Today in Music (1969): Velvet Underground released self-titled third album

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground

Released: March 31, 1969 Peak: 197 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Genre: experimental rock/proto punk

Tracks: Candy Says [4:04] What Goes On [4:55] Some Kinda Love [4:03] Pale Blue Eyes [5:41] Jesus [3:24] Beginning to See the Light [4:41] I’m Set Free [4:04] That’s the Story of My Life [2:04] The Murder Mystery [8:56] After Hours [2:07] Total Running Time: 42:56 Also from This Era: Stephanie Says [2:49] Temptation Inside Your Heart [2:30] Hey Mr. Rain (version I) [4:56] Hey Mr. Rain (version II) [5:16] The Players: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar) Doug Yule (vocals, bass, keyboards) Sterling Morrison (guitar) Maureen Tucker (drums)

Rating: 4.392 out of 5.00 (average of 24 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

The Original Sound of the Velvet Underground “Obviously, the importance of the Velvet Underground in the development of punk and alternative important is impossible to ignore. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, is one of the 3 or 4 most influential albums in rock history -- more bands cite it as an influence than almost anything since. Bands from R.E.M. to Sonic Youth (not to mention more direct descendants like Yo La Tengo and the Feelies) are impossible to imagine without the Velvet Underground’s precedents. Led by Lou Reed, the VU were genuine groundbreakers; at a time when most bands were moving to San Francisco, getting stoned, and singing about flowers and peace, the VU were singing about heroin, sadomasochism, and society’s outcasts. And instead of feel-good jangle-pop, they churned out noisy, distorted blasts of sonic tapestry. These songs were set alongside some heart-wrenchingly beautiful ballads and quiet folky pop-jangle. It’s all there on the first album, and if you don’t own that one, you’re missing out on an essential piece of rock history.” PK Lou Reed Assumes Control As influential as the Velvets’ first album is, it is stunning to watch how the band changed in just a few short years. Lou Reed started out “writing knock-off doo-wop tracks for Pickwick Records – and despite experimental detours and transgressive, literate lyrics scattered across his body of work spanning decades, he never really strayed too far from his roots as a pure pop songwriter.” PM The Velvet Underground’s first two albums tested “the limits of how musically and thematically challenging rock could be.” AM However, benefactor Andy Warhol left after their first album and member John Cale departed after the second. This left Reed “with the lion’s share of control over The Velvet Underground.” PM “Without the sonic terrorism of The Velvet Underground & Nico and White Light/White Heat” AZ “Reed stripped his songs down, moving from heavy metal to near acoustic settings.” RV “Velvet Underground proves less is more, and Reed gave listeners gorgeous songs he didn’t seem capable of writing.” RV “Gone was the noise, leaving nothing but Lou’s ‘sensitive’ side. The lyrics are both gritty and poignant.” PK “The album’s songs are free to stand on their own merit,” AZ leaving a sound that’s almost beautiful.” RV “Lou Reed’s lyrical exploration of the demimonde is as keen here as on any album he ever made, while displaying a warmth and compassion he sometimes denied his characters.” AM He wrote “some of his most meditative, emotional songs to date, spanning everything from bittersweet semi-love songs (‘Pale Blue Eyes,’ ‘Some Kinda Love’), ebullient guitar workouts (‘What Goes On’) and empathetic portraits of those he met in Warhol’s factory (‘Candy Says’).” PM A Surprising New Sound This meant the third album “must have surprised their fans nearly as much as their first two albums shocked the few mainstream music fans who heard them.” AM It “sounds like nothing else the band has done before.” RV This album is a more personal effort, an almost gentle song cycle comparable to Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.” RV “It’s as personal, honest, and moving as anything Lou Reed ever committed to tape.” AM It is “spare, quiet, and contemplative, as if the previous albums documented some manic speed-fueled party and this was the subdued morning after.” AM “ This “is an album you can play for people who might otherwise be afraid of the Velvets.” PK Drummer Maureen Tucker said, “I was pleased with the direction we were going and with the new calmness in the group, and thinking about a good future, hoping people would smarten up and some record company would take us on and do us justice.” WK “The 1967 debut might have been the album to launch a thousand bands, but this might be the Velvet Underground album whose influence on music is most clearly still felt.” PM It “may well be the finest record of the band’s career.” AZ Doug Yule and Stolen Amps As already mentioned, a big part of the band’s new sound was “the departure of the band’s most committed avant-gardist, John Cale.” AM However, it also had to do with “the arrival of new bassist Doug Yule.” AM The album was “created in a comparatively relaxed atmosphere.” RD “There were fewer extremes in the lyrics or the band’s sound.” RD Part of the new sound was also due to the band’s usual equipment being stolen at the airport on the way to the studios in L.A. where the album was recorded. RD Guitarist Sterling Morrison said, “We did the third album deliberately as anti-production. It sounds like it was done in a closet – it’s flat, and that's the way we wanted it. The songs are all very quiet and it’s kind of insane. I like the album.” WK The Songs Here are thoughts on the album’s individual songs.

