Velvet Underground & Nico CD

The Velvet Underground: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar, piano); Doug Yule (vocals, organ, bass); Maureen Tucker (vocals, percussion); Sterling Morrison (guitar, background vocals).
Originally released on MGM (4617).
Velvet Underground & Nico: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar); Nico (vocals); Sterling Morrison (guitar, bass, background vocals); John Cale (electric viola, piano, bass, background vocals); Maureen Tucker (percussion, background vocals).
Recorded at T.T.G. Studios, Hollywood California; Sceptor Studios and Mayfair Sound Studios, New York, New York in April & November 1966 & April-May 1967. Originally released on Verve (5008).
Personnel: Nico (vocals, chant); Lou Reed (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, keyboards); Sterling Morrison (guitar, bass guitar); John Cale (viola, electric viola, piano, keyboards, bass guitar); Maureen Tucker (drums, percussion).
Audio Remasterers: David Greene; Gene Radice.
Audio Remixers: David Greene; Gene Radice.
Liner Note Authors: Jonas Mekas; David Antim; John Wilcock.
Recording information: TT & G Studios, Los Angeles, CA.
Editors: David Greene; Gene Radice.
Photographers: Billy Linich; Hugo; Nat Finkelstein.
Unknown Contributor Role: Tom Wilson.
Arranger: The Velvet Underground.
One would be hard pressed to name a rock album whose influence has been as broad and pervasive as The Velvet Underground and Nico. While it reportedly took over a decade for the album's sales to crack six figures, glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise, and nearly every other left-of-center rock movement owes an audible debt to this set. While The Velvet Underground had as distinctive a sound as any band, what's most surprising about this album is its diversity. Here, the Velvets dipped their toes into dreamy pop ("Sunday Morning"), tough garage rock ("Waiting for the Man"), stripped-down R&B ("There She Goes Again"), and understated love songs ("I'll Be Your Mirror") when they weren't busy creating sounds without pop precedent. Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of drugs and kinky sex (then risky stuff in film and literature, let alone "teen music") always received the most press attention, but the music Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker played was as radical as the words they accompanied. The bracing discord of "European Son," the troubling beauty of "All Tomorrow's Parties," and the expressive dynamics of "Heroin," all remain as compelling as the day they were recorded. While the significance of Nico's contributions have been debated over the years, she meshes with the band's outlook in that she hardly sounds like a typical rock vocalist, and if Andy Warhol's presence as producer was primarily a matter of signing the checks, his notoriety allowed The Velvet Underground to record their material without compromise, which would have been impossible under most other circumstances. Few rock albums are as important as The Velvet Underground and Nico, and fewer still have lost so little of their power to surprise and intrigue more than 30 years after first hitting the racks. ~ Mark Deming
Upon first release, the Velvet Underground's self-titled third album must have surprised their fans nearly as much as their first two albums shocked the few mainstream music fans who heard them. After testing the limits of how musically and thematically challenging rock could be on Velvet Underground & Nico and White Light/White Heat, this 1969 release sounded spare, quiet, and contemplative, as if the previous albums documented some manic, speed-fueled party and this was the subdued morning after. (The album's relative calm has often been attributed to the departure of the band's most committed avant-gardist, John Cale, in the fall of 1968; the arrival of new bassist Doug Yule; and the theft of the band's amplifiers shortly before they began recording.) But Lou Reed's lyrical exploration of the demimonde is as keen here as on any album he ever made, while displaying a warmth and compassioQ (6/02, p.128) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...a flickering, unforgettable band preformance..."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #6 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'