THE VELVET UNDERGROUND ALBUMS RANKED AND REVIEWED - LOADED (1970)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
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FINAL COMMUNITY RESULTS FOR EACH ALBUM (1.EXCELLENT 2.VERY 3.GOOD 4.FAIR 5.POOR)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO 1. 58% 2. 17% 3. 11% 4. 5% 5. 8%
WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT 1. 43% 2. 20% 3. 20% 4. 8% 5. 9%
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND 1. 50% 2. 23% 3. 14% 4. 5% 5. 8%
LOADED 1. 28% 2. 29% 3.23% 4. 9% 5. 11%
Excellent final Lou Reed/ Velvet Underground album. I think this is their second best album, after the debut. I even like the outtakes from this, many of which Lou Reed would re-record for his first few solo albums. My favorite tracks are: "Sweet Jane", "Rock & Roll" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'". I give this album an "A". A great way to go out.
Mine would be:
1. The Velvet Underground
2. Loaded
3. The Velvet Underground and Nico
4. White Light White Heat
Wish there were more VU albums with Lou, as I have loved this series!
Yes! Love this review Larry. Loaded is also my favorite VU album, it's an album that I can play at any time and in any mood and it always resonates with me. Oh! Sweet Nothin' is potentially in my top five songs of all time.
Nice one Larry! Your enthusiasm is contagious enough to replay all the albums! Any excuse really... 😂 Seriously though, it's great fun, when an album exceeds expectations.
Arguably the best 4 album discography ever. Maybe the Pixies would be second for me. But that's different.
Love your review. Loaded is the first Velvets album I listened to and It has been my favorite ever since.
Loaded was my first velvet underground album and has always been my favorite. Great review and series.
Hi Larry. Very glad you chose loaded as number one. It is a great album and often overlooked and under rated. I have fond memories of buying it back in 1972 the same day as Bowies "Ziggy Stardust" album. The shop I bought it at was run by a bunch of hippie dudes. It was laid back and they even had couches for customers to lounge on and listen to tunes. Can't remember if they sold drug paraphernalia like bongs and such. Back then the only "high" I was into was listening to great music. Needless to say when I got those albums home I cranked them on my awesome 70's stereo and had my life changed forever!
Nice surprise with your rankings. It's a great album and I have a similar story to you with it. I first heard it about a year ago but I have live versions of Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll on a best of album. Favourite songs are those two plus Head Held High and Cool It Down. The four albums are all A plus but their debut will always be my number one: It's one of those albums that blew my mind on first listen..... as opposed to growing to like it.
1 The Velvet Underground and Nico
2 White Light/White Heat
3 The Velvet Underground
4 Loaded
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Any thought to reviewing the two albums compiled in the 80s (Another View, VU)? A bunch of great songs on those. And Foggy Notion is maybe my favorite by the group, helped by hearing the Modern Lovers version a lot as well. No? Worth a shot 😀
Love this album. It was the first one I brought back in 85. I didn’t buy the others until recently. I’m gonna go through the others to see how I feel about the rest of em.
Their album covers are very cool to me, creative as they are!
I'd say this is my second favorite Velvet album but it always fluctuates with their third album. Top tracks for me are Who Loves the Sun, New Age, Lonesome Cowboy Bill, I Found a Reason and Sweet Nuthin. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment that Doug Yule is underrated. His voice is so sweet and lovely and really helped solidify the more poppy elements of their sound. Hell I even like Squeeze, it's very charming to me. Kinda wish I'm Sticking With You was included on the original it's very weird but also cutesy in a endearing way.
Favs: 'Sweet Jane', 'Rock 'N' Roll' and 'Oh Sweet Nuthin'
Albums ranked:
1. The Velvet Underground & Nico
2. Loaded
3. The Velvet Underground
4. White Light/White Heat
'Sweet Jane' helped put the great Canadian band "Cowboy Junkies" on the map, their cover was their highest charting single in the U.S. at #5. Margot Timmins has a wonderful languid voice except on 'I Saw Your Shoes' which rocks. What do you think of them and their cover, Larry? Their version of 'Sweet Jane' was in the soundtrack of "Natural Born Killers". They've also covered George Harrison's 'Isn't It a Pity' and John Lennon's 'I Don't Want to Be a Soldier' so they have good taste.
Totally agree with you Larry, for just the first three tracks alone, Loaded is my favourite VU album, the songs are just more upbeat. Great review again.
White Light/White Heat and Loaded have been on heavy rotation in my collection for about 30 years... I started appreciating the self titled more only recently, which is odd, I dunno why I didn't love if originally as a complete thing.
You are absolutely right. Loaded is a masterpiece! This is the representative rock n roll album of velvets. I think that is an album is decisive for
Lou Reed solo career.
Great review Larry and a nice send off to the Velvet Underground ranking and review series. This album I would rate 8/10 and is my least favourite but still great.
