Published on Jan 25, 2000
Lou Reed had his beginnings in the late 1960s with The Velvet
Underground, a band that was not only psychedelic rock, but they
would later be a foundation in what would be called Punk Rock in
the 1970s.
White Light/White Heat, released in 1968, defines unusual
psychedelic rock and noise.
The title track “White Light/White Heat” has the mixture of
psychedelic rock and punk. “The Gift” is a spoken word story, based
on the characters Waldo and Marsha. Reed narrates the story, heard
on the left speaker (in a thick British accent), with psychedelic
music heard on the right.
Waldo and Marsha had been separated due to Marsha’s infidelity.
As time went by, Marsha had been faithful, and Waldo was thinking
about Marsha again. He wanted to surprise her by sending himself in
a box by mail as the “gift.” When the gift arrives, Marsha and a
friend find it difficult to open. They use numerous methods to open
the gift, while Waldo waits inside the box. Exhausted, Marsha takes
a break, while Marsha’s friend takes a long blade and uses it to
open the box. Unfortunately, as she shoves the blade in the box,
the blade is also inserted into Waldo’s head. This song is best
heard using headphones, by slipping off the right-sided speaker off
your head, so you can easily hear the left-sided speaker and this
bizarre story.
“Lady Godiva’s Operation” is another venture into psychedelic
rock. “Here She Comes Now” has a bouncy pop style, yet it’s vocals
makes it another addition into mellow psychedelia. “I Heard Her
Call My Name” rocks into hard rock/psychedelic, as well as
Animals-rock blues. It features just about every possible type of
rock of the late Sixties: The blues rock of The Animals,
psychedelic guitar as in Jimi Hendrix, and as a whole, it’s
psychedelic punk.
“Sister Ray,” like the title track, is another psychedelic rock
number, with its strange vocal and psychedelic stylings. This
nearly 20-minute song is deep psychedelia, bizarre and “trippin’.”
(This one may be a little rough on the ears; again, it’s
strange.)
Strange is a good word to describe the Velvet Underground. Their
music was not only psychedelic as in most rock groups at the time,
yet their music was much harder than the average psychedelia; their
music you could probably say was ahead of their time. Speaking of
which, their music would later be categorized as punk, as they
would be major influences to many of the popular punk rock groups
that would later surface in the 1970s. Their music can easily be
compared to such acts as Patti Smith and the early years of David
Bowie.
For the 1960s psychedelic rock fan, the Velvet Underground will
achieve interest. The Velvet Underground’s music takes a while to
digest, yet their music has been a major influence to many. They
never became a household name as, say a Jimi Hendrix or Jefferson
Airplane. The band’s lead singer, Reed, would have an interesting
solo career, just as interesting as his music was achieved when he
was in the group before him, The Velvet Underground. His trademark
solo song, “Walk On The Wild Side” would become a classic, both
musically and lyrically. “Sex, Drugs And Rock & Roll” was sung
in Reed’s music, mostly drugs with the Velvet Underground
(“Heroin”), and sex in “Walk On The Wild Side.” (How many people
tried to figure out what he was singing about when he sang: “But
she never lost her head, even when she’s giving head” ???)
Even today, after listening to Reed’s music, as in
White Light/White Heat, some people are still trying to
figure what Reed was, and still is, singing about. The answers are:
social alienation, sexual deviancy, drug addiction, violence, and
hopelessness. (Best defined from ROLLING STONE
Encyclopedia Of Rock and Roll)