The Velvet Underground - "Some Kind of Love"

Sorry, haven't got time to give you my thoughts on this song. Other than the fact it is another great song from one of the greatest and most influential bands ever. Catch ya later.

The Velvet Underground - "Femme Fatale"

"Femme Fatale" is from the 1967 album 'The Velvet Underground & Nico.' The album is one of the greatest and most influential of all time. Even the Andy Warhol banana cover is legendary. The early LP release had a peel off banana on the cover, with a peeled banana underneath.... I don't know how many of them made it to New Zealand, but I sure would love to, at least, see one... the chances of buying one may be limited. Anyway, back to "Femme Fatale," which was sung by Nico and was written by Lou Reed about Edie Sedgwick after Andy Warhol had asked him to write a song about her. Apparently Andy had stated something like "Don't you think she is a femme fatale" to Lou Reed during the conversation that took place after the request was made.... and the rest is history. Edie Sedgwick was the ultimate 'it-girl' and she makes all the others that followed, look like pretenders.

Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man

I could have chosen any of the songs from the debut album from The Velvet Underground for this blog. But "I'm Waiting For The Man" is a good representation of their sound and has to be one of their greatest songs anyway. The album 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' was released in 1967 and features plenty of other classics like "Sunday Morning" and "Venus in Furs" along with the Nico sung "Femme Fatale" and I haven't even mentioned the classic drug song "Heroin"..... In fact, drugs were the subject matter for a lot of their songs, including "I'm Waiting For The Man" which is about waiting to buy some heroin from a drug dealer...... he goes on to say "$26 dollars in my hand" and even the street corner. I love the New York sound from that era and it's well known that The Velvet Underground influenced a lot of bands and still do. The Dunedin sound of the Flying Nun bands in the 80's had a real Velvet Underground influence... in my opinion. Particularly The Clean or anything from David Kilgour thereafter. I'm sure I'm preaching to converted anyway, with a song such as this, so I've included a live video from 1972 as well... which is a slightly different version.