The Velvet Underground & Nico

‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘Venus in Furs’ are just classics and would grace any album. The rest of the album is wonderfully psychedelic. My only criticism is that i much prefer Lou’s voice to those featuring Nico, but overall this is an album that is definitely not out of place on this list

It’s got elements of noise rock in it, and I hate noise rock (lookin’ at you, Sonic Youth), so if I love this album so much—and I do—they must be doing something right. Perhaps it’s Nico’s mitigating folk influence? I really can’t put my finger on why I love this album. Perhaps it’s having heard “Heroin” before hearing the whole album and just sitting there dumbfounded at that viola. My wife just pointed out to me that I clearly love this album because it’s one of the few that, when I spin it, I always have some new comment on. This time it was the hypnotic structure of “Venus in Furs”, a song I want to hear while stumbling home at sunrise after all-night revelry.

Ya can't be a good RYM Samaritan if ya don't sing the praises to the Ripe Banana on a White Cover™.

It influenced an entire culture for Christ's sake! You can't put that attribute to any other single album. Everything that this album is has already been discussed to the bone gristle. Simple in its nature, highly memorable, and any song in it can be used as a starting point for a plethora of different genres. And the songs still slap to this day, sometimes even being quite fresh, which is something not characteristic for '60s albums (other than jazz, but that's a whole different galaxy).

As you can see from my Best songs portion, I'm more of a fan of the poppy side of the record, but truly, the entire album is worth your attention.

Everything is wrong in all the right ways

Was skeptical at first that I wouldn’t like this as much as everyone else because I felt it would be overhyped, but I did enjoy this album a lot on first listen despite not being a huge fan of Lou reed. Definitely worth checking out

So beautiful.

Better than the velvet underground's other stuff but fuck it's still not something I want to hear again

Here is another album I initially listened passively while doing something else, and couldn't really grasp why it was lauded as one of the most important album ever released. So I listened to it again. And yet again, if I had been asked when it was released, I would have guessed a whole decade later. Its themes of drugs and prostitution feel way more like the kinds of themes that were explored during the 70s, and the music can be quite experimental at times.

A couple songs are a bit underwhelming tho. Some songs are very modern, musically speaking, like "Venus in Fur", but others are boring and pretty classical, despite the themes, like "Run Run Run".

Overall an interesting listen, but while its historical significance can't be overstated, it's not nearly as outstanding as it could have been.

Yeah it’s kinda incredible

Great album, Lou Reed was one of a kind and this ablum really helps highlight why

Hmmm... There are some songs here that I'm kind of indifferent towards, and there are others that I absolutely adored. At the very least, their instrumentation is consistently entrancing and certainly astounding for a 60s album (entrancing... astounding... perfect descriptors for Venus In Furs, god what a song!!). I also found Heroin, with its ups and downs and ultimate chaos in its last leg, to be some genius storytelling through song structure alone.

What's funny is that I've historically struggled with noise rock, punk, grunge, basically everything TVU pioneered... yet for some reason I find these guys' approach to be particularly compelling and listenable. Quite the mystery. Case in point: I saw that the closing track's lengthy, noisy jam session was a particular point of contention for many people, and I gotta say that I was having a blast with it. Their real flex, though, is that they can effortlessly switch between heavier tracks and softer, more traditional ones. Sunday Morning and Femme Fatale are heavenly!

As I said, there are a few low points on the album, but the highlights are so strong that I can definitely see myself revisiting it all. Liked it!

Standouts: Sunday Morning • Femme Fatale • Venus In Furs • Heroin • I'll Be Your Mirror • European Son

*Some cool songs like Sunday Morning and I'll be your mirror.
*Also some dissonant weird stuff...music is a 3 but I'm bumping it to a 4 for its significance

I don't think I understand why it's reached such an iconic status, but it was a pleasant listen.

I had high hopes, but this was mostly boring. Not bad though.

3.5 always enjoyable. Gets into the weeds a bit on the latter half.

Ground Zero for what would later be called indie/alternative/punk/post-punk. That doesn't make it good, but it also happens to be very very good.

Predictably, it might be the easiest 5 stars I hand out on this challenge.

This is such a foundational record. You can hear the push and pull of John Cale’s drones with Lou Reed’s Doo-Wop lyrics about heroin. Throw in some Nico and baby you got yourself a stew!

i mean legendary album, loved it

What a treat. Heading out for a day out on the motorbike in the morning before it gets too hot. Already a 5 star album made even better.

Pioneering. Influential. Awesome.