's got a rawness and a lack of affectation that is mirrored by early punk.

On this album, I didn't feel it at all, but I do remember there being parts of the Lulu album where his vocals were strikingly raw and emotionally unguarded. I'm essentially saying I liked Reed far more on Lulu. At least on the better cuts.

The Batlord

Not many singers who make me picture the way their mouth moves when they sing quite as vividly as Lou Reed. No wonder he was a famous *******. No way someone with this much effortless attitude could be "one of the guys".

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Frownland

I like the tone and texture of his voice a lot more on Lulu since he's aged and it's gotten raspy, but his vox on the VU cut deep.

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At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.