Artist: The Velvet Underground
Album: The Velvet Underground (1969)
Rating: 16.5/20
Best Song: Candy Says

The Velvet Underground's self-titled third album saw John Cale leaving the group after various creative tensions began to rise between him and Lou Reed. Cale was the one who was most keen on exploring the group's avant-garde side, and his absence means we are left with a largely different piece of work to the previous two VU albums - gone are the noisy experimental tracks like "Sister Ray" and "European Son" (well, not quite, there is one such number here, but more on that later), and instead are a collection of largely normal songs. Imagine that! As a result, listeners tend to be divided about this album. Some consider it a lightweight effort that is listenable but ultimately nowhere near as satisfying as the previous two, since it breaks no new ground. Others consider it to be an excellent showcase of the group's ability, without the general bizarreness that might otherwise turn listeners off. Me, I fall into the second camp.

The opening track is the gorgeous "Candy Says", which, much like how "Sunday Morning" did for The Velvet Underground & Nico, creates a wonderfully mellow mood that one wouldn't expect from the band. Doug Yule takes the lead vocals on this track, and does a fine job, softly reciting this number in a near lullaby fashion. In particular, this bit always gets me:

I'm gonna watch the blue birds fly,
Over my shoulder.
I'm gonna watch them pass me by,
Maybe when I'm older.
What do you think I'd see?
If I could walk away from me

Ah, the lyrics look so tame when they're written down, but in song, they take on a new life..the subject for another post, that. Sure, Yule's a little hesitant to hit that high note on the "walk away from meeee" part, but that's ok. It's still a wonderful song!

Next are two numbers that I am not particularly fond of. "What Goes On" is decent enough, a straightforward rocker with a catchy chorus, but I feel it runs overly long. I ain't complaining, I'm never tempted to skip the song, but I treat it as something of a throwaway. Next, we have "Some Kinda Love", a song that makes you raise your eyebrows and remark to yourself "Ok, now this is the Lou Reed that I know!". While it establishes a nice lazy groove, the song itself is, uh, a different matter altogether lyrically. Reed can't help but give out a chuckle as he delivers one of the not so ambiguous lines in this strangely out of place song!

But don't despair! The next track "Pale Blue Eyes" is easily one of the best numbers on here, with very interesting lyrics. Reed wrote this about a woman he was seeing (who actually had Hazel-coloured eyes), and it is remarkably personal. The soft acoustic guitar along with an unusually soft vocal delivery from Reed creates an especially distinct atmosphere. You'll either find the lyrics overly simplistic and banal, or you'll love them to death (it apparently voted as one of the greatest love ballads ever written!), much like how opinion is divided over the album, it would
seem. It depends on how stuff like

Thought of you as my mountain top,
Thought of you as my peak.
Thought of you as everything,
I've had but couldn't keep.

goes down with you. Trite or terrific? Ye be the judge.

The surprising remark at the end that the person the narrator is singing about is married just goes to show, however, that this ain't your conventional love song!

Now things realy start to get interesting. It's a song called "Jesus". And all it is is but four lines repeated three times. Again, it seems like nothing when written down, but hearing it sung, oh my!! If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was almost a religious hymn, and that it was dead serious! No satire or mean-spirit hear, it's an honest plea to "help me find my proper place" that's delivered beautifully.

For this reason, I must crown Lou Reed as most interesting lyricist I've heard (in the last year, to play it safe). Who else could have "Jesus" and "Some Kinda Love" under his name, and on the same album, hmm? Amazing.

The next number is the energetic "Beginning To See The Light", with contrasting carefree and pensive moods in the lyrics, shifting from the delightfully wicked "There are problems in these times / But, woo! None of them are mine!" to the (only slightly) serious "Here we go again / Playing the fool again". An interesting dichotomy, but darn it, more than that, the song is just so darn catchy and exudes a wonderful spirit (much like "Hangin' Round" on Transfomer).

Although "I'm Set Free" starts off promising enough, it somehow ends up feeling like it's wasted potential - although it's no stinker, one feels it could have been more. Or perhaps that's just the insanity talking, hmm? It's soon followed by "That's The Story Of My Life", another four-line song, but pleasant enough, clocking in at 1:56. Maybe a little throwaway, in the sense that we already have a four-line number which, I think, blows this away in all regards.

But hark! If you thought you were out of the woods, then think again! You might be lulled into believing that everything's hunky-dory, and that for once you've parted with your money to get a normal VU album, but then "The Murder Mystery" comes along and you might be tempted to start cursing the Velvets for tainting their one shot at normality and what have you. But wait! Don't be so quick to dismiss! This song is one of the more interesting experiments recorded by the band, where there are two vocals, one in the left speaker and another in the right, moulding together to form a unique experience. Trouble is, of course, that it runs at a wee bit under 9 minutes, which can make it very frustrating listening. After all, it is impossible to make out the lyrics by yourself, and what you get is effectively a bunch of gibberish. However, I've found that by having the lyrics in front of me, and trying to focus on alternating narrations, you can enjoy the song at some level. Enough to warrant 9 minutes? Well..that's a different matter! It does feature a lovely piano backed ending that makes you want to sing along (if it weren't for the fact that you have murders galore, as the title suggests).

Some would argue the track was placed only for the Velvets to feel like they were still avant-garde - like it was their way of saying "Hey, we're still mysterious and enigmatic!". I don't know their motivation for putting the song on the album (Reed apparently said it was to have fun with words), but it doesn't leave me feeling like it's a complete waste of time. Sure, it may have failed in quite a few regards, but it's infinitely more listenable than "Sister Ray" or "European Son" in my view, and that's saying something, right!?

And now we reach the finale. Perhaps the best album closer I've heard in a while, "After Hours". Sung by the drummer Maureen Tucker, the song is simple musically, with only an acoustic guitar to give Tucker company, but if Plastic Ono Band taught us anything, it's that you don't need to have a lot to say a lot. It features some wonderfull wistful lyrics that really strike a chord with me:

If you close the door, the night could last forever,
Leave the wineglass out and drink a toast to never.
Oh, someday I know someone will look into my eyes
And say hello -- you're my very special one --
But if you close the door, I'd never have to see the day again.

Oh my God, I swear I will cry to this song someday. "You're my very special one"...I can't explain what I find so amazing about this. Once again, the power of expression fails me. That's the amount of power this simple little gem weilds over me. Is it the softest ode to death ever? Who knows, but it's something unbelievably special, that's for sure. And, in many ways, the perfect end to this album. I know I wouldn't have it any other way.

There you have it, a remarkable album by a remarkable group. Sure, maybe it's no VU & Nico, but it would be silly to compare the two, because they're too different. The former was my introduction to the group, and I'd imagine it's the album that most people associate with the group. This one then is sort of unjustly forgotten, because it has simply breathtaking moments. Now, I don't mean to assert that it is in the league of perfect albums (if there is such a thing), but it's up there among the list of simply great albums - tracks 1, 5 and 10 take you into a different world, and really connect with something deep inside. Heck, I'm done analyzing why this is fabulous, if I haven't sold it to you by now, I may as well give up now! In short, one heck of an album.