Maps of Music

The Velvet Underground (1969)

Where the lyrics of The Velvet Underground take you, and where it was really made.

The album the band made after John Cale's firing failed to chart, the first Velvet Underground record to do so.

Key places

Recording at TTG Studios, Los Angeles (1969)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album was recorded from November through December 1968 at TTG Studios in Los Angeles. The point marks the city, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Velvet Underground: third studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground
• Released in March 1969 by MGM Records
• First album with multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule, who replaced John Cale
• Largely ballads and straightforward rock songs, a clear shift from the band's earlier records
• Lou Reed intentionally changed the style after the abrasive White Light/White Heat (1968)

Background

• Cale fired in September 1968; Yule brought in as a bassist
• Yule was discovered through the band's road manager Hans Onsager
• Recording began weeks after Yule joined
• Reed believed the band should not make another White Light/White Heat
• Band had just toured the West Coast; manager Steve Sesnick got studio time at short notice
• Reed was managing his relationships with Shelley Albin and Billy Name, which influenced his songwriting

Recording

• Recorded November through December 1968 at TTG Studios in Los Angeles
• Band stayed at the Chateau Marmont and toured frequently while recording
• Wrote and rehearsed at the hotel in the afternoon and recorded songs at night
• Reed tried to put Yule in the spotlight; Yule sang the opening track 'Candy Says'
• Maureen Tucker sang the closing track 'After Hours'

Cover

• Cover photograph by Billy Name, photographer and archivist of Warhol's Factory
• Band shown sitting on a couch at The Factory

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in New York City in 1964; took the name The Velvet Underground in November 1965, from a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior.
• Classic lineup: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker.
• Andy Warhol became the band's manager in 1966 and they were the house band at The Factory.

Members

• Lou Reed (singer, guitarist) and John Cale (multi-instrumentalist, Welsh) were the core partnership.
• Sterling Morrison (guitar) and Moe Tucker (drums) completed the classic four-piece.
• Doug Yule replaced Cale in 1968 and later led the band's final lineups.

Career

• Performed with Warhol's multimedia show Exploding Plastic Inevitable from 1966 to 1967.
• Debut The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) sold poorly at release but is now widely hailed as one of the greatest albums.
• Ranked 19th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (2004).
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Contemporary reviews praised the album, which was a turning point for the band
• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice (1969) called it the band's best work
• Lester Bangs in Rolling Stone felt it was not on par with White Light/White Heat
• Variety praised it as an important contribution to rock's lyrical advancement
• Ultimately it failed to chart on the Billboard Top LPs chart, the band's first record to do so

Reappraisal

• Retrospective reviews labeled it one of the greatest albums of the 1960s and of all time
• Colin Larkin said the album unveiled a pastoral approach, gentler and more subdued
• Greg Kot described Reed's contribution as quiet, beautiful folk-rock
• Mark Deming of AllMusic said it sounds less like the Velvet Underground than any of their studio albums
• Brian Eno declared it his favorite album from the band

Records

• Did not enter the Billboard 200 until the 1985 reissue, when it reached No. 197
• Billboard reported 201,000 copies sold since 1991, when SoundScan began tracking
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: No. 314 (2003), No. 316 (2012), No. 143 (2020)
• Pitchfork 2017 list of the 200 best albums of the 1960s: No. 12
• NME: 21st best album of all time
• Uncut 200 Greatest Albums of All Time: No. 52

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The closing song 'After Hours' has a rare solo lead vocal by Maureen Tucker, requested by Reed.
• Tucker was nervous while recording it; after eight takes she had everyone leave except herself, Reed and the engineer.
• Reed's own mix, the 'closet mix', was the first released in the United States; Morrison said it sounded like it was recorded in a closet.
• The Valentin mix is the one more widely distributed since release.
• Billy Name was paid 300 dollars for the cover photograph, the most he had been paid for a picture at that time.
• The cover artwork led to the record being dubbed 'The Grey Album'.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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