The Velvet Underground – Loaded

Can anyone tell me which year it refers to and whether the country of origin is ? Barcode 6 43346 00221 7. Thank you

Wow, just listened to this again today, what an amazing record. I picking this out of the $1 bin at Waterloo in Austin about 15 years ago. What a find!!!

Am after an LP reissue with the short version of ‘Seeet Jane’ if someone can give me advice. Thanks.

Why is this record/release so dang expensive? I don’t get it.

I have one that is gold with the R!=9034 Can you tell me where I c

Does anyone know if there is a version, outside of the box set, that has the version of Sweet Jane that is not truncated, and has a run time of 4:06 ?

So…. Exactly which songs did Mo Tucker play on?
Can anyone detail her contribution to this album?

This is one of those records that made me lose faith in the record collector scene; i collect records since the 80s and this one has always been a 10$ platter, best case scenario. Not to mention the appreciation it appears to have these days. It wasn't even considered a Velvet album; it is so llame by anyone's standards.

This album and original US pressing kicks ass !
Such a warm, vanilla rock'n'roll sound, pleasure to listen during the sunny day !
Many hidden gem songs ! Love it !

The Velvet Underground were in uncharted waters with this album and in that respect I believe they wanted to be charted and attempted to create a more mainstream record, one which wouldn’t alienate most of the listening public and give them hope for existence. Ahhh, there’s that word ‘existence.’ The Velvet Underground were beyond the verge of breaking apart due to drugs, artistic merit, influences, musical direction, a pregnancy and general lack of interest in each other and the cohesive nature of the group.

Their first two albums had brought them cult status and the cult following to go with it, but it seems that they couldn’t escape the infamous ties to Andy Warhol and his penchant for mass appeal...but Andy’s world pulled people in, and the Velvet’s, their world was closed to all but a few who were able to ride the rails of the ion that was the Velvet Underground. Here the Velvet Underground tried to follow in Andy’s foot prints and strive for a larger audience. This in and of itself is not a bad idea, because success on one level would cause the new fans to make the trip backwards into their earlier works, yet in the same breath they risked losing their tried and true fans Either way there was a stumbling block in front of them. But rather then succeed on one level and fail on another, the band put out an album that brought them to the foreground, where they hit an unexpected stumbling block, and the band dissolved into the steamy neon night of New York City.

I have chosen to give this album a rating of 5 based entirely on the strength of a couple of songs, and these songs will go down as the living legends of pop song culture. Pop songs are pure art. Finding their structure, their beat, their insidious nature to intertwine the listener with the music is no easy task, yet the Velvets did just that with ‘Sweet Jane, Rock & Roll, Train Round The Bend, and Oh! Sweet Nuthin.’ Any of these songs could have been on any other of their releases, but they weren’t, they're here, and must be considered in that context.

‘Sweet Jane,’ is a superbly brilliant and guitar driven. Lou’s voice spits out the words as if they were nothing more then the flick of a wrist. At the time, the song was like nothing any of us had ever heard, you can actually feel and hear Lou’s quiet, smiling laugh, knowing that this song is just perfect.

‘Rock & Roll’ is almost five minutes of hard driving fast talking jive, with a guitar solo that echoes in my head to this day. They weren’t interested in the harmonies being smooth, it was all about the toughness of the dance.

‘Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ has to go down as the greatest rock song of all time. It builds slowly in tenor, tempo, and lyrics, building and building...come on let’s face it, this song is about sex, the act of making love, slow caresses, moans, sighs, longings, aching, nothing but two people together for the moment, in the moment, moving slowly, savoring the intensity, the feeling, pumping to its smooth understated guitar driven climax, intermixed with vibrating reverberating drums. It’s in your head, it’s in your soul, it’s in your outstretched fingers longing for more. It finishes so quietly that you’re left wondering if it ever happened at all.

Many people would like to write this album off, but it’s not going away, try as you might, these songs have worked their way into your soul and can not be avoided any more then ‘the train coming round the bend.’

Ike Reilly once told me that in his song 'The Boat Song [We're Gettin' Loaded], he was paying, or should I say playing homage to the album 'Loaded.'

*** The Fun Facts: Original copies of the album have no silence in between the first two songs, "Who Loves the Sun" and "Sweet Jane", with the first note of the latter being heard at the precise moment the former completely fades. Some later pressings break the segue with the insertion of a few seconds of silence. All CDs of Loaded retain the original segue without the silence.

The artwork for the album features a drawing of the Times Square subway station entrance, with "downtown" misspelled as "dowtown".

Review by Jenell Kesler