Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent re-assessment of a classic LP
Review: How to do true justice to an LP that was not a commercial success on release in March 1967 after a delay of almost a year from its recording, yet features regularly in most "all time" Important/Influential Rock LPs listings? Plus as Sid Griffin stated in his liner notes to a 1997 re-release in comparing this VU LP with the similarly ignored first Flying Burrito Bros. LP, it seems many of the copies that were since sold made the listener go out and form a band inspired by what they'd heard, given how many musicians cite the LP as an influence.

The author (a musician and producer in Boston, a favourite venue for the VU at the time in the USA) given his age was not around when the LP first came out and has instead "tracked back" based on seeing the pervasive influence it had on may later rock acts who he admired. In doing so, he has benefitted from being "guided" by Jonathan Richman (a longstanding and close VU fan plus influenced musician) in not being fooled by the many false statements and conflicting claims that exist by many of the participants.

What this book does beautifully is with great scrupulousness, nail the facts down and reassess what all the different participants contributed (or maybe didn't in some cases!) to the final end result. Compared with all the many prior books on the VU I have read (and there are indeed many for a group that during its existence had very limited commercial success or critical appreciation) this is easily the most honest and thorough on the subject I have read to date.

Key achievements under this approach are to provide appropriate credit to the un-mentioned "other" NY production team of Norman Dolph and John Licata who laid down the original tracks (and in so doing helped a very ill prepared group who had little recording experience but were challenging in their approach many exisiting concepts of how records should be made) which in turn helps explain exactly what Tom Wilson and his production team brought to the initial tapes and few replacement recordings needed to produce the final LP issued.

The other key contributors are also placed in context - while Warhol as is well known provided the distinctive cover artwork but never "produced the LP" (despite what the initial cover notes stated), he did with Paul Morrissey clearly provide the support and encouragement which gave the group the freedom they needed to get what they wanted recorded, though their rock group managerial skills may have been lacking in then promoting the group's best interests. Most importantly the other group members (Cale, Morrison, Tucker and Nico) musical contributions are re-evaluated largely at the cost of Reed's subsequent rewriting of history though his own personal contribution as lyricist remains large under this evaluation.

For my money the best all round and "new" critical evaluation essay to date in this series of excellent titles .




Rating:
Summary: Recommended ONLY for the neophyte
Review: If you have read the information included in the "Peel Slowly and See" box set, you have more information than is included in this book. Reading like someting I would have written in High School or in my early college days, this mini book is a major disappointment. A handful of quotes from VU fan mags and the above mentioned "Peel Slowly..." booklet, doesn't a good book make.
Avoid unless you have never read anything about the VU.