Previous choice was History by The Verve.
The link here is Verve Records, who threatened to sue the band over their usage of the name, forcing them to add the definite article.
The Velvet Underground were on Verve Records and, in 1985 the label released VU, a compilation of unreleased songs (or alternative versions).
I would have been 17 and had the studio albums and had read that book Uptight and various snippets and references in the music press. VU felt like a really big deal, it had beautiful photos of the band at the Factory with Warhol’s silver cloud balloons, looking so cool and completely different from all the other usual suspect 60s bands. And some of the music sounded amazing, so clean and spacious. I’d been buying a lot of 60s stuff, Forever Changes or whatever it would’ve been, but always cheap, flimsy reissues from Our Price, and the sound was always a bit off. VU just popped out of the speakers. I think Johnny Marr called it one of the most important records of the 80s.
I must have played this particular song and I Can’t Stand It thousands of times, I got both songs on a double-sided single a few years ago, which is perfect.
Most of the tracks on VU were part of a lost album that got released as a semi bootleg a while back, called 1969. You’ve got that, the third album just before it, then the 1969 Live album and then on to Loaded, in a sort of non-official chronological order of sorts. Probably sacrilege, but I much prefer them after Cale sloped off with his viola between his legs.
Sorry. Rambling, but this is glorious. I’ve been given the Sunday graveyard slot again, but do play it fucking loud. Sally Mae!
