WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
(1967)
A1: WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT (2:44); A2: THE GIFT (8:14); A3: LADY GODIVA’S OPERATION (4:52); A4: HERE SHE COMES NOW (2:00).
B1: I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME (4:05); B2: SISTER RAY (17:00).
CATEGORY: POP-ROCK | DURATION: 39 MINUTES
Divorcing from Andy Warhol and parting company with Nico, by 1967 The Velvet Underground were unleashed and ready to record their most unfiltered and seminal work, White Light/White Heat. Rabid garage rock, bizarre spoken word/noise and morbid, twisted beauty all unfurl on the album’s A-side, before side B unveils two of rock’s most viciously avant-garde explosions of sound, “I Heard Her Call My Name” – marked by violent feedback and deranged, mangled guitar solos unlike anything previously heard – and the 17-minute “Sister Ray”, a litany of sexual depravity set to a savage and remorseless improvised fusion of heavily distorted organ, electronic feedback and guitar cacophony, a monstrous track which stands as a foundational recording of all experimental noise-rock. John Cale departed in 1968, thus terminating the brief but monumental classic period of The Velvet Underground.
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT YOUNG (1964-2014)
“ÆTERNUM VORTICE LACRIMARUM SOMNIAT”