This is the Velvet Underground's most accessible album, the one that most people first experience and find easiest to enjoy. After opening with the meloncholy "Candy Says," a song suggested by the musings of transexual Candy Darling, the band ramps up into a go-go beat with slightly mid-eastern guitar twists for my personal favorite on the album, "What Goes On"--and then settles into a series of equally memorable cuts that range from the soft beauty of "Pale Blue Eyes" to the mantra-like "Jesus" to the good time "Beginning to See the Light." Whether upbeat or meloncholy, Lou Reed's unique style of talk-singing imparts a chant-like quality to the entire album, and although he has sometimes equaled these vocals in later work, he has never really bested them. Of course, the Velvets wouldn't be the Velvets without out at least one truly far-out-down-right-weird selection, and they offer it with "The Murder Mystery," a collage of conversation-like speech and lanquid singing that changes rhythms from moment to moment and which challenges the listener to sort out the individual voices and words. And then the album wraps up with an unlikely 1930-ish tune, "Afterhours," sung by drummer Maureen Tucker--and her completely unaffected, non-singer and off-key voice has surprising unstudied charm, rather like that of a school girl unaware that she is being recorded.

Even straight-laced pop fans will likely enjoy this particular album--and as such it is the perfect place for the uninitiated to begin a journey into The Velvet Underground. Everything about it is beautifully done, and it is a welcome twist to the band's earlier, much edgier sound. Strongly recommended, especially for first-timers.


If You Close the Door, the Night Could Last Forever...   October 3, 2001
 19 out of 21 found this review helpful

The Velvet Underground were such a great band they probably could have made even third-rate material sound interesting. Fortunately, they were never faced with this challenge. During his days with VU, Lou Reed was on one of the all-time great songwriting tears; and nowhere is this more obvious than on the band's eponymous third album. For the ballads alone, Reed's work here is staggering -- "Pale Blue Eyes," "I'm Set Free," "Candy Says," "Jesus." Throw in the two delirious rockers "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light" and the undefinable but wonderful "Some Kind of Love," and you begin wondering which devil Reed made his pact with. No joke, folks: Lou has come up with a batch of songs here as uniformly strong as 'Blood on the Tracks' or 'Plastic Ono Band.' I can't give any higher praise than that.


Shhhhh....   April 30, 1999
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

This fantastic album is the exact opposite of "White Light/White Heat": where "WL/WH" was loud, this one is quiet; where "WL/WH" was bold, this album is beautiful; where "WL/WH" was an undisputed masterpiece, this album is...um, also an undisputed masterpiece. (Damn, that was going so well...).


Puzzling to see how this is praised so much   November 22, 1999
 9 out of 63 found this review helpful

It seems to me that a large part of Velvet Underground's cult fame and mystique comes from the fact that these guys can't play well.

Lou Reed can't sing worth a nickel. Period. He talk-sings his way through most songs, and when he does try to actually sing, it's a pathetic attempt. Mo Tucker's voice is also a joke on the song that she sings. The songs are all 2 or 3-chord repetition, the guitars are frequently out of tune, and Tucker can't keep a steady beat to save her life.

So somehow, bands that (1) can't play, (2) sing about the sleazier side of life, and (3) get ignored -- sometimes rightly -- by the public, somehow these bands rise to legendary status. Makes you wonder where people's values are.


They couldn't play? Who cares!   November 30, 1999
 8 out of 16 found this review helpful

So songs must be played by masters of their instruments, sung with pure, clean voices,and accompanied by tuned guitars and sunny lyrics? Okay. Whatever. Sure, the Velvets' experimentation didn't always work (The Murder Mystery is the one blemish on this album), but, this idea that music MUST be played THIS way is upsetting. How many of our great classical composers were looked down upon for being "rebels" in their time? Shall we now call people like Stravinsky talentless hacks?

I'm not trying to compare The Velvet Underground to Stravinsky. But in terms of rock and pop, the Velvets ARE that important. They are as large an influence on modern music as the Beatles. I really see no reason to not recommend this album. Their first album is edgier, more experimental (but not bad by any means), but this album features music with melodies as beautiful as they come. Lou Reed's lyrics are surprisingly tender at times (for someone who wrote a song called "Heroin"), and his singing always fits the mood of the song. You can argue the quality of the album (although I wouldn't recommend it), but the influence is undeniable. This may sound pompous, but, hey, it's all true.