The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat. 1968 Verve V6-5046
$
34
$ 34
Sold For
Dec 14, 2017
Sold Date
Dec 7, 2017
Start Date
$ 30
Start price
2
Number Of Bids
USA
Country Of Seller
eBay
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Description
Vintage VELVET UNDERGROUND - White Light/White Heat on Verve Records, V6/5046 Discogs lists 126 different releases of this record at different places and different times over the decades. This is a rare, true, vintage copy of the very first release, ever.
Original US stereo pressing (East Coast)
- Visible skull tattoo on front cover
- Tracklisting on back mis-titles "Here She Comes Now" as "There She Comes Now"
- Back cover credits Lou Reed for "Lead Guitar" rather than just "Guitar"
- Andy Warhol is credited on back cover
- spine reads "V6-5046 WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT THE VELVET UNDERGROUND VERVE"
- "Three Prong Music" publishing credit on all tracks - blue label - deadwax has V6-5046 SIDE 1 MGS-1258 and V6-5046 SIDE 2 MGS-1259
Has original inner sleeve in mint condition, without any tears
Vinyl has some visible, superficial, linear scuffs but nothig deep
A1 White Light/White Heat 2:44 A2 The Gift 8:14 A3 Lady Godiva's Operation 4:52 A4 There She Comes Now 2:00 B1 I Heard Her Call My Name 4:05 B2 Sister Ray
17:00
Nearly all of the songs found on this outing are themed regarding freedom and love … though for me, the album was all about the song “Pale Blue Eyes,” which was rumored to have been considered as a B-Side, and as part of an EP, though never seemed to actually materialize. Rolling Stone magazine said, ”Pale Blue Eyes” is a folky ballad that never really gets off the ground either musically or lyrically.
It’s seldom in our short sweet lives that we’re able to remember a seminal moment in our musical history, with “Pale Blue Eyes,” a haunting, almost frighteningly deeply personal relentlessly touching number laced with emotional longing and sadness that documents an experience that most of us have shared, though have been unable to bring into existence outside of our splintered souls, being that seminal moment for me.
The song was a brilliant success in my mind, both lyrically, emotionally and musically, with the fact that it didn’t really get off the ground making it all that more accessible and personal. “Pale Blue Eyes” had every element that would define my musical existence and serve as a temple, encapsulating at every turn all that I’d be looking for in music for the rest of my life. Of course the band Love would deliver the chilling “Signed D.C.” along with “A Message to Pretty,” but on a whole, these sort of low keyed, low flying songs were seldom delivered, seldom given voice, and never was an album themed along these lines until Spacemen 3 presented Perfect Prescription in 1989, and later The Darkside would float the more soaring, yet cut from the same cloth All That Noise, albums that just shivered me to the bone, making me realize that I wasn’t alone in my desire to capture these elusive moments of laid back, nearly drugged out, emotional stoner laced bits of intoxication that floated in darkness, seemed to singularly exist within the construct for those with damaged souls, and the need to touch the wounds.
Of course, then came Galaxie 500, and their three releases that breathed the same collective breath as mine, beat at the same heartbeat level and structured every chord, every note, and every verse around the emotional angst that’s hung around me like a hazy fog of interpersonal satisfaction.
These sort of songs are not meant to be shared with others, they’re designed to encompass those personal moments when one is alone with their own thoughts, their own shattered existence, though are neatly, almost embarrassingly tucked away, like a tattoo one keeps covered, because it reveals far too much as to the nature of one’s being.
As to the album as a whole, this was The Velvet Undergrounds third release, and their first with Doug Yule who was replacing John Cale, where they attempted to settle things down and bring a calmness to their music. There were other changes as well, with Yule singing the opening track “Candy Says,” and this time out, recorded in sunny California.
*** The Fun Facts: It’s claimed that the song “Pale Blue Eyes” was inspired by Shelley Albin who actually had hazel eyes, with Reed noting this in his book “Between Thought and Expression”, Lou Reed’s first true love [while at Syracuse University], and who was married to another man at the time. Shelley Albin would agin be referenced in the song “New Age” from the Loaded album. “New Age” in its original text includes a reference to Lou Reed’s bi-sexuality when he wrote “It seems to be my fancy to make it with Frank and Nancy.” Though later, the studio version is written from the point of view of a fan addressing a “fat blonde actress.”
The song “Candy Says” was about Candy Darling, a Warhol Factory hanger-on who would again make an appearance on the Lou Reed song, “Walk On The Wild Side.”
As to the album artwork, the images were taken by Billy Name, with whom Reed was also having a sexual relationship, and inspired the song “Some Kind Of Love,” saying that "No kinds of love are better than others ..." Billy was another Warhol Factory regular who’s skull & dagger tattoo showed up on the cover of White Light White Heat. The cover photo was taken with the band sitting on the infamous couch in The Silver Factory, and shows Lou Reed holding a copy of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar, dated October 1968.
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