White Light/White Heat

I said I couldn't hit it sideways
Now just like
Now just like
I said oh, oh, just like
Am-ph-ph-ph-ph-phetamine

so good man.

Delightfully dirty and trashy and sleazy; an oily puddle in a back alley. Must have been nothing short of revolutionary at the time.

Yo wtf is up with the gift? I tuned out all that nonsense.
Off the bat, this is garbo, maybe this is on the list because of the band name, not because of how the album is. Or maybe this is here because it "pioneers a genre" -- just because of that. it doesn't make this a good album.

A wild and uneven record. I admire their bravery, but don't necessarily love the results. In fact, I enjoy many of the outtakes from this era, now included as bonus tracks on the super deluxe version, more than what ended up on the actual album. Those outtakes sound closer to what would come on their next album, which I adore. But I suppose they needed to get this wonky skronkfest out of their system first. This album is the audio equivalent to what I Imagine taking a speedball would be like. Let's take ALL the drugs... I would actually prefer to see these songs performed live in all their raw intensity. Rolling Stone apparently refused to even review this album when it was first released. Ha! As if you needed another reason to prove that Jann Wenner is a total wanker.

Just like Sister Ray Said

Weird 60's drug music. I was kind of digging The Gift, but it drug on far too long. I much prefer their first album. A lot of just feels like noise.

Wat gemompel dat losstaat van de muziek. Als er toch zangpoging wordt gedaan, is het een soort slechte Dylan. Af en toe nog het piepende geluid van een microfoon die te dicht bij de box staat om het af te toppen. Een 1, omdat lager niet kan.

Kiinnostavaa tavaraa kuten bändiltä voi olettaakin. Melkoiset spoken word-setit keskellä. 4/5

I was only familiar with Velvet Underground & Nico 🍌 album, hadn't listened to this one before.

I went with the non-deluxe edition, 6 tracks, conciser-ish.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0HHmJpwOXXRJu9HI9iQiEO

Funny with the opening track, immediately knew where LCD Soundsystem's Drunk Girls got its influence.

For the rest of the album, I didn't care for it much, it's all over the place. Some call it art, most call it noise.

Well, this was an interesting listen for sure. I'm usually not a fan of the random garage rock esque playing of the more Avant Garde style of music, but there was certainly stuff here that I enjoyed. The story of "The Gift" kept me legitimately enthralled for the whole eight minutes, and stuff like John Cale's voice was very enjoyable, which was surprising after really only knowing Lou Reed from this band. I mean, this has a lot of issues, definitely, so don't mistake my praise for enjoyment, a seventeen minute song is almost always unnecessary, and this was no different, and not much was actually notable, like a case of trying to be too artsy with no real direction, but I could definitely see the enjoyment here. Gotta give it right down the middle, but I will admit this is perhaps my closest to the four stars of all my three stars? I'll have to fact check that for myself, but it seems right to say.

Not great, but at least no Nico! The best song was The Gift, a mad spoken word story about a guy who posts himself. Many of the others are sloppy and unfocused, and there are way too many outtakes and live versions as filler on the linked version of the album.

You can see how this album influenced so many bands that I like now.

I really like the album. Here She Comes Now is a great song, and the Nirvana cover(s) that it sparked are amazing.

It may have gotten a 5 from me if it wasn't for The Gift. I just can't stand that one.

Such an experimental, awesome album that really provided a groundwork for so much music that I love. I think it might be my favorite VU album.

Big fan of VU first album. First time listening to this, really enjoyed it too, though is a harder listen, very experimental some of the songs are a bit messy. But can see massive the influence VU had on music.

The album started off ok - "White Light / White Heat" sounded like proto-glam and was promising. "The Gift" had a fun riff and story, with a good punchline. However, underneath both these tracks were hints of the noise that was going to annoy the crap out of me later in the album. "Lady Godiva's Operation" sounded like some decent 60s psychedelia until the doctor part where it got weird. "Here She Comes Now" also had that 60s vibe and wasn't bad. But then the last two tracks brought the noise rock front and center. "I Heard Her Call My Name" had a horrendous almost all-feedback guitar solo that sounded like garbage to me. The jam in the middle of "Sister Ray" was just sloppy and all noise. I wanted to shut off the squealing organ and feedback. The end of "Sister Ray" was even more obnoxious than the middle. I tried to give the album a fair shake - even listened a second time, and that's when I noticed that the noise was present throughout, just not as noticeable on early tracks. I like some Lou Reed solo stuff, but I'm definitely not a fan of this album. Giving it a 2 rather than a 1 solely because there were some redeeming moments.