After the unnamed debut from 1967 - the record with the banana by Andy Warhol on the cover - successor White Light / White Heat from The Velvet Underground also received little recognition in 1968. Before its time - the love and peace movement of 1967 still vibrated - this was an extraordinarily raw and uncompromising album. Against a backdrop of feedback, distortion and drones, singer and guitarist
… Lou Reed sings with biting and gnawing New York street life full of drugs, fringe characters and filth, culminating in the seventeen-minute rushing Sister Ray. Bassist, keyboardist, violinist and singer John Cale uses as a contrast to this his posh British accent in morbid stories such as The Gift and Lady Godiva's Operation. Like the entire oeuvre of the group, White Light / White Heat was later appreciated as a precursor to avant-garde rock and punk. Reed, who died in October 2013, contributed to this exemplary re-release, the most important bonus being an extra CD on which the group can be heard live in 1967. Good quality material that adds a little extra to the unsurpassed White Light / White in terms of rawness and aggression Heat does. (MR)more
