Yeah, this is kind of the way I view Velvet Underground's harsher stuff, and in particular the majority of White Light. Interesting comparison to bands like Journey and AC/DC though, I've never looked at VU from that angle.

While VU is definitely not my most listened to band, the fact that they were able to produce beautiful ideas out of ugly conceptions is what makes them so extraordinary in my opinion.

I still prefer & Nico though, if anything just for those moments of respite haha

Oh I definitely didn't want to compare Journey and AC/DC POSITIVELY to TVU... Sorry if it came across that way :S I meant, TVU played rock and roll in a very unrefined manner. Bands like AC/DC and Journey took that formula and made it (in my elitist opinion) very boring and lifeless.

& Nico is definitely my second favorite. I would definitely place it in the same ballpark as WL/WH.

Oh no. haha. I knew you weren't comparing them positively, still comparing them nonetheless, which doesn't happen everyday, hence the interesting-ness. haha

I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents. Velvet Underground are pretty sweet. Lou Reeds lyrics are very abstract and that's merely because he was a nonsensical person. Whether you love or hate him the Velvet Underground would be nowhere without Andy Warhol. As Lou Reed said the man "made things happen."

I liked some of their early live stuff. The lengthy "Sister Ray" jams they used to do were often awesome, even though some of them meandered aimlessly with these really slow, no-feedback guitar lines. But I'd agree that once Cale left, their live shows took a turn for the worse. Stale-ish.

Hope you don't mind me replying too :).
I think their self titled album is a bit more accessible, but &nico shows more different sides of the band. I'd go for &nico to, but it is probably a bit more 'psychedelic' ;).

I don't think it was a deliberate attempt at popularity, more to do with Yule adding his more than considerable input with some pretty decent bass lines.
Yule brought a more conventional approach to the songs format (poppy) than previous.
Don't dismiss this album!
In my opinion, 'Loaded' is grossly under rated.
In fact it's my favourite VU album of them all.

And I still don't like Loaded that much. I can't even fathom in how it's better than their first three. :D

It's just a matter of opinion.
It's a songwriting pop classic. I doubt you'll find a better one.

Throwing in a cent:

I always seen VU in two seperate chapters (Ignoring the post-scrpit that's Squeeze), The Warhol/Cale days and NYC's best Rock band. I love the first two albums, but I will also highly respect the S/T and Loaded. It's very tough to seperate VU from it's Warhol era, especially when there's two strong albums that define the era that went onto spark so much more, but I can see where the sound had to change after that. The sad thing was that there was so much in the industry against the band that it would have took a very long time to rise up from that - And in The 60's being known as "The Heorin Band" was enough for so much happening behind the scenes, especially with Distribution of the records, to halt any kind of progress beyond the small rave here and there.

It's easy to see where Lou was aiming for a far more accessable style with Loaded, but the band did it in their own way. The Street-Smart visioin was still there and even if it was a little more laid back, the killer music instinct was still there. It certainly was no compromise, and in the end something to be applauded. Time and fate changes many things, but in the end it all boils down to how the changes are done.

...and, in a more trivial note that still kind of important, Mitch Ryder's version of "Rock and Roll" for the cool debut album of Detroit was among the first VU covers, and it's notice on FM radio in The States (Where I was at, I could not escape it...thankfully!) was very strong and some of the more interested took note about the band Lou Reed was once in.