Maps of Music

White Light/White Heat (1968)

Where the lyrics of White Light/White Heat take you, and where it was really made.

The band made the album fast to sound like their live shows, but the result came out so compressed and distorted that most of the band was dissatisfied with it.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1967)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album was recorded in September 1967 at Mayfair Sound Studios on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. The songs had been worked out the previous summer. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Band photo on the back cover (1968)

Album cover Boston Tea Party — The back cover shows the band members at the Boston Tea Party, a concert venue in Boston. Morrison chose this photo. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• White Light/White Heat: second studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground
• Released January 30, 1968 by Verve Records
• Last studio album with multi-instrumentalist and founding member John Cale
• Produced by Tom Wilson, who had worked on the band's debut; engineered by Gary Kellgren
• Cover art conceived by Andy Warhol, though he is officially uncredited

Background

• Band fired Warhol after the disappointing sales of The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
• Parted ways with Nico and hired Steve Sesnick as the new manager
• Band had access to new equipment through an endorsement deal with Vox
• Sound was designed as a conscious antithesis to the psychedelic Summer of Love in San Francisco
• Lou Reed's interest in astrology, especially the Virgo-Pisces opposition, shaped the album

Recording

• Recorded in September 1967 at Mayfair Sound Studios on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan
• Songs were worked out the previous summer; the album was recorded quickly
• Sound modeled after the band's live performance and improvisation
• Band played loud with Vox distortion pedals, leaving the final product compressed and distorted

Cover

• Faint image of a skull tattoo that belonged to Joe Spencer, lead actor in Warhol's 1967 film Bike Boy
• Back cover shows the band members at the Boston Tea Party, a concert venue in Boston

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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

• Record Mirror: called it a "menacing set of acid-rock tunes"
• Melody Maker: wrote off the album as "utterly pretentious, unbelievably monotonous"
• Rolling Stone refused to review the record
• Many contemporary mainstream music critics dismissed the album, though underground newspapers took notice

Reappraisal

• Retrospective reviews were much more positive
• Mark Deming of AllMusic: "easily the least accessible" of the band's albums
• Douglas Walk of Pitchfork reviewed the deluxe edition and labeled it a "best new reissue"
• The Guardian singled out "Sister Ray"
• Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune: "Loud, abrasive, chilling"

Records

• Peaked at number 199 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, two weeks on the chart
• Sold fewer copies than The Velvet Underground & Nico
• Single "White Light/White Heat" failed to chart
• Sold over half a million copies internationally before Reed's death in 2013
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums: number 292 (2003), 293 (2012), 272 (2020)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Reed stabbed or smashed a cantaloupe to get the sound of a blade through the skull in "The Gift", at the request of Frank Zappa, who was recording in the same studio.
• The original pressing listed "Here She Comes Now" incorrectly as "There She Comes Now".
• Tom Wilson resigned from MGM Records before the album's release and never worked with the band again.
• The 17-minute "Sister Ray" was recorded in one take to avoid the disjointed sound the band felt had marked "Heroin" on the previous record.
• Cale was later fired from the band at Reed's behest.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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