The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film By Todd Haynes (Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Various Artists

Released on 10/15/21 by Polydor
Main artist: Various Artists
Genre: Film Soundtracks

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Arguably the most important and influential American rock band of the second half of the 1960s, the Velvet Underground were not much like any other group of their time, and neither was the story of how they came together. Their genesis had more to do with beat poetry, outlaw literature, experimental composition, avant garde art, and the rise of multimedia installations than the usual formula of folks getting together to drink beer and play "Louie Louie" (not to say the latter isn't a noble pursuit). Filmmaker Todd Haynes has done a superb job of charting the course of how they came together and what informed their work in his 2021 documentary The Velvet Underground. The film is not only a fine biography of the band, it's a great crash course in the intersections of various creative media that were a vital part of the New York art community in the early to mid-1960s. The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film by Todd Haynes is the soundtrack album to the movie, and it reflects the trajectory of the film rather than offering a compact history of their recorded catalog. As in Haynes' documentary, not all the music is by the VU. "17 XII 63 NYC The Fire Is A Mirror" is a piece by LaMonte Young's experimental ensemble the Theatre of Eternal Music, where John Cale learned some of the drone techniques and chaotic viola patterns he would later bring to the Velvets. "The Wind" by Nolan Strong and the Diablos is a haunting bit of doo wop that beguiled Lou Reed as a teenager, and Bo Diddley's "Road Runner" (featured here in an especially gritty live take) is a tribute to the inspired primitive who influenced everyone in the band. And "The Ostrich" by the Primitives was one of the great hack pop tunes Lou Reed cranked out as a staff songwriter at Pickwick Records that offered glimmers of what he would create in the future. Among the Velvet Underground tracks on the album, "Heroin" is presented in its monophonic mix, "Sister Ray" and "After Hours" are rare live takes that document them in front of an audience, and "Chelsea Girls" was penned by Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison for Nico's first solo album, their only co-writing credit. The album is an excellent companion to an excellent film, but it's probably best appreciated by folks who've seen Haynes' movie; taken on its own, it's all great music, but the through-line of this music and the occasional curiosity of the sequencing reflects Haynes' choices as a filmmaker, not those of someone assembling an archival album. It's worth hearing and having, but if you want to introduce yourself to the Velvet Underground, the 1989 collection The Best of the Velvet Underground: Words and Music by Lou Reed is a much better starting point … or simply listen to their four original studio albums, all of which are in print and readily available.
© Mark Deming /TiVo

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The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film By Todd Haynes (Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Various Artists

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The Velvet Underground