TS: The Velvet Underground's Quiet Side VS The Velvet Underground's Noisy Side

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Both sides are good, but when it comes down to it, I think I prefer the quieter Candy Says side o' things. I mean, stuff like Sister Ray is good now and again, but it's such a bloody commitment, isn't it?

Yes, I might as well be a girl.

― may pang (maypang), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Quiet side (poppy side?), definitely. Best when the two overlapped ("Heroin," "What Goes On").

I was thinking about this in the car today, listening to Transformer - I like the VU (and Reed) best when they were being 'edgy' or whatever, but within the confines of a familiar genre (pop music). It's the same reason I like 'genre films' when they're done well, pushing boundaries, more than I like art films, I think.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

NOIZ.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Noisy all the way. It's a Cale/Reed, Apollo/Diyonysius thang.

― anode (anode), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:34 (twenty-two years ago)

erm. different purposes! when i'm in the mood, sister ray is worth ten bajillion listens to pale blue eyes, but most of the time i'll put on pale blue eyes insted.

unnerstand?

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Quiet side it is then!

― may pang (maypang), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I really can't choose. I like and dislike examples of both, without apparent rhyme or reason.

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I could suddenly buy their stuff on CD at any time, like having a heart attack.

― Rockist Scientist (rockistscientist), Sunday, 8 February 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Bring Tha Noise

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 8 February 2004 03:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The noisy stuff is generally better, but 1969 Live is maybe their pinnacle.

― Maxwell von Bismarck (maxwell von bismarck), Sunday, 8 February 2004 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, What Goes On is their best (and most representative). Sorta like their Just Like Honey.

― samuel bloch, Sunday, 8 February 2004 06:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Since my fave album is White Light, I'm gonna go with noise, but even that has "Here She Comes Now"...I'm glad I don't have to pick in real life.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 8 February 2004 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Compromise/dynamics are better. Milo and Samuel OTM about Pale Blue Eyes. The same can be said about Beginning to See The Light.

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Sunday, 8 February 2004 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Quiet. But keeping in mind that it's sort of a nervous, edgy quiet. I sorta see WL/WH as the soundtrack to a totally out of control party, and VU as the next day's hangover. Why I prefer the hangover, I don't know. But I do.

― Salmon Pink (Salmon Pink), Sunday, 8 February 2004 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

s/t is way too optimistic to be hungover!

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 8 February 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I find that part of the attraction is feeling like the quiet stuff ('Jesus' especially) is open-wound brutal, while the noisier stuff is sweet and gentle and full of pop.

To me, Lonesome Cowboy Bill sounds like the most debauched, bachannalian. Warholian, drug-fuelled extravaganza of white noise.

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Sunday, 8 February 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

most of the quieter stuff is less rough around the edges but i reckon 80% of the time is a much better demonstration of their songwriting genius. then again i'm a fan of the warhol era.

― Flotsam of the Fishfolk (Flotsam of the Fishfolk), Sunday, 8 February 2004 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

'white light' my fave of theirs. But again its not because of the noisz, its more about the disciplined minimalism, being in love with the electrical sound and making you love it too. makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 8 February 2004 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

POV: Quiet VU songs vs. POV: Loud VU songs

pale blue eyes
sweet jane
i'm set free
after hours
sunday morning

VERSUS

sister ray
black angel's death song
i heard her call my name
european son
here she comes now

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Using Ian's selections, I'd say quiet every time.

― bert (bert), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

couldn't really decide either
my favourite song at the moment is i'm set free,but i still love the noisier stuff as well...
heroin is definitely the best of both worlds...

― robin (robin), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

'here she comes now' is kind of a cop-out, it's true. i think my standards for noisy are a bit different from the general populace's, because I don't find most of the VU's loud stuff to be terribly cacophonous.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The Noisy Side! For me, the quiet side only served to present a deliciously incongruous dichotomy in their arsenal (how can they be so alternately jarring and delicate in only the span of two songs?) That said, I find their quieter stuff pretty dull. Fine, but ulimately dull.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

think my standards for noisy are a bit different from the general populace's, because I don't find most of the VU's loud stuff to be terribly cacophonous.

I don't think many people would disagree with you, but some of it was pretty "noisy" for its time, wasn't it?

― may pang (maypang), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

what about the jangly side? i like that side. the foggy notion side. i guess that would be the what goes on side too.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 8 February 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah the guitar solo on "Foggy Notion" pushes it into the noisy side.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 8 February 2004 20:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreed, Anthony.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 8 February 2004 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)

eighteen years pass...

