5/7/2023 0 Comments The velvet underground banana![]() ![]() In the world of contemporary music, the only session that comes reasonably close to the level of the chutzpah and artistic courage of the Velvets’ first album would be John Coltrane’s Ascension (recorded barely a year prior to Velvet Underground and Nico, and quite possibly exerting a strong influence on both Reed and Cale compare, for example, the maddening cacophonics of the Velvets’ European son with the gushing, unrestrained eruptions of Coltrane’s pure, protean expression, to see what we mean).Īnd it is easy to see why there are not too many precedents. The only comparable thing that comes to mind would be Picasso’s Girls of Avignon, or Stravinsky’s Rites of Spring (both from 1913). If, in fact, there is another work of art comparable to this album (and this is a BIG “if”), it surely would not be a Rock album - for there are NO known cultural antecedents and predecessors in the world of popular music, and no points of reference either. A cultural paradigm not unlike that of the Birth of Jazz, or the dawn of the abstract art (Andy Warhol’s subversive, eye-popping, brain-teasing banana artwork clearly playing a major role in this). From its modest, humble beginnings (except for three tracks, the sessions took place after Columbia already declined to sign up the band, in a decrepit Wand/Scepter studio that was literally being demolished as the band was recording in it), the album snowballed – despite all possible legal, commercial and marketing complications and distractions – into a massive force of its own an artistic equivalent of avalanche or tsunami. The album has had a life like no other in the history of popular music. Their age shows, and it shows in ways that are not always complementary or graceful. ![]() But they carry no immediate or permanent importance, personal resonance and contemporary message. Make no mistake: all these rock classics are our personal favorites. In other words, they may be historically and critically important, but they are for all practical purposes DEAD – they are museum exhibits, of their time and place, but not of this moment of this time and place beautiful pieces carved into cold, hard marble, but aged, cold and definitely not breathing. All these fine rock classics sold millions, made a huge splash, big noise, exploded for a few weeks or months, topped the charts, illuminated the minds of their contemporaries’ and rivals’ alike, influenced some artists (and alienated the others) and then retired into a comfortable niche of the “rock classic” status bestowed upon them over the next few years and decades. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band The Rolling Stones’ Beggar’s Banquet Jimi Hendrix’ “Are you experienced” or Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde”? Why do we believe that this modest first album – recorded by a heretofore unknown band, under medieval and chaotic conditions, to no corporate fanfare, with very little promotion or marketing and almost zero sales, managed to surpass in its musical brilliance and artistic and stylistic importance even such cornerstones of Rock music as The Beatles’ Sgt. THE ORIGINAL MONO PRESSINGS WITH “UNCENSORED” (TORSO) COVERS APPEAR ON EBAY ONLY EVERY OTHER YEAR OR SO… We claim without any reservations or exaggerations, in full responsibility, sound mind and good conscience that THIS is the single most important album in Rock history and the single most influential Rock session of the 20th Century – far exceeding in musical and historical importance EVEN the most important albums by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin or The Doors. This is NOT a " recycled " image from our previous auction. (Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. ( ► PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW) ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER, MADE OF THICK CARDBOARD (AMERICAN STYLE).PRESSING THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S.THIS IS NOT A STEREO-TO-MONO MIXDOWN, WHICH MEANS THAT THE MONO MIXES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT AND SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR THE MONO PRESSING. ORIGINAL BLUE VERVE LABEL WITH LARGE T-SHAPED LOGO AND SILVER PRINT. ![]()
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