"...and then my MIND split open!": The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat POLL

I changed my mind about this album. I love "Sister Ray", but voted "The Gift" :-)

recently after playing it in a bar

You mean on a jukebox, right? What happened? Did the bar clear?

no nothing happened. it's a weird bar...and me and some close associates usually mess around with the jukebox.

xxpost..LOL eman I actually thought it was Geir making that joke for a minute.

in response to questions about two things on this album that sound fairly obvious to me:

- Cale's vocal for "The Gift" was overdubbed after the backing track had been cut. That does not sound like a live vocal track AT ALL.
- the ticking sound that runs through "If She Ever Comes Now" is a a drum track being run through a spring echo/reverb effect (Space Echo, Echoplex, or something similar). Mo's hitting the rim of one of the drums with a drumstick.

1. Yes, that's obvious.

2. That, not so obvious. But, a bit.

"I Heard Her Call My Name," for those wonderful hilarious guitar solos.

Not a big fan of "The Gift" -- there's barely a reason to listen to it a 2nd time, and no reason at all to listen to it a 3rd time. I hated "Sister Ray" the first time I heard the album, and have loved it a little more each time since. That Lawrence Welk video and Brick helped seal the deal.

I actually prefer the version of "The Gift" on Live MCMXCIII.

OH GOD, TOO HARD TOO HARD SO MUCH CHOICE, ARRGGGHHH!!!

I love love love If She Ever Comes Now, but I'm going to have to go with Lady Godiva's Operation because of all that mental channel switching that makes it sound like Cale and Reed are swapping one mic back and forth between them.

Doctor is coming, the nurse sings... SWEETLY ... turning on the machines that ... NEATLY PUMP AIR ... the body lies the-eh-ere. (those may be wrong, I'm doing them from memory.)

i love how the niggling lyrics debate has turned into everyone referring to the song as "If She Ever Comes Now"...ILM--just when I'm ready to break it off, your little quirks just charm the hell out of me...

CALL MY NAME

wl/wh

Hear She Comes Now TS: VU vs Cabaret Voltaire

Definitely one of the best cover versions ever.

Galaxie version also awesome

Nirvana version is horrid.

i like the nirvana version

i don't think i've heard the cabaret voltaire or the nirvana versions ... i do like the galaxie 500 version!

Velvets fans! go nominate VU in Sven's best band ever thread! do it right now! Please!!!!

dude, if Sterling played bass on The Gift

He didn't, that's obv. Cale and some of my favourite bass playing of all time. Also the rhythm guitar is obv. Sterl and some of my favourite rhythm guitar paying of all time. Also on this track, Lou plays some of my favourite lead guitar of all time. Mo, never better. If you don't like or are bored with the vocal then just play the channel with backing track, it's one of my favourite Velvets' tracks of all time, "Keep On Chooglin'"!. Even so, I voted "Heard Her Call My Name".

voted 'i heard her call my name' and all the songs on this album are awesome

gift

i dont get how anyone can get aspie "arghhh i hate that song!" about these trax -- its like either u like the vu or you dont why fight it? this is what they are

"Sister Ray" for me - I mean, I guess everybody "gets over" Sister Ray & it loses it power, but I will never forget sitting in my teenage room getting my mind properly blown when the organ really starts to work and the bass drops out and comes back and the vocals kick back in, and trying to figure out the lyrics - I don't know, I guess what I mean is "it's a really personal vote for me." But I had heard rumors of Sister Ray before I heard it, and then when I finally did hear it, it did not disappoint.

"Heard Her Call My Name" a very close 2nd.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ejpcnn

I'm at work, so I can't look at that link -- what is it?

lou reed having sex with batman

"Sister Ray" for me - I mean, I guess everybody "gets over" Sister Ray & it loses it power, but I will never forget sitting in my teenage room getting my mind properly blown when the organ really starts to work and the bass drops out and comes back and the vocals kick back in, and trying to figure out the lyrics - I don't know, I guess what I mean is "it's a really personal vote for me."

otm ^^^. This whole album was like this for me. Although I didn't hear it until that fairly decent CD remastering job released in the nineties, nothing, not even The Velvet Underground and Nico prepared me for how transgressive and fun this album was.

while we're at it, let's hear it for the guy on the far right:
http://www.britannica.com/psychedelic/images/opsyroc099p1.jpg
Tom Wilson! A guy who knew how to get outta the way and let people like the VU, Zappa and Dylan make awesome records. (From what I hear, this pic is pretty representative of his hands-off production style).

Also produced Sun Ra!

too tough can't pick

And Cecil Taylor! And Simon & Garfunkel! Yeahhhhh!
xpost

Tom Wilson, RIP

It is kind of interesting -- I wonder how much biz collateral Wilson had because of his big hits with Dylan/S&G, and whether that made a big difference in getting records like the VU's and Zappa's released? Because honestly, especially, WL/WH -- it's kind of amazing that a big label released that in 1968.

Should have been out in 1967 of course.

It got delayed in the release schedule when the Mothers album was pushed up.

What, again? Didn't that happen to the 1st Velvets's album too?

Thought the first one was delayed because of the picture of the dude on the back of the cover -- he wouldn't give them permission to use it or something. Eric's Trip. Also, problems with the Banana.

link above is the Cabs cover version.

The organ in Sister Ray...the moment when Cale plays this Riley/Glass-esque bassline and seems to just decide to turn it up to 11, I'm looking at you 12 minutes and 26 seconds, that's it for me.

No, no, not a second time, I made that up.
(xxpost)

He invents Suicide in the course of that song too (xp)

ha

sweet -- thanks for the mp3, dan. What are some other WL/WH covers? Joy Division/New Order do Sister Ray ... Feelies do the title track. I heard Yo La Tengo do Heard Her Call My Name. Has anyone ever done Lady Godiva? Or The Gift? That last one probably not ...

i guess i'll vote the title track. i love the call-and-response-ish vocal lines. also how cheerful it is -- not enough drug songs (including most of lou's) make drugs sound fun. "tickle me down to my toes"! but the album's pretty flawless. even "the gift," which for me is in the library of great '60s absurdism.

Has anyone ever done Lady Godiva?

Oh yes, the Fatima Mansions!

hmm! never heard that one! what's it from?

Some tribute album, I think

"Sister Ray" for me - I mean, I guess everybody "gets over" Sister Ray & it loses it power, but I will never forget sitting in my teenage room getting my mind properly blown when the organ really starts to work and the bass drops out and comes back and the vocals kick back in, and trying to figure out the lyrics - I don't know, I guess what I mean is "it's a really personal vote for me." But I had heard rumors of Sister Ray before I heard it, and then when I finally did hear it, it did not disappoint.

"Heard Her Call My Name" a very close 2nd.

― J0hn D.,

STOP READING MY THOUGHTS, J0HN D.!

The Feelies did What Goes On.

Bowie did "White Light/ White Heat" many a time

Is “Guess I’m Falling in Love” from these sessions... cuz I love that song more than anything on WL/WH </challops>