THE VELVET UNDERGROUND – WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK 1984 LOU REED

The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
(Polydor/Verve Records  1984  SPELP73)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
– a little wear to edges and a ringwear mark near bottom of sleeve

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

The Velvet Underground was a rock band formed in New York, America, by singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise (who was replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965). Despite achieving little commercial success during its existence, the Velvet Underground is now recognized as one of the most influential bands of all time for its integration of rock music with the avant-garde. The provocative subject matter, musical experimentation, and often nihilistic attitudes explored in the band’s work would prove influential in the development of punk rock and alternative music.

The band was active between 1965 and 1973, and between 1992 and 1993, and was briefly managed by the pop artist Andy Warhol, serving as the house band at the Factory and Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable events from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (with German born singer and model Nico), was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales, compounded by distribution problems caused by a compensation claim by a Warhol actor for the use of his image on the back cover, but over time has been critically acclaimed – it was called the “most prophetic rock album ever made” by Rolling Stone in 2003. Cale left in 1968 to be replaced by Doug Yule; Reed, Sterling and Tucker left in 1970, with Yule taking over the band name to record a final album in 1973, and to tour the UK, before ending the band that same year. Reed, Cale, Morrison and Tucker reformed in 1992 to play one song at a Cale/Reed concert in France, then officially reunited as “The Velvet Underground” to do a European tour beginning in Edinburgh in June 1993, but broke up at the end of the year.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the band No. 19 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 by Patti Smith.

White Light/White Heat is the second studio album by American rock band the Velvet Underground, released in 1968 by record label Verve. It was the band’s last recording with violist and founding member John Cale.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 293 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Lou Reed, except as noted.

Personnel

The Velvet Underground

• John Cale – lead vocals (track 3), backing vocals (tracks 1 and 5), spoken word (track 2), electric viola (tracks 3 and 4), organ (track 6), piano (tracks 1 and 4), bass guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4 and 5), medical sound effects (track 3)
• Sterling Morrison – lead guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4 and 6), rhythm guitar (track 5), bass guitar (track 3), backing vocals (tracks 1, 3 and 5), medical sound effects (track 3)
• Lou Reed – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 2, 3, 5 and 6), rhythm guitar (tracks 1 and 4)
• Maureen Tucker – percussion (tracks 1–5), drums (track 6)

Technical personnel

• Gary Kellgren – recording engineer
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Val Valentin – director of engineering
• Tom Wilson – production