By turns fiercely confrontational, literate, primitive and sweetly melodic, The Velvet Underground remain one of the most influential bands in the ...
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May 25, 2011
Paul
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Even after Lou Reed’s parents sent him for a course of electro convulsive therapy at the genuinely young age of 13, he was still determined to do no work, take lots of drugs, never do the washing up and become an avant garde musician and poet. But he needed money so he got a gig at New York’s worst recording company, churning out stupid ripoffs of current hits for non-acts to score non-hits with. For example, I Wanna Clean Your Teeth by the Long Haired English Boys (1964) is Lou playing all
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Jul 16, 2010
Chris
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An absolutely exhaustive history of The Velvet Underground. The only thing it leaves out is Lou/ John/ Moe's solo stuff after the '60s... but you DO learn an awful lot about John's avant-garde work, outside of the Velvets, throughout the '60s. This info neatly sums up the difference between the VU with and without Cale; Cale brought the minimalist-drone/ classical avant-garde/ viola/ noise element to the VU. After he left, it left with him. We've heard for years that Doug Yule was the "wimp
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Jun 13, 2010
Anna
rated it:
This is a monster of a book that has more information than I initially wanted to know; however, it is also impeccably researched and well-written, for a book of such breadth. It's a bit slow at first, but is very enjoyable overall.
Aug 18, 2009
Tosh
rated it:
I think what we have here is the ultimate book on the great Velvet Underground. Everyday is counted for in this often mysterious band. Now, normally, these books become totally obsessive and nerd like. But the author Unterberger is a very good writer, and he sees the Velvets on a bigger scale and their era on a grand scale.
I dipped in and out of this book for the past six weeks, and every read was like a nice swim in warm water. Fascinating info, and interesting images as well.
I dipped in and out of this book for the past six weeks, and every read was like a nice swim in warm water. Fascinating info, and interesting images as well.
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(1 person liked it)
Jul 20, 2009
jainabee
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This one is staying near the stereo with all the other Unterberger books, where I can peruse it at leisure and at length.
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