Description
Though 1970 brough LOADED and (relative) commercial success for the Velvets, it also saw the beginning of their decline. Apparent commercial concessions and interpersonal tensions had already begun to tear the band apart at the seams. Their real peak came the year before, whenfinding themselves halfway between artiness and pop pursuitsthey dived headlong into amphetamine-fueled, minimalist-influenced proto-punk. The European influence had lessened with the departure of John Cale, allowing the VU to become a pure rock & roll band of unprecedented fervour. The second volume of this seminal live set delves a bit more into the often-forgotten gentle ballad side of the VUs work. On the elliptical, strangely romantic Pale Blue Eyes the stirring, almost-anthemic Ocean and the poignant Ill Be Your Mirror (the sweetest song Reed ever wrote), the band plays it low-key but unsentimental, with just enough tenderness to bring out the songs emotions. The near-psychotic swirl of Heroin and the unrelenting rock & roll sledgehammer of I Cant Stand It remind listeners of the bands brawn.
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