September 4, 2002
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Extra Andrea
Nemerson's Norman
Solomon's nessie's Tom
Tomorrow's Jerry Dolezal
PG&E and the California energy crisis Arts and Entertainment Culture Techsploitation
Without
Reservations Cheap
Eats
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The Velvet Underground and Nico (Polydor) I'm pretty sure that a deluxe reissue of the Velvet Underground's seminal, Andy Warhol-produced debut – with Nico tunes from Chelsea Girl added to the first disc and a second serving up the mono versions of the original – is a bad idea, like cranking up a heroin habit for old times' sake or something. The essential spirit of the Velvets was captured best, when all is said and done, in "Heroin," and the fabulous "I'm Waiting for the Man" – songs that were raw and shocking in their day (and still great today) and provided the band with a reputation that has always been key to its appeal. The extra cuts, the lovely folding container, the liner notes, even, frankly, most of the material besides "Heroin," "Waiting," "Venus in Furs," and "All Tomorrow's Parties" seem silly, given what the band was – like giving away dope money to a stranger or something. My friends and I, back in the day, were, like V.U. leader Lou Reed, lunatic, music-loving dopers raised on radio singles and anxious to leave our homeland (the suffocating suburban stretches of Long Island) one way or another – more proto-Ramones kids than, say, fans of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable. So although we might have shared the same dealers, we didn't have much use for the artist's crew of slumming dilettantes, which is why an album (OK, a 45 rpm single) with nothing but "Waiting" – some days it seemed like the only story in the world – would've been all right with us. Today's programmable CD players could have changed our lives (not to mention America's listening habits). Pick up this package – it is, as you've been told, a classic – and listen to the whole thing. Then program your favorite cuts – you'll see what I mean. (J.H. Tompkins) |
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