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

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Another band that covered "Guess I'm Falling In Love" was Devo! More proof that many Ohioans loved the Velvets.

Haha, this poll is the first time I considered that Lou was saying anything other than "Baby, my mind split open!"

loooooooooooooool I heard The Gift for the first time today, on iPod shuffle

basically XD at all of it but ESPECIALLY when it begins to ratchet up at the end. "Marsha mentioned that her father had a basement full of tools!"

this poll got it exactly right

(xp) I only ever listen to the music part, haven't heard the story bit for years

anyone on this thread who had anything bad to say about "The Gift" OTM, that is a very unpleasant song to listen to

Musically it is awesome

oh no doubt

Just listen to the channel with the music on it then

c'mon it's great. the music, the narration, the lolz.

... the Welsh accent

yeah, it's one of the epic VU jams...

"The Booker T"!

wiki does not dissapoint: "Original drummer Angus Maclise briefly returned to the band to play drums while Maureen Tucker played bass guitar." I had no idea!

Not on "The Gift" he didn't!

Anyone else here play "Sister Ray" over and over, thinking it was the greatest piece of white noise ever? This was me at twenty-one.

helped that I didn't know what it was when I heard it. then realised. 'oh shit this is that The Gift song!'

the only real writing error is when he says 'finally succumbed to the final clutches'...a bad repetition, but excusable

it's not great writing or anything but pretty funny

Anyone else here play "Sister Ray" over and over, thinking it was the greatest piece of white noise ever? This was me at twenty-one.

this is me at twenty-two tbh

Tom D, you need to straighten out wikipedia right this instant.

guitar violence on i heard her call my name

!!!!!!AND THEN MY MIND SPLIT OPEN!!!!!!

i think wiki is just saying that the jam developed during live shows where Lou was in the hospital and maclise returned for those shows. still, i mentioned it above -- the music for "the gift" does not equal the track released on Peel Slowly and See as "Booker T" ...

I woulda voted for "I Heard Her Call My Name." In fact, the moment depicted in the thread title, and the cochlea-raping feedback shriek that begins the guitar solo remains among the most devastating rock "moments" ever captured. The onomotapoetic perfection of that phrase followed by that sound has seldom been equalled.

I would have voted for The Gift!

Plus this is my favorite VU album by a good margin.

the music for "the gift" does not equal the track released on Peel Slowly and See as "Booker T" ...

Could not agree less on this

is booker t the same song as that looong roadies jam? the gift would have been tied #3 on my list with sister ray.

You know I can't actually remember much about the "Booker T" on "Peel Slowly...", it's a blues thing (unlike "The Gift)?

Booker T on Peel Slowly is pretty much just a blues progression jam thing. It's got some cool guitar work, but it doesn't have the nasty fuzz bass riff that the Gift has.

I dont like the Velvet Underground, but "Heard Her Call My Name" is awesome.

I fondly recall staring, mouth agape, at my stereo the first time I heard "I Heard Her Call My Name." Most of the times since that an air-guitar fit accompanied by hysterical laughter has been the result.

hey one of mine got revived :D

i'll be honest here: as far as I Heard Her Call My Name goes, call & response vocals > guitar feedback (not >>>>>>, just >)

the fact that they coexist on the same song....sheer amazement.

The "single" version of Heard Her Call My Name is kinda interesting. Tones down the mix so the song's a little more musical, and the solo doesn't smack you in the face as much. Not an improvement...

John Cale OBE, apparently

Yeah, John Cale OBE!

Disappointing....not that he gets one, but that he accepts.

Don't have a problem with him accepting it at all. It's a recognition of his achievement. It doesn't mean he's turned into an Establishment lickspittle.

The "single" version of Heard Her Call My Name is kinda interesting.

Wasn't that box set just a way of sneaking out an alternate version under Lou's nose?

Apparently, Lou was the only one who wanted that original version/mix out, the rest wanted this 'new' mix.

John Cale OBE, apparently

He'll certaiinly be welcome back in Chipping Sodbury now

here she ever comes now now

n-nah nah

Last place for "The Gift". That's a real shame.
For those put off by the "story" in the left channel, all you have to do is concentrate on the fantastic lead guitar on the right. Starts as a nice little Cornell Dupree "Memphis Soul"-type figure and slowly mutates into feedback skronk.

i think someone's done a mix of "the gift" that's just the backing track, but i don't have it. anyone?

There's a live version on the "Peel Slowly and See" box.

i know some people disagreed with me upthread, but these sound pretty different to me ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHgGnl4Hd_o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egFezSPH4D8

They're both in the same key of D, but that's about it.
Boggles my mind that anyone would hear them as "the same".

45 years old today - still one of the greatest avant-rock records

^^^^

this was the first vu record i owned
probably listen to it least but still have a certain fondness for it

Here She Comes Now probably most in line with my tastes these days

was just thinking about this album after making my own 100 Most Influential Albums list on FB at the behest of AG. This was at the top (tho I did it chronologically, sort of)

anyways: still ride for Heard Her Call My Name. super-classic

hmmm
http://www.amazon.com/White-Light-Heat-3CD-Anniversary/dp/B00FH3UI66/?tag=vglnkc4192-20
so it'll be regular mix, mono mix ... gymnasium tapes? wonder if there'll be anything previously unheard.