[batreleaser]

random thread. but theyre my favorite band (sometimes, sometimes the fall, sometimes scg, etc..) so whatever. here are my favorite in order.

1. angus maclise-hell forever be the coolest member. one of the most amazingly innovative percussionists of all time. a member of la monte young's theater of eternal music, who's album 'day of niagra' is still the best minimalist drone ive ever heard (it better be, young, maclise, john cale, terry fuckin riley). he there met john cale, who wanted the velvet underground to go in that noisy direction. he then played hand drums and bongos for VU in 65, but quit before thier first paying gig. he claimed they had "sold out". he was a total outsider artist, were talking one of the most uncompromising bands ever, he thought getting paid was a form of "selling out", haha. 'the invasion of the thunderbold pagoda' is the best VU member solo album BY FAR. anyways, hes just a very cool guy, totally mysterious, and totally legendary. oh, and he cointed the term 'blastitude' for those who dont know. Larry Fuzz O'Dolman was inspired by Angus Maclise to create the blastitude site, and walla, the best underground rock/jazz publication in the world.

2. Lou Reed/John Cale-they have to go together for me. they are both equally integral to the group. lou reed was a rock n roll poetic type, and he brought just that; rock and roll guitars and arrangements and poetic lyrics. cale was the classically trained instrumental musician, and he pretty much was the reason that the velvet underground is considered an 'experimental' band. can you imagine 'heroin' without the screeching scum noise viola solo? the velvet underground was lou and john's baby, they were the composers, everyone else kinda followed suit. i know what youre thinking; 's/t' and 'loaded'. i love those records, but i consider them lou's first solo efforts, not velvet underground. oh as for outside the velvets, its hard to say who has had more impact. john cale is vastly superior to lou in the area of producing (patti smith, the stooges, nico, modern lovers). lou has had a better solo career (berlin, transformer, rock n roll animal), but cale has the best solo album out of the two, 'paris 1919'. but lou has the most shocking album possibly ever in 'metal machine music' (there has never been a rock/pop star to make an album remotely as wierd as this, and its probably the most avant record to have ever come out on a major, besides some of coltrane's later stuff)

3. moe tucker-for the shoes she had to fill (maclise) and for how well she fit those shoes. she really is amazinly talented to, her percussion floats all over the first two records, and especially in 'sister ray', you can still hear a rhythm driving the chaos. she also remained cool past the 70s, to which no other members did. she did that paris 1942 thing with alan bishop, and did stuff with jad fair, daniel johnston, and yo la tengo.

4. sterling morrison-hell always be in the shadow of lou and lou's guitar, but he was just as integral.

5. doug yule-rules


i just wanted to talk about the velvets for some reason, proceed.