A friend of mine who subscribes to some archival newspaper site posted this on Facebook: a review of White Light/White Heat written by someone who was not a fan.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/dovalina.jpg

― clemenza, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:27 (three years ago)

Mister Dovalina, Mister Ferne Dovalina #onethread

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:35 (three years ago)

Ha, googling his byline also shows a headline “Davy Jones Puts Ballad in Locker.”

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:37 (three years ago)

This was the one guy who didn't form his own group after hearing the VU.

The only other internet hit for "Ferne Dovalina" is his positive review of the previous year's debut album by Janis Ian.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:40 (three years ago)

Wonder what "underground" groups were more to his taste? The Fugs?

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:42 (three years ago)

The Association. (Who I do like.)

― clemenza, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:44 (three years ago)

...one of whom died of a heroin overdose, showing up the VU as posers.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:51 (three years ago)

I'll give him credit for making me look this up--never heard it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tv_gURvU_Q

― clemenza, Thursday, 28 April 2022 00:53 (three years ago)

Oh yeah, never heard that either.

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 01:35 (three years ago)

Is "Satellite of Love" quiet side or noisy side?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 28 April 2022 01:37 (three years ago)

I’m thinking Ferne was the hippest white guy in Fort Worth.

― DAMAGED by Black Flat (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 28 April 2022 01:42 (three years ago)

Dovalina: "The Jefferson Airplane should have stayed in the hanger!"

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 28 April 2022 03:30 (three years ago)

Jimi Hendrix best left unexperienced

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 28 April 2022 03:33 (three years ago)

You *bet* I was excited to see The Doors -- the Exit doors, that is!

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 28 April 2022 04:50 (three years ago)

Sorry, main herren, but your Kraft doesn't werk

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 28 April 2022 04:51 (three years ago)

These 13th Floor Elevators are going down...to the basement!

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 28 April 2022 05:27 (three years ago)

The most irritating part of that review is how he spitefully spoils the ending of “The Gift.”

― Hops: Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe (morrisp), Thursday, 28 April 2022 05:45 (three years ago)

He's kind of right about The Gift though - the music is good but the story itself is pretty silly!

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 28 April 2022 05:59 (three years ago)

So much for Mr. Zappa, as for his "Mothers", they need to get back to the kitchen, there's a husband and kids who need feeding.

― Was Hitler a Hobbit? (Tom D.), Thursday, 28 April 2022 07:04 (three years ago)

Clearly doesn't feel it in the hips. Some killer grooves therein.
I'm still not sure what immediate impact the band had on contemporaries beyond the Yardbirds and David Bowie covering tunes by them in the late 60s. & Cold Sun citing them as an influence. Or Cale producing once he left the band. Or covers of pre VU songs appearing with Downliner Sect and a couple of others.
Or Can probably picking up some influence since Irmin Schmidt caught them on an NY trip prior to the band. But as to US contemporary bands not sure.
I should be more aware since resultant sound would be something I would be seriously into.

― Stevolende, Thursday, 28 April 2022 07:28 (three years ago)

... being namechecked on a Mothers of Invention album.

― Was Hitler a Hobbit? (Tom D.), Thursday, 28 April 2022 09:09 (three years ago)

honestly this is something i think about every once in a while - whether i would actually have been hip enough to dig VU back in the day. when i first heard the velvets as a kid in the early 90s i loved it, but i was also aware of a framework & context for music that sounded like that, and i'd been exposed to post-velvets music that likely prepared me for the real thing to some extent. everyone likes to imagine that if they had been around in 68 they would have been down at the front of the stage doing the ostrich with robert quine & jonathan richman, but i wonder. i like to imagine that i'm at least semi-hip, but theres still contemporary stuff that i write off in similar terms as ol' Ferne. stuff like this always makes me wonder if theres a band that 2075 hipsters will be dunking on me for not getting in 2022.

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 28 April 2022 12:43 (three years ago)

A friend of mine who subscribes to some archival newspaper site posted this on Facebook: a review of _White Light/White Heat_ written by someone who was not a fan.

Sometimes get hits into that site such as FD’s Davy Jones review. Does your friend think it’s worth it?

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 12:54 (three years ago)

Perhaps there are a lot more Ferne Dovalina insights hidden behind a Plus subscription.

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 April 2022 13:12 (three years ago)

Ferne Dovalina: "The song should not have remained the same."

― we only steal from the greatest books (PBKR), Thursday, 28 April 2022 13:16 (three years ago)

Thread of missing Ferne Dovalina.

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 13:19 (three years ago)

China clipper calling Alameda.

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 14:29 (three years ago)

Does your friend think it’s worth it?

I think so--about $60 for six months.

― clemenza, Friday, 29 April 2022 14:31 (three years ago)

I see people on genealogy sites like to use that.

― Eric B. Mash Up the Resident (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 April 2022 14:34 (three years ago)

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