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More so than other of the other Velvet Underground releases White Light/White Heat delves more into the proto-punk and early metal and industrial rock grooves that the Velvets would go on to inspire. With only six noisy tracks, White Light/White Heat proves that great music doesn’t need to be radio friendly to prove its worth. In fact, some of the best music has been ignored by radio, just ask Lou Reed.
The Velvets were always inspired by the narcotic overdrive of the Beats, especially William Burroughs’ heroin fog of a ‘novel’ Naked Lunch, and the soulful pop of Motown, the primitive country rock & roll of the Sun Records boys and the Phil Spector Wall of Sound. White Light/White Heat takes all of those influences and refuses to polish them off, leaving behind dirty and trashy avant-garde experiments.
“The Gift” barely qualifies as a song, or even anything close to resembling one. As John Cale reads a short story, or possibly a narrative poem, the rest of the band creates a noisy jam session soundtrack that has nothing to do with the story unfolding. The one song that sounds even remotely like a real song is “Here She Comes Now,” and it’s oddly the least interesting track here. It’s not a bad song by any means, but compared to the drug-and-sex fueled “Sister Ray” or the you-are-there amphetamine trip of the title track, “Here She Comes Now” plays its very safe. And “I Heard Her Call My Name” bounces back and forth between the dingiest of metal guitar grooves and almost-pretty verses.
While the title track is my personal favorite song on this set, the closing seventeen-plus minutes of “Sister Ray” have to be heard to be believed. Over churning, crunching, looping and droning skuzzy dirty-bomb guitars, Lou Reed delivers a…well, something about drugs and dark, disturbed sexual dalliances. I’m not quite sure what it’s all about, but I do know that it’s responsible for the punk rock movement, and for that I am thankful. Every Velvet Underground studio album is top of the line and amazing. White Light/White Heat is no different. DOWNLOAD: “Sister Ray”
