The
third, eponymous LP from The Velvet Underground is turning 55 years old
this month, being released in March of 1969. After the searing
abrasiveness of their previous album, White Light - White Heat, which
pinned the VU meters on people's hi-fi systems as it attempted to be the
loudest album ever released, Lou Reed was determined to do a complete
about face with their third release, aiming for softness and emotional
tenderness, with songs focused on relationships and spiritual/religious
introspection. For Reed, it was essential to demonstrate the band's
versatility in order to thwart any attempts to pigeonhole them into any
particular style or sound. The result was an album of predominantly
gentle beauty, packed with some of Reed's most memorable songs.
After
recording their second album, John Cale found himself on the outs with
the band and ended up being fired in September of 1968. His
replacement, Doug Yule, was suggested by Sterling Morrison after being
scouted by the band's road manager. Yule was warmly welcomed to the
group, especially by Reed, who some band members claim may have gone
somewhat overboard in his praise and encouragement of the new recruit,
inflating his ego somewhat. Regardless, when they went into the
Hollywood based TTG studios to record, the mood among the band was
jovial, and by all recollections, the process of creating the album was
an enjoyable experience for all involved.
Reed was eager to
have all of the band members contribute to the album as lead vocalists,
even managing to persuade the shy Maurine Tucker to contribute her voice
to the album's closing track, After Hours. It was a challenging task
for the drummer, who insisted on recording her vocal with a minimum of
people present in the studio during her final take. Lou was insistent
on her taking on the task though, as he felt her frail, childlike voice
was perfect or the song's themes of social anxiety and isolation. After
she finished her take, she said that she wouldn't sing it live unless
someone requested it.
Though the recording process for the album
was a pleasant experience for the band, when it came to mixing, Reed's
insistence on doing the mix himself, without consulting the other
members, stepped on toes and resulted in a lot of dissatisfaction and
animosity from the rest of the band. An alternate mix of the album was
done, with both finding their way into pressings, so there's some
confusion around as to the preferred mix. Reed's version, dubbed the
"closet mix", emphasized his vocals and drowned out the backing parts,
alienating the rest of the band. This was the initial mix that was
released, but an alternate mix by MGM staff engineer Val Valentin
ultimately became the more commonly available version of the album.
With
only The Murder Mystery, which featured songwriting and vocal credits
from all four members, harking back to their more experimental
tendencies, the remainder of the album was accessible enough that the
band had high hopes that it would be a breakthrough for them when it
came to sales, but poor promotion from their label, again, meant that
their efforts would be under appreciated at the time of the album's
release, even though it received roundly positive reviews from the
critics. It would only be in later years, as the band's influence and
legacy grew, that their records would receive the attention they
deserved, as generations of new fans continued to rediscover the group
and began to comprehend their influence on so many who came in their
wake. Retrospectively, the album is considered, not only essential in
terms of the band's canon of work, but in terms of landmark recordings
from that era, frequently resulting in the LP being counted among
numerous "best of" and "must listen" critic and fan lists.
