After 112 days of playing a different band each day, I’m still coming up with music of this quality!! There’s such a lot of good stuff out there.
It must have been back in 1967 that I first heard the Velvets. While the West Coast was exploding with the splendour of Acid Rock the East Coast tended to be a lot bleaker. The Velvets were singing about heroin, transvestites and drug deals with dodgy characters. It was a world of pimps, pushers and S&M. A bit different to Peace and Love.
What a great band they were. I went to have a look for Andy Warhol’s Factory when I was over in New York but I couldn’t find it.
The things I liked about Velvets was their range of styles and vocals. There was something about Nico’s heavily accented, laid-back, lyrical delivery and then Lou Reed’s punchy Grage Punk. The avant-garde weirdness of the cello and John Cale’s contributions made it sound so different. The world of New York seemed very different and edgy.
So today I’m playing a big dose of the Velvets – way back to 1967!
I always come away from them disappointed. What’s the point of Satellite of Love? And White/White heat… .
Oh well.
I have to pick and choose but there’s enough there to keep me coming back.