
The Velvet Underground may have failed to find commercial acceptance in the band’s prime but launched a colossal number of tributes and outright imitators just after their dissolution and for the rest of music history from then onward. Furthermore, The Velvet Underground’s releases are often ranked among the very best albums ever made.
But is it all hype? Is it all a strange, collective delusion? The best way to answer that is by looking at the oeuvre of The Velvets.
Today I’m dressing in black, smoking filterless cigarettes in a sleek coffee house, and naturally, ranking The Velvet Underground’s discography from the band’s worst album to their best.







The Velvet Underground Albums -The Best, the Worst and the In-Betweens

“Squeeze” (1973)
“Squeeze” is not just a strange end to The Velvet Underground story. It is one of the weirdest entries in the discography of any famous band. In spite of this, it’s not wholly charmless.
It is aimless, however. I’ve written at large about “Squeeze,” before, and my opinion hasn’t changed. This is a quaint record at times and never manages to convince you that it’s The Velvet Underground that you’re listening to.
It’s because you’re not. In a weird twist, Doug Yule had inherited The Velvet Underground. With some confused by the physical resemblance of Yule to Reed (including David Bowie) and Polydor Records willing to finance an album, Yule made one.
Yule is certainly talented. But his work here is largely to guess what Reed, Morrison, Cale, and Tucker may have done in his place.
To make things even stranger, he is assisted in his endeavour by Deep Purple‘s Ian Paice, one of hard-rock most hard-hitting drummers.
All of this aside, songs like “Caroline” and “Friends” are fine, and deserve reassessment.
“Squeeze” was not a hit and Yule buried the name. The Velvet Underground would briefly reunite in the 1990s, but the lineup would not include him this time around.

“VU” (1985)
With the reputation of The Velvet Underground growing over the years, numerous bootlegs of their work appeared. “VU” is the most important of these.
This is because “VU” contains what could’ve been The Velvet Underground’s fourth record, plus a few demos from the band’s earliest days. The project was aborted when the band was removed from its original recording contract.
Meant as demos or early attempts, the songs on “VU” sound relaxed, confident, and full of charm. It’s no wonder that Reed would revisit some of these songs for his solo material.
“Stephanie Says,” and “Andy’s Chest” are remarkable pop gems. Meanwhile, “Foggy Notion” is one of the best examples of the band’s own brand of hazy garage rock. It’s not an official release, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t include it.

“White Light/White Heat” (1968)
The Velvet Underground use their second release to push further into the areas that separated them the most from the pack. “White Light/White Heat” fully embraces avant-garage ideas and manic garage rock. It’s art-rock on uppers.
It features raw and confrontational tracks like the title track, “Sister Ray,” and “I Heard Her Call My Name.” And, in many ways, it foreshadows punk rock.

Noise is often integrated into the songs with casual abandon. The lyrics tell tales of drug intake, violence, and sexual perversion.
And, more than anything, The Velvets do it all by themselves. If their debut had been helmed by Andy Warhol and assisted by Lou Reed, “White Light/White Heat” captures the way that the band would’ve sounded like playing in a small club.
And make no mistake about it; the quartet is a marvellous rock combo. Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterlin Morrison, and Maureen Tucker may have a minimalist, unorthodox style. But they sure make a glorious noise.
Once again, the album barely charted on the Billboard 200. John Cale was soon dismissed from the band.
But artists like David Bowie or Bryan Ferry developed obsessions with the records that would soon be chaneled into their own work. And can’t you hear this sound all across modern indie-rock?

“The Velvet Underground ” (1969)
“The Velvet Underground,” or the “Grey Album,” marks another radical shift for the band. This time around, Lou Reed has tender, melancholy-filled themes on his mind.
This makes much of the album sound light, sparse, and dominated by an introspective tone. This is the Lou Reed of “Sunday Morning,” not of “Sister Ray.”
But by reducing the volume, Reed’s astonishing songwriting is put into sharp focus. Songs like “Candy Says,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” and “Beginning to See the Light” showcase a warm, almost sweet side of the usually confrontational songwriter.
The album received mixed reviews initially. It shocked many of the few fans that the band had. Like its predecessors, it was all but ignored by the musical mainstream.
Still, in retrospect, “The Velvet Underground” is another example of this band’s tremendous versatility and ability to marry weighty topics to beautiful pop songs.

“Loaded” (1970)
It was all bound to end in a gloriously messy way for The Velvet Underground. “Loaded” contained some of their best and most straightforward compositions. But it would be the last album made by the (almost) classic line-up.
In retrospect, it’s easy to understand how a crisis was imminent.
The Velvet Underground had spent the past years earning critical praise. They hadn’t earned a hit, however. Their profitable association with Andy Warhol’s Factory had ended. And few prospects were on the horizon.
This forced the band out on the road more than they wanted. Soon, Doug Yule had taken up John Cale’s part, and the band attempted to record a fourth album, scrapped it, and ended up recording “Loaded.”
But all the turmoil can’t really be heard on “Loaded.” No, this is the work of Lou “Professional Songwriter” Reed.
The Velvets’ main man had early on hoped to develop a career as a songwriter-for-hire. He comes closest to his mission here. Just about every song on “Loaded” is catchy, easy on the ears, and some even contain a bit of boogie.
“Sweet Jane,” is one of the best pop songs ever written. Together with “Rock & Roll,” “Oh! Sweet Nuthin'” and “Who Loves the Sun,” these songs should’ve been colossal hits.
In fact, Reed felt the same way. Before departing the group, he opted for the title “Loaded” for the album on account of the fact that it was loaded with potential hits.

“The Velvet Underground & Nico” (1967)
Overplayed but not overrated, “The Velvet Underground & Nico” is one of the great achievements of 1960s rock music. On it, the New York band brings poetic lyricism to streetwise slang and gritty songwriting.
The involvement of Andy Warhol helped the album’s notoriety. The modern artist appears in the credits as the record’s producer. While this is not exactly true, Warhol did contribute to the band’s vision and bankroll. Furthermore, he provided the record with its iconic album sleeve. Also, he added the group to his Plastic Exploding Inevitable.
There are many iconic songs here. “Heroin” and “Waiting for the Man” introduced a new kind of lingo into rock n’ roll songwriting, the kind previously reserved only for the kind of novels written by Hubert Selby.
Indeed, the band’s chief songwriter, Lou Reed, claimed to be powered by the desire to write “the great American novel” in rock music form.
“Venus in Furs,” a song inspired by the S&M-friendly writings of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, was also pioneering work.

Meanwhile, “Sunday Morning” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror” are gorgeous pop-rock gems imbued with the hopefulness of 1960s psychedelia.
The album is also notable for Nico’s contribution. Andy Warhol encouraged the German model and actress to join the band. Her deep voice, Teutonic accent, and artistic spirit deeply influence songs like “Femme Fatale” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”
As Brian Eno famously remarked, few people actually saw The Velvet Underground, but those that did usually began their musical project. That musical project, usually, involved mercilessly ripping off Lou Reed songs.
“The Velvet Underground & Nico” lives up to the hype because of the quality of the songs, as well as the ambitious themes it tackles and its quirkiness.