Never realized that the subway stairs were because of the "underground" in the name, good thing you pointed that out :)
For me Loaded is the least of their studio albums however possibly my favourite album is the live 1969 double album that shows them at their finest. The version of What Goes On is mesmerising!
My least favourite is the self titled, but there are some wonderful songs on it.
Three favorites
1. Sweet Jane
2. Rock N Roll
3. Oh Sweet Nuthin’
Give VU a chance -- the album released in 1984 that was recorded between this and the last album you reviewed. Quality work.
I love the album.
@@canadianstudmuffin Good to hear. I consider that one the fourth, Loaded the fifth. There was contractual problems I believe that prevented the material being released at that time. I greatly your videos, btw.
I remember when "white light" was your favourite. Opinions change anyway...
1. White Light/White Heat (10/10)
2. The Velvet Underground (10/10)
3. The Velvet Underground and Nico (10/10)
4. Loaded (9/10)
I've got exactly the same order, Loaded edges the Nico album mostly because of the production. Are you familiar with her album Chelsea Girls? It has almost everyone from VU, plus Jackson Browne. It was a pleasure then to listen to it.
Another great album - probably the most straightforward 'rock' sounding of the four albums, and with a bigger production. Three favorite songs would be Who Loves the Sun, Sweet Jane and I Found a Reason. Not sure about my least favorite.
Over the years, I've said the debut was my favorite Velvet Underground album, and that's generally still true. However, all four albums are so strong, and yet they all have different vibes to them. So, depending on my mood, they can constantly switch in preference. Because of this, I can't really give a final ranking.
This is the best VU record but they are all close. The reason I rank the two first albums lower is mainly due to poor production. Garage sound has its charm but eventually you grow tired
My rakings:
1. Loaded A+
2. The Velvet Underground A
3. White Light/White Heat A-
4. The VU & Nico A-
Larry, have you heard the “V.U.” album? - made up of songs recorded between the self-titled third album, and “Loaded”, and finally released in 1985… not a “true” album, in that it came out so much later, but it plays very well - (like a “real” album) - and is very enjoyable, IMO….many of the songs eventually came out on Lou Reed’s solo records, but it’s fun to hear them as Velvet Underground songs… Enjoyed the videos, take care..
Yes. It's great.
Oh sweet nuthin is my favorite velvet underground song
It's a toss up between Sunday Morning, Oh Sweet Nuthin and Rock N Roll for me as their best
This album always gives me some mixed emotions. Side one is amazing, brilliant, may even be the best side of all of their albums. But then, the side two has couple of their less good songs. I still love this, I´ll give it an A. Am I the only one with mixed emotions?
Three favorites: Who Loves The Sun, Sweet Jane and Cool It Down.
Least favorite: Lonesome Cowboy Bill
Album rankings:
1. The Velvet Underground A+
2. The Velvet Underground and Nico A+
3. Loaded A
4. White Light/White Heat A (Originally I gave It A-, but after careful consideration I realized that it is better that that!!)
The ranking and review - wishlist: Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) (8 albums overall), Cream (4 albums), The Smiths (4 albums), The Who (12 albums) and oc the Rolling Stones (17231 albums).
I agree on The Who and The Rolling Stones for a rank and review. For The Rolling Stones, I'd go with the Bill Wyman years, 1964 - 1989.
You should review V.U. with all of the unreleased songs on it.
Billy Yule, Doug’s brother plays drums on most of it.
Also Doug himself
Favorite song is I Found a Reason. A criminally underrated ballad from TVU.
Love this album, although it’s probably my least favourite of the 4. Still, the VU definitely have one of the most consistent discographies in rock history (excluding squeeze).
4) Loaded (A-)
3) The Velvet Underground (A)
2) White Light/White Heat (A+)
1) The Velvet Underground and Nico (A+)
Really good album i enjoy the last 2 better just fun nice well written music no noise and avant garde sounding stuff which i respect. Again i like some stuff off the first 2 but i enjoy the last 2 more. More music and better everything all around to me. Fun series glad i finally listened to this band thanks larry
Velvet underground A/A-
Loaded A-/B+
White light white heat B
Velvet underground and Nico B
Loaded is number 1 for me too.
this one's definitely in 4th place for me but still a great album, an 8/10 or better
Even though it's number 4 in my ranking it does have those classic "hits", Sweet Jane and Rock 'N' Roll, plus several other fine songs that other groups would have been thrilled to have as their best, makes it a great album, but not in the all time greatest realm like the first 3.
A good album. Cover is ok. Who Loves The Sun is great and influenced of course by The Beatles's Here Comes The Sun. It's a little bit like their previous album, not so much experimentation and basically country, folk, and blues and rock. Rock And Roll, Sweet Jane and New Age are great I agree. The other songs are quite good imo.
It's fortunate Lou Reed’s vocals left his body..... otherwise, we may not have heard them 😂 😉
Loaded is my least favourite VU Album. It never really connected with me. My faves are the first three, then VU and the 1969 double Live Album. Loaded and Another view last.