The Velvet Underground Album: “Best of the Velvet Underground [Globa]”

This collection is heavily slanted to the career of Lou Reed. It contains only three songs from the magnificent first album: Sunday Morning, Waiting For The Man and Venus In Furs. Pale Blue Eyes, from the third album, still stands out as one of the most poignant ballads in the whole history of rock music.

Tracks like Satellite Of Love, Vicious and Perfect Day form a sensible bridge between the VU stuff and Reed's later work. This goes for Walk On The Wild Side too, that wonderfully evocative story song. There is a powerful live version of White Light White Heat and some catchy pop like Sally Can't Dance from the 1970s and the propulsive I Love You Suzanne from the 80s. The collection also includes the melancholy Berlin from the album of the same name.

Although I find this compilation quite enjoyable, I doubt whether VU fans will really consider it a proper Best Of. With so few of the seminal tracks of the Velvets and a rather perfunctory list of Reed's work, (only the Transformer album is well represented), this CD does not fully live up to its name. But if it's just about the music, you may appreciate this unusual selection. Just don't see it as fully representative of the work of either Reed or the Velvets.

Just to be clear, this is the best of "Velvet Underground" AND "Lou Reed", so you're getting some of both eras. Since it doesn't focus on one or the other, it's missing some from both. It's a long list, but mostly I miss "Heroin" and "All Tomorrow's Parties", and "Romeo and Juliet" and "Temporary Thing". Truthfully I would go for an all "VU" collection, then a "Lou Reed" one afterwards. Still though, this is all good stuff, but should be called "Some Of The Best".

The Velvet Underground was the best rock band ever, period. This CD has some of their best songs on it. There are some obvious glaring ommissions, like Pale Blue eyes, Here she comes now and Heroin to name a few. However, The velvets were great and this CD is a good one to buy if you aren't really familiar with them and want to get so. I highly suggest that the money you've been saving for that Tommy Jacket or that new issue of TigerBEAT go toward beefing up your music collection with this gem. Songs like Sunday Morning, Sweet Jane, Satelite of Love, White light white heat and many others will have your *Nsphynct-addled mind running in the red zone. Lou Reed, the original rapper is galaxies ahead of morons like Fred Durst and everyone else in this cRap metal trend that is happening right now. Hopefully, the teens will discover the Velvet Undeground and then this sh^t will be as dead as hair-metal or disco. Anywaze, please buy this album. Your music collection will thank you.