Stephanie Says The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: February 13, 1968 at A&R Studios in New York Released: VU (archives, 1985), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 33.44 streaming

Temptation Inside Your Heart The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: February 14, 1968 at A&R Studios in New York Released: VU (archives, 1985), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.78 streaming

Hey Mr. Rain (version I) The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker Recorded: May 29, 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: Another View (archives, 1986), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.70 streaming

Hey Mr. Rain (version II) The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker Recorded: May 29, 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: Another View (archives, 1986) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.24 streaming

Candy Says The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 44 CL, 38 CO, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 33.08 streaming About the Song: On Candy Says Lou Reed paints “empathetic portraits of those he met in Warhol’s factory.” PM The song was named for Candy Darling, a transvestite. RD Doug Yule takes on the vocal duties. That song, along with “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Jesus” “are some of the most delicately gorgeous songs Lou Reed has ever penned.” AZ

What Goes On The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: single (March 1969), The Velvet Underground (1969), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989), live and album versions: Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection (compilation: 2000), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 45 CL, 38 CO, 12 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.76 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: This song and “Beginning to See the Light” “may be the finest flat-out rockers in the band’s catalog.” AZ Both are some of the band’s “finest near-mainstream pop music.” PK

Some Kinda Love The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), live and album versions: Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 35 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.66 streaming About the Song: “The slow, sexy Some Kinda Love” RD is “the album’s understated peak” RD with “Reed and guitarist Sterling Morrison trading infectious licks.” RD

Pale Blue Eyes The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection (compilation: 2000), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 30 CL, 11 CO, 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 186.92 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Pale Blue Eyes is an “exquisite confessional.” RD “Lou Reed keeps his irony intact, pairing together” RV on that and “Jesus, two songs asking for different kinds of love.” RV Those songs, along with “Candy Says,” “are some of the most delicately gorgeous songs Lou Reed has ever penned.” AZ Author Toby Creswell echoes that sentiment, asserting that “Pale Blue Eyes” is “amongst the most sublime love ballads in all of popular music.” TC Sterling Morrison explained that it was a song about Lou’s old girlfriend in Syracuse. He said to Lou, “If I wrote a song like that I wouldn’t make you play it.” TC He did say, though, that he liked the anti-production of the album. “It sounds like it was done in a closet – it’s flat, and that’s the way we wanted it. The songs are all very quiet and it’s kind of insane. I like the album.” TC

Jesus The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: B side of “What Goes On” (March 1969), The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 34 CO, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.49 streaming About the Song: “Lou Reed keeps his irony intact, pairing together Pale Blue Eyes and Jesus, two songs asking for different kinds of love.” RV Those songs, along with “Candy Says,” “are some of the most delicately gorgeous songs Lou Reed has ever penned.” AZ

Beginning to See the Light The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), The Best of: Words and Music of Lou Reed (compilation: 1989), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995), 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection (compilation: 2000), The Very Best of (compilation: 2003), Gold (compilation: 2005) Peak: 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.75 streaming About the Song: The band “rocks with the adrenaline rush of Beginning to See the Light.” RV That song and “What Goes On” “may be the finest flat-out rockers in the band’s catalog.” AZ Both are some of the band’s “finest near-mainstream pop music.” PK

I’m Set Free The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 6.10 streaming About the Song: “The redemptive I’m Set Free” RD “may be more muted in approach than what the band had done in the past.” AM

That’s the Story of My Life The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 24 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.79 streaming

The Murder Mystery The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 36 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.42 streaming About the Song: “The Murder Mystery, which mixes and matches four separate poetic narratives, is as brave and uncompromising as anything on White Light/White Heat.” AM It is “an experimental narrative-type piece which doesn't entirely work.” PK

After Hours The Velvet Underground

Writer(s): Lou Reed Recorded: November/December 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood Released: The Velvet Underground (1969), Peel Slowly and See (box set: 1995) Peak: 44 CL, 38 CO, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 64.54 streaming About the Song: After Hours offers the album an “unforgettable final scene” RD “featuring the childlike voice of drummer Maureen Tucker.” RD

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon.com review by Dan Epstein TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 13. RD Robert Dimery (2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited: New York, NY. Page 172. PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” PK Pop Kulcher/Marc Fagel Greatest Rock & Roll Albums of All Time RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/26/2010; last updated 9/1/2026.