Velvet Underground & Nico
356166
This is one of the great psychedelic albums of 67.  It is up there with The Doors, Sgt. Pepper and Piper at the Gates of Dawn.  Standout tracks are Venus in Furs and I'm Waiting for my Man.  I got this album knowing nothing about the band from a Rolling Stone review and I was not dissappointed.  If you like psychedelic rock, get this album.
4627931
As a long time fan of the Velvets (I possess all their original albums on vinyl!, as well as all the box sets/ rarities!), I was expecting this addition to the "An introduction to.." series to be a round up of a few classics interspersed with some epic album cuts. However I am amazed to say that this is the most balanced VU compilation I have ever come across! The key to its surprise sucess is its compilers decision to ommit some, although famous, more monotonous epics such as "Herion" and "I'm waiting for the man". Some fans may cry "sacrilage"!, I found that it gave extra scope to take in all the sides of the band. The set begins with the lighthearted but infrectious "Temptation (inside your heart)", a more atypical VU song you will not find! This track comes from the postumous CD of outtakes "VU", another nice touch by the compiler, not just restricting his choice to the first three albums. The Band fourth and final album "Loaded" was recorded for another label, however its two most famous songs are featured in blistering live form (from the 2 volume CD "Live 69, volume 1-2"). Alltold, an excellant introduction to an incredible legendary band. If you love rock n roll, you will love "Rock n roll"!!
4928118
PCs have become my favorite new band since discovering the Black Angels--a
cool mix of The Velvets proto-punk, Silver Jews style sly humor and perhaps a
dash of Beafheart-ian skronk and neurosis. At first I thought this album was not
as good as Content Nausia but with repeated listens I find a lot to love on this
CD--although I tend to go for the more "melodic" (ha ha) side of PCs on songs
like Dear Ramona and Instant Disassembly (Velvets influenced), the more hardcore
songs like Black And White get my aged head thrashing. Ducking & Dodging is
an interesting remake of an old song and She's Rolling is also a great song.
I just ordered Light Up Gold, can't get enough of this band!!!!! Musical chops,
wit and attitude all in one band--who could ask for more?
4280021
Can't understand at all why, 22 years later, I can't buy these tracks as MP3s on Amazon. This catalog is fantastic and being totally mismanaged by not being in digital file release. I went through dozens of covers of All Tomorrow's Parties to find anything remotely as good as the best Nico version before I finally stumbled over this one, the only one that fully measured up.
876509
When I first heard this album, it was not of my own choosing.  My roommate in college played this album CONSTANTLY, and I was 18 years old (that was 12 years ago now).  The roommate was one of those "trying to be cool and hip" types, and I initially rolled my eyes.  HOWEVER, I secretly went out and bought the album for myself within three days of hearing it.  It's funny, that roommate and I never really connected, and we didn't really talk to each other much that freshman year, but he exposed me to my favorite album of all time.

The point is:  When I heard Velvet Underground and Nico, I had no idea it was "one of the greatest albums of all time," or "one of the most influential bands in rock history."  For all I knew, they were some local band that nobody but my roommate and 10 other people cared to listen to.  So I was not influenced by the hype.  I simply fell in love with the songs because they are gorgeous and melodic, and above all, emotionally evocative.

As I started playing the album constantly, my friends (who had never heard of Velvet Underground) started asking me about the band and the album, and then I found that THEY were going out and buying it.

We all loved it because it is a wonderful collection of songs.  I'm not going to list each song, but, to this day, each one takes me to a special place like very few other songs/albums can.

I envy the person who has yet to discover this album, because there is a euphoria in exploring this unbelievably lovely collection of classics :  Go for it!
184864
One of the most experimental and prolific of contemporary underground bands, Finland's Circle is difficult to pin down in words alone. Not that this is necessarily important when their music is this compelling and speaks for itself. If ever there was a band that typified the obligatory question/response- Q: "What do they sound like?" A: "Can't describe it. You just have to hear it," Circle is that band.

