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| The Velvet Underground & Nico | 
 enlarge | Artists: The Velvet Underground, Nico
Label: Polydor / Umgd
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $5.22
You Save: $4.76 (48%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.61
Avg. Customer Rating:  (264 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2400
Format: Original Recording Reissued, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
MPN: 531250
UPC: 731453125025
EAN: 0731453125025
ASIN: B000002G7C
Publication Date: 1996
Release Date: May 7, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Velvet Underground and Nico October 5, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When this album came out in 1967, it changed rock and roll and added a new dimension to the rock lyricism. People who listened to it wanted to form rock and roll bands. This was the beginning of proto-punk and experimental rock. If it werent for VU & Nico, there wouldnt be any Sonic Youth, MC5, New York Dolls, and Alice Cooper. Avant-garde music for real music fans. Favorite songs are There She Goes Again, Sunday Morning, Femme Fatale, Run Run Run, I'm Waiting for the Man, and Heroin.
This album may take some time to "break in" September 27, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A common reaction to this album is initial hatred, followed by becoming curious enough about it to want to give it a few more listens, follwed in turn by fascination with the album, followed by simply loving it. Such was my reaction. The lyrics are about dark topics such as drug addiction and S&M and they're very frank and direct, without any sugarcoating. There is good use of feedback, distortion, and noise in many of the songs, and this album ended up turning me on to that kind of thing. Check out European Son and marvel at the fact that every little bit of feedback in that track was supposed to be there in the first place.
 Warning: NOT FOR EVERYONE. August 14, 2006
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
If your idea of rock is good-timey, happy and fun, avoid. To quote one of the group's most famous songs, "Sick and dirty" is a good way to describe The Velvet Underground and Nico. Themes of choice include kinky sex, drug abuse and murder. Not exactly the Monkees.
1. Sunday Morning: 10/10. Okay, seems all nice, dreamy and peaceful, right? Yeah, until you hear the line "Watch out, the world's behind you," and realize that this is one disturbed, paranoid narrator we're dealing with. Then it suddenly becomes eerie.
2. I'm Waiting For the Man: 10/10. Unabashadely loud, crude and simple (It lacks even a bridge), not to mention explicit about its subject (a drug deal). No wonder they had so much influence on the punk-rockers. Second-best tune on the album.
3. Femme Fatale: 7.5/10. An almost pleasant, folksy song sung by Nico.
4. Venus In Furs: 10/10. S&M was a subject nobody dared touch at the time, and here we have Lou Reed making poetry out of it. The droning viola and odd percussion add a layer of otherworldliness.
5. Run, Run, Run: 6/10. Primitive R&B-based filler.
6. All Tomorrow's Parties: 5.5/10. Endless, repetitive and monotonous.
7. Heroin: 10/10. Not only the best song on the album, but one of rock's best drug songs. I myself can admit with pride to never having used drugs, and if this is supposed to simulate use of the title drug (as I have heard), I have one more reason to avoid it. It starts off slowly and calmly, a la Sunday Morning. But when John Cale's nightmarish viola enters, you know that Lou Reed was living through hell daily at the time. But to quote the song, "Thank your god that I just don't care". Lou Reed's phrasing is also excellent.
8. There She Goes Again: 8/10. Lou Reed's bid for a brutally ironic, cynical-yet-catchy pop song, and he pulls it off, though the harmonies are annoying. I can see Elvis Costello eating this up.
9. I'll Be Your Mirror: 10/10. Nico's best song by far, a clever pop tune with brilliant phrasing and a cool title to boot!
10. Black Angels Death Song: 7.5/10. This is one weird song. Lou spits out garbled, hard-to-understand vocals that involve sex and murder over John Cale's viola, which sounds like a rusty swing set. It's good, though.
11. European Song: WTF?/10. Seriously, this is a real head-scratcher, sort of like Revolution 9 by the Beatles but more so. The first minute is fairly normal, when you exclude the lyrcis which are again about murder. Then it takes a left turn, becoming a near-eight minute excuse for the group to make as much noise as humanly possible.
Finally got it on CD August 4, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I finally got it on CD after all these years. I love this album, when I had it on vinyl I went through three copies. I think this is the VU's best album,
although they are all good. Lou and Nico sound great on the vocals and Lou wrote some of his best songs on this album. For me this is where Rock n Roll begins.
Feeling Sick and Dirty, More Dead Than Alive July 13, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Velvet Underground are an amazing band that influnced millions. Lou Reed is a genuis and one of my heros. The Velevt Underground were an offbeat band that were very different from music in the yesteryear and even today. They were different cause they were real. They sang about real situations such as hookers, hang overs, and drug dealers, and of corse some S&M, but it was all in a smart way, unlike some music out there today. It was hidden underneath a little jingle and seemed like a sweet song until you looked at the lyrics and were able to realize what it is about. VU rock and are radical! Peel and see for your self.
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