I made the transition from hating to loving the Velvet Underground some time in the early 90's. My initial reaction in the 70's, when I was first discovering Lou Reed through his early solo records, Bowie and Ziggy, Roxy Music and John Cale, was one of confusion. Those VU records made me angry. They sounded bad and Nico sounded worse. But my ears began to hear things differently as I got older and when "VU & Nico" finally hit, it hit hard.
I'd like to think that Todd Haynes' new Velvets documentary is so good, it would appeal to both fans of the band, as well as those who still consider the band to be pretentious crap. But I am just not sure.
I was mesmerized for the entire two hours of the film. I have always been a bigger fan of John Cale than Lou Reed, so it helps that Cale is a major presence. As a drummer, I always thought that Moe Tucker was not only the weak link the band, but bad enough to make Meg White look like Ed Shaughnessy. Moe's presence in the film, her brilliant no bullshit comments are both insightful and hilarious. And while that doesn't suddenly make her a good drummer, my transition is now complete, as I finally accept Moe as a great drummer for the Velvet Underground.
The real star of this film is the filmmaker. Todd Haynes uses a split screen to illustrate over the course of the first hour, how this whole phenomenon began with Cale, Lou's sister, the delightful Merrill Reed Weiner, Mary Woronov, and many others offering first hand accounts on the right, of the scenes being shown on the left, until it all beautifully comes together and we see Reed, Cale, Sterling Morrison and Tucker appear for the first time as the Velvet Underground.
I imagine if you are a fan of the band and have been for most of your life, I am probably telling you what you already know, that the VU was more than a rock band. It was the sum of its parts, a thing far greater than songs and melodies, guitar solos, hooks and harmony. If you weren't then and aren't now a fan of the band, maybe this film will work for you on a different level, one that won't necessarily make you rethink "Sister Ray," but as an enchanting piece of art that sheds some light on a time, that arguably gave birth to a number of the artists, singers and songwriters that you do love.
The most miraculous thing about Todd Haynes' film is how Lou Reed's presence is felt so heavily throughout even though he has less screen time than most everyone else.
I loved this film.
7 comments:
I too loved Haynes doc. And I have always championed Cale over Reed not taking anything from Lou's genius. The structure of the film allowed for a better perception of how different things were in those times and with the split screen commentary proved how radically different the Velvets were, no wonder they got such a hostile reception. Haynes, for a documentarian, makes true sense of why something that was initially received so adversely is so revered today. Mo Tucker was wonderful and Cale effortlessly showed his genius.
I never liked the Velvet Underground or Lou Reed but I'm a big fan of music documentaries like this one and I'm looking forward to watching it as I know a minimum amount about VU, Who knows, it may turn me around.
I never liked the Velvet Underground or Lou Reed until I heard their third, "The Velvet Underground" or The Couch Album. It was my gateway. Of course there are more bad Lou Reed albums than good ones, but the same goes for Neil Young.
I love the good ones and the others are easy to avoid.
I liked their third album also, and most of Loaded (and Reed's Transformer), and I have tried and tried to warm up to Velvet Underground and Nico and White Light/White Heat. I get that they were one of the earliest punk rockers, but I was never a big punk fan anyway. I thought the movie was a bit pretentious, and I've always thought Lou Reed was both pretentious as heck, a real big jerk, and a grossly over-rated "talent". Not bad if you never heard the story, but they were never as important as they thought they were, or as important as so many critics thought they were. White Light/White Heat is every bit as interesting and enjoyable as Trout Mask Replica.
I didn't care for the band, either, til one day when I was in a record store in 1986 or so and "Hey Mr. Rain" was playing. I of course recognized Reed's voice once the singing came in, and when their instro version of "Ride Into The Sun" followed, I was hooked. I then dove deeper than I'd tried before, and came to love the band. I already had Reed's "Rock N Roll Animal", but wasn't (and still ain't) much of a fan of his solo work. Sure they were pretentious, I s'pose, but I'm glad they were as full of themselves as they were because they made GREAT records and if being full of themselves is how they got to their art, then I say 'Bring it on'. Ditto the Doors, U2, all the other 'pretentious' bands and artists who've brought so much pleasure to my listening. I thought Dylan was pretentious, and Nick Cave pretentious, til I had my epiphanies about them, too.
C in California
"moe as a great drummer for the velvet underground"
exactly and perfectly.
keith moon was a great drummer for the who.
both of them do not play well with others.
I never thought of them as pretentious. Many who talked about them were, but name anything worth liking that hasn't its share of pretentious followers. I still think of them as far less so than anything I have ever heard said by ABBA, Zappa or Phil Spector, to name three incongrous examples. The P-word is likely in the eyes of us who behold, and sometimes begrudge. I'm looking forward to seeing it and hope that it is far less of a misfire than Haynes Dylan-movie, which in the end for all its brilliance in parts was over-long and dull. Full disclosure, I became addicted to them in 1975, and can't play the drums so I'm happy with Moe./R in Scandinavia.
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