The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed

Last updated
There are Velvet Underground compilation albums with similar titles: The Best of The Velvet Underground: The Millennium Collection (2000) and The Very Best of The Velvet Underground (2003).
The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed
The Best of The Velvet Underground, Words and Music of Lou Reed (1989 The Velvet Underground album).jpg
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedOctober 1989 (1989-10)
Recorded1966–1970, New York City and Hollywood, United States
Genre Art rock, proto-punk
Length61:43
Language English
Label Verve
Producer Various
The Velvet Underground chronology
Squeeze
(1973)
The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in October 1989 by Verve Records.

Contents

The Best of The Velvet Underground concludes the mid-1980s re-issue series by Verve Records of their Velvet Underground material (the first three albums plus VU and Another View ).

The record tried to capitalise on the new public awareness of Lou Reed,[ citation needed ] who had issued his critically acclaimed comeback album New York earlier that year. Accordingly, the record contains only songs written by Reed alone.

Track listing

All tracks were written by Lou Reed.

Side one
  1. "I'm Waiting for the Man"
  2. "Femme Fatale"
  3. "Run Run Run"
  4. "Heroin"
  5. "All Tomorrow's Parties"
  6. "I'll Be Your Mirror"
  7. "White Light/White Heat"
  8. "Stephanie Says"

Tracks 1–6 taken from The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967); Track 7 taken from White Light/White Heat (1968); Track 8 taken from VU (1985).

Side two
  1. "What Goes On"
  2. "Beginning to See the Light"
  3. "Pale Blue Eyes"
  4. "I Can't Stand It"
  5. "Lisa Says"
  6. "Sweet Jane"
  7. "Rock and Roll"

Tracks 1–3 taken from The Velvet Underground (1969); Tracks 4–5 also taken from VU; Tracks 6–7 taken from Loaded (1970).

Personnel

The Velvet Underground
Additional musicians
Technical staff

Related Research Articles

<i>The Velvet Underground & Nico</i> 1967 studio album by the Velvet Underground and Nico

The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut studio album by the American rock band The Velvet Underground in collaboration with the German singer Nico, released in March 1967 through Verve Records. It was recorded in 1966 while the band were featured on Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour, and was produced by Warhol and Tom Wilson, with the album featuring a record sleeve that Warhol designed. The album features elements of avant-garde music incorporated into brash, minimal and groove-driven rock music, with frontman Lou Reed delivering explicit lyrics spanning themes of drug abuse, prostitution, sadomasochism and urban life.

<i>White Light/White Heat</i> 1968 studio album by the Velvet Underground

White Light/White Heat is the second studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Released on January 30, 1968, by Verve Records, it was the band's last studio album with multi-instrumentalist and founding member John Cale. Recorded after band leader Lou Reed fired Andy Warhol, who had produced their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, they hired Steve Sesnick as a manager and hired producer Tom Wilson, who had worked on the band's debut. White Light/White Heat was engineered by Gary Kellgren.

<i>Loaded</i> (The Velvet Underground album) 1970 studio album by the Velvet Underground

Loaded is the fourth studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground, released in November 1970 by Atlantic Records subsidiary Cotillion. It was the final album recorded featuring the band’s remaining original members, including the lead singer and primary songwriter Lou Reed, who left the band shortly before the album's release, and the guitarist Sterling Morrison, who left the band in 1971 along with the drummer Maureen Tucker. For this reason, it is often considered by fans to be the last "true" Velvet Underground album. The multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule remained and released the album Squeeze in 1973 before the band's dissolution the same year.

<i>Peel Slowly and See</i> 1995 box set by the Velvet Underground

Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by the Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterling Morrison</span> American musician (1942–1995)

Holmes Sterling Morrison Jr. was an American guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock band the Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.

<i>The Very Best of The Velvet Underground</i> 2003 greatest hits album by The Velvet Underground

The Very Best of The Velvet Underground is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in Europe on March 31, 2003, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band's Universal Music Group back catalog.

<i>Live MCMXCIII</i> 1993 live album by the Velvet Underground

Live MCMXCIII is a live album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground, released in 1993 by Sire Records. It was released simultaneously in single and double CD/cassette formats on October 26, 1993. In 2006, a DVD version of the concert was released as Velvet Redux Live MCMXCIII by Warner Music Vision and Rhino Home Video.