Harkening back to the experimental, boundary-shattering ethos of 1970s German bands like Guru Guru and Amon Duul II in spirit and sound, Circle recognize few, if any, musical restrictions. Incorporating elements of black metal, space-rock, progressive, and electronica, Katapult is a kaleidoscopic stew of an album which acts as a fine primer to or continuing study of this band and their overwhelming discography. The record is laced with both instrumentals and vocal tracks that combine tricky time signatures, massively-heavy repetitive riffing, and all manner of trance-inducing synth textures, creating the mother lode of all hypothetical musical what ifs? Kind of like if Motorhead and Tangerine Dream made a record together- a cross between Ace of Spades and Zeit. Anybody into experimental/underground music with an open ear and mind needs to check this out because words alone do not suffice. You just have to hear it.
2314685
This is a collection of early recordings and unreleased tracks by Warren Zevon.  Before Werewolves of London, he had some commercial success with fellow singer/songwriter Violet Santangelo in a duo called Lyme and Cybelle.  A few years back, I was able to track down an old forty-five single of theirs, but this is the first time they have all been collected in one volume.
The tracks are as follows:
1)Follow Me - Lyme and Cybelle
2)Like the Seasons - Lyme and Cybelle
3)I've Seen a Face - Lyme and Cybelle
4)Peeping and Hiding - Lyme and Cybelle - previously unreleased
5)If You Gotta Go, Go Now - Lyme and Cybelle
6)I'll Go On - Lyme and Cybelle
7)Follow Me - Lyme and Cybelle - previously unreleased demo
8)(You Used To) Ride So High - The Motorcycle Abeline - demo
9)Outside Chance - Warren Zevon - unreleased demo
10)I See the Lights - Warren Zevon - unreleased demo
11)And If I Had You - Warren Zevon - unreleased demo
12)A Bullet For Ramona - Warren Zevon - unreleased demo
bonus tracks
13)Song 7 - Lyme and Cybelle (Wayne Erwin vocals)
14)Write If You Get Work - Lyme and Cybelle (Wayne Erwin vocals)

