Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground and Nico (14 page)
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Authors: Joe Harvard
They’ve had over 35 years to learn the lesson: perhaps now it’s time record companies start to differentiate between junk bond albums that pay off big for a while and then become worthless, and albums like the Velvets that are the medium yield notes of the industry—solid long-term stayers that retain their value for decades. A shift to a new standard could have happened around the time of Punk; it could still happen, and the
industry would be vastly better off for it. It’s interesting, when you look for record companies who have maintained a higher standard than the quick-buck labels, to note that the last label to sign the Velvets (before Lou Reed’s departure signaled the effective demise of the group) was Atlantic Records. Throughout his career, and the life of his Atlantic Records company, Ahmet Ertegun had always been able to see the value in the long haul—when the artist had talent that merited it.
What if—those two magic words that hold an unexplored universe behind them—the Velvets had been successful in their early bid to get onto a major label that truly supported them? In light of their ultimate trailblazing accomplishments, Norman Dolph seems happy that his own efforts to sell the group failed: “If Columbia Records had bought the record, I think it would have had a totally different outcome. I think at best they would have been Moby Grape. The fact that Columbia didn’t buy it was a great favor to them.”
135
Maybe the mistake, given the highly experimental style of music the Velvets played (particularly on the first two albums), was marketing their music as rock in the first place. In relation to jazz and classical releases, the sales of the first VU record may not have seemed
so dismal. Nobody expects James Blood Ulmer or Sun Ra to sell like Michael Jackson.
On the other hand, Sterling Morrison surely would have disagreed with the idea that the Velvets should be measured by any standard other than the accepted benchmarks for rock. In an interview given shortly before his death, discussing the group’s achievement of a highly saleable pop sound on
Loaded,
Morrison said: “It showed that we could have, all along, made truly commercial sounding records. We usually opted not to, because our material was incompatible with standard pop-music treatment. But people would wonder, ’Could they do it if they had to?’ The answer was, ‘Yes, we could.’ And we did.”
136
But if what you’re concerned with is whether or not a band was capable of making a truly great record, one that would remain vital and powerful, beautiful yet awe-inspiring long beyond the life of the band itself, the answer is “Yes, they could.” And with
The Velvet Underground and Nico,
they did.
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I, Jonathan
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1
McNeil, p. 24
2
McNeil, p. 17
3
Klausterman et al., p. 84
4
Bockris,
Transformer,
p. 70
5
Bockris,
Transformer,
p. 124
6
Chandler, p. 2
7
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 1
8
Ward, p. 321-2
9
Baxter, p. 155
10
Eichenberger.
11
Harvard, interview with Jonathan Richman, 1998
12
McNeil, p. 17
13
McNeil, p. 4
14
Modern, p. 3
15
Fricke,
Peel,
p. 8
16
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 1
17
Flanagan, p. 3
18
Fricke,
Peel,
p. 7
19
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 1
20
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 1
21
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 2
22
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 129
23
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 8
24
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 2
25
Unterberger
26
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 116
27
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 50
28
Flanagan, p. 3
29
Fricke,
Peel
, 22
30
Bockris,
Transformer
, p. 129
31
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 96
32
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 120
33
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 9-10
34
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 51
35
Palmer, p. 179
36
Palmer, p. 179
37
Fricke,
Peel
, p. 7
38
Bockris,
Transformer
p 129-30
39
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 12
40
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 50
41
Harvard,
Dolph
p. 9
42
McNeil p. 7-8
43
McNeil p. 8-9
44
Harvard,
Dolph,
p. 3
45
McNeil p. 24
46
Fricke
Loaded
, p. 2
47
Modern, p. 1
48
Bockris,
Uptight
, p. 50
49
Palmer, p. 231-232
50
Mercuri,
Head
51
Clark, p. 3
52
Clark, p. 3
53
Harvard, Dolphe p. 3
54
Mercuri,
Head
55
Bockris,
Transformer
, p. 92
56
Bockris,
Transformer
, p. 92
57
Bockris,
Transformer
, p. 92
58
Modern, p. 1
59
Bockris,
Transformer
, p. 129
60
Modern, p. 2
61
Barrios, p. 8-9
62
Harvard,
Dolphe
p. 10
63
Harvard, Dolphe p. 2
64
Bockris,
Transformer,
p. 100-101
65
Modern, p. 1
66
Modern, p. 2
67
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 84
68
Mercuri
Peel
69
Flanagan p. 3
70
McNeil p. 17
71
Fricke,
Peel
p. 27
72
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 127
73
Fricke,
Peel
p. 27
74
Ward p. 337
75
Ward p. 339
76
Fricke,
Peel
p. 27
77
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 124
78
Bockris,
Uptight
p. 115-16
79
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 129
80
Fricke,
Peel
p. 20
81
Harvard,
Dolpb
p. 3
82
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 135
83
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 135
84
Fricke,
Peel
p. 14
85
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 107
86
Modern p. 4
87
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 92
88
Harvard
Dolpb
p. 11
89
Julià
90
Schlemowitz
91
Fricke,
Peel
p. 22
92
Bockris,
Transformer
p. 113
93
Fricke,
Peel
p. 22
94
Fricke,
Peel
p. 27
95
Fricke,
Peel
p. 24