<i>1969: The Velvet Underground Live</i> 1974 live album by the Velvet Underground

1969: The Velvet Underground Live is a live album by the Velvet Underground. It was originally released as a double album in September 1974 by Mercury Records. The September 1988 CD re-release was issued as two separate single CD volumes, with one extra track per disc. Since many of the band's studio albums were out of print in the United States from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, 1969 was one of the more popular albums by the band, and is a fan favorite. Spin magazine's Alternative Record Guide included it in the top 100 alternative albums of all time in 1995.

<i>Gold</i> (The Velvet Underground album) 2005 greatest hits album by The Velvet Underground

Gold is a two-CD compilation album by the Velvet Underground. It was released for the North American market on June 14, 2005, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band's Universal Music Group back catalogue.

<i>Another View</i> 1986 compilation album by the Velvet Underground

Another View is an outtakes compilation album by the Velvet Underground. It was released in 1986 by Verve Records and is composed of material recorded between 1967 and 1969.

<i>VU</i> (album) 1985 compilation album by the Velvet Underground

VU is a 1985 album by the American musical group the Velvet Underground, a compilation album of outtakes recorded 1968–69. It was released in February 1985 by Verve Records.

<i>Final V.U. 1971–1973</i> 2001 live album box set by the Velvet Underground

Final V.U. 1971–1973 is a box set by the Velvet Underground, comprising live recordings from after founding members Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison had left the group. It was released by Japanese record company Captain Trip Records in August 2001.

<i>20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of The Velvet Underground</i> 2000 greatest hits album by The Velvet Underground

20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of The Velvet Underground is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was initially released for the North American market by Polydor in October 2000 as part of their "20th Century Masters" series of budget compilations celebrating the turn of the century. The album was subsequently released with varying titles and covers in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Femme Fatale (song)</span> 1966 single by the Velvet Underground and Nico

"Femme Fatale" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, with lead vocals by Nico.

<i>Rock and Roll Diary: 1967–1980</i> 1980 compilation album by Lou Reed

Rock and Roll Diary: 1967–1980 is a compilation album by Lou Reed. It was released by Arista Records in 1980 as a double album split between tracks by the Velvet Underground and tracks by Reed, attempting to demonstrate the arc of his songwriting over the first fifteen years of his career.

<i>American Poet</i> (album) 2001 live album by Lou Reed

American Poet is an album of an early solo concert by American rock musician Lou Reed, recorded live at the Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, New York, on Boxing Day 1972 during the Transformer tour. The backing band are the Tots. It features material from The Velvet Underground's first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, and Reed's first two 1972 solo albums, debut Lou Reed and Transformer. The version of "Berlin" is the arrangement from that debut album. American Poet was released in 2001. It is an unauthorized release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here She Comes Now</span> 1968 single by The Velvet Underground

"Here She Comes Now" is a song released by the American rock band the Velvet Underground in January 1968, from their second studio album White Light/White Heat. As the shortest song on the album, the performance and mix of the song are both considered simple and traditional, making it somewhat distinct from the other five songs on the album, all of which contain some degree of experimental or avant-garde elements in terms of sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Velvet Underground discography</span>

The discography of the American rock band The Velvet Underground consists of five studio albums, six live albums, 14 compilation albums, six box sets and eleven singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Velvet Underground</span> American rock band

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. In 1965, MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker, who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde resulted in little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and nihilistic attitude was also instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and several other genres.

<i>Heaven & Hell: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground</i> 1990 compilation album series by various artists

Heaven & Hell: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground is a series of tribute albums released by Imaginary Records in the UK dedicated to American rock band the Velvet Underground. While not technically part of the series, Imaginary Records also released another tribute album to the Velvet Underground, called Fifteen Minutes which is in fact merely a compilation of fourteen tracks from the three Heaven & Hell albums. In 2009 Ozit-Morpheus Records re-released this compilation under the title Unpiecing the Jigsaw: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground which appended two live tracks by Nico to the third disc, and, on a fourth disc, a lengthy interview called 47 Minutes in Depth With Lou Reed.

References

  1. Ruhlmann, William. The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed at AllMusic
  2. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0195313734.