At the time of this review, the songs weren't listed, and I included them in my review because it may be the deciding factor on your decision to buy.  As far as content, this is the best early work I've heard by an artist since Meet the Beatles.  Better, in fact, because it's Warren Zevon.  Zevon's voice throughout most of the tracks is lighter, higher in tone, and it gives the music a different feel.  Some of the lyrics are sunnier than those of the later Zevon we know and love.  They are good, still, and the cynical and harder edged tones start to creep into the solo works towards the end of the album.  The underlying sadness that makes many of his songs shine is here.  The instrumentation is already highly developed, and the lyric quality (for the kind of songs Zevon writes) can only be built upon with age.  A Bullet For Ramona (later included in the Wanted Dead or Alive album) is the turning point, where his pitch dropped and became the deeper, throatier voice he uses now.  It is interesting to see the transition here.
This isn't a collection of throwaways like so many other unreleased sessions by other artists, but a portrait of an artist trying to find his true voice.  This is as worthy of repeat listenings as any other Zevon album. There is mention in the liner notes of an unreleased followup to Wanted Dead or Alive.  Hopefully, if The First Sessions is a success, we may be treated to that one as well.
1938134
Life In Technicolor appeared on Viva La Vida as a short instrumental.
I liked it well-enough, but since I favor vocals, I didn't play it much.
Somehow I ran into (and watched!) the YouTube video of vII. Wow! Much better!
Great lyrics and instrumentation. There is some fuzziness in the middle (pyrotechnics)
so I found the (eponymous) album version. Nice and clear. Not quite as lively but good enough.
Coldplay will always be high on my list.
4830271
It was this album, Killer key cuts wit song titles  like European Son, Black Angels Death Song, I'm Waiting for the Man, Heroin and Run Run Run. The Velvet Underground was shunned both in sales and in the so called hip rock press, like Jann Wenner's Rolling Stoned. Never buy hype, this album was under the radar for years. Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison's guitar assaults blend beautifully wit John Cale's prowness on both bass guitar and electric voila (the viola shrieks unmercifully on the epic Venus In furs-great fkn song kiddies! so if some alleged "hipster" tells ya it wuz da Ramones or Clash, piss on em and play dis joint for em!
2689458
Cannot believe I'm the first one to ever review this various artists disc here. This import CD is the third in a series of ten (so, far anyway) that gives interested listeners a chance to hear one track each from nine (9) different Garden Of Delight label releases, of mostly sub-underground bands that I'm sure most obscure progressive music fans, like myself has barely ever heard of. I've heard most every volume of this 'Psychedelic Underground' series and most are pretty decent. Best tracks here include Agitation Free's "In The Silence...", Siloah's "Road To Laramy" and The Crab's "Change Bad Horizon" (reminds me of early Jefferson Airplane). Comes with an informative full color booklet. Very nice.
4446962
This is another great album to play guitar to, but it's simpler than "Good Earth."  This album celebrates the Feelies' obvious love for Velvet Underground, a musical reference perfectly obvious long before their rousing cover of "What Goes On" closes the album.  There's loads of classic Feelies' chord music, with the vocals tilted into a Lou Reedesque direction, but still very understated in the genuine Feelies fashion.  There's great ersatz Mo Tucker drumming (do people realize just how great she was?).
If you can find this album, expect another collection that is as cohesive as "The Good Earth" but which is musically simpler and probably not quite as good.  But listen to it a number of times;  you will find that it's better than you first thought.
4730936
After researching the pioneering recordings of Kraftwerk, New Order, Afrika Bambaataa and the disco DJ's in New York and Detroit that shaped techno and modern dance music. I came across this recording. Hmmm..'Electric Youth' is says on the cover. Memories of yesteryear B-Boys, Go-Go Skipping, Body Popping come to mind.
And sure enough if you listen close you can hear the odd TB-303 analog synthesizer and the TR-808 drum machine, or perhaps that was my washing machine, but still i was going to listen to all of this...every last track.
Despite heroin, game show hosting, pit bull fighting, crack cocaine and a name change to disguise the shop-lifting offences - Electric Youth comes from the glory days of Debbie Gibson, when she could focus on how big her shoulder pads should be and how fluorescent her socks.
Silence Speaks (A Thousand Words) is a tribute to the work of Stanislaw Lem and the music of Depeche Mode combined, with a great chorus:
"you gonna Leave in Silence?
well let me tell you a potato will take your place,
yeah baby,
yeah baby,
yeah, yeah, yeah, plop"
...now where did i put that cheesey bean sandwich?
3397159
Animals is great album with many fine instrumental parts. Perfect guitar solos, strange and noisy keybords, rolling drums and remarkable bass lines. I heard, that almost all bass lines are work of David Gilmour... Great album. Curious cover.
1901453
The VU's third album is oddly available in two different versions. The original release, dubbed The Closet Mix, is the one in the Peel Slowly and See box set. The Valentin mix is this individual release, and is much brighter than the Closet Mix. You can hear the guitars more. Most weirdly, each mix has its own different version of the song Some Kinds of Love. If you are a major VU fan you probably already know this -- and you know you need both versions.

To call this the "best" Velvets album is silly.  Oh, it's a fantastic record, but it's hardly better than VU & Nico or White Light/White Heat.  Each represents the band at a different stage, and each is (sorry for the cliche) great.  The Velvets were the most important American rock band of the 1960s, and they have influenced literally everyone who followed them, even those who don't know them directly. This represents the softer side of the band (as their amps and other equipment had been stolen just before they went into the studio!), but it still rocks hard occasionally, and Murder Mystery is as weird as ever. This is Art and it's medicine and it still goes down well.
4852974
This is a great album!  The compilation of Ella and Loius is absoutely fabulous-like I said- a wonderful combination of velvet and sandpaper!  I would highly recommend this album to almost anyone.
4954088
Sepulchral and spectral indeed as a previous reviewer said. Add to that: lugubrious, morbid, depressing, but that's Nico! I do not think this is her best album - that honour belongs to The End, Marble Index or Chelsea Girl.  The production here is messy (but that may also be considered an advantage  by some of her fans!) and the material not up to standard. Except for  Heroes and I'm Waiting For My Man which I love. Her version of Heroes is  quite impressive in its teutonic grandeur, while Waiting ... swings &  rattles along nicely. This album is only for the really devoted.
4811071
This set has been very well put together, and for a really great price I would recommend that if you're into velvet underground and nico definitely get this.