Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower
“Most important” is also subjective. But I tend to agree. There was a period where I felt like I heard VU influences in literally every single band that came after them. Maybe not literally. But maybe literally. Every. Single. Band. I liked that movie too.
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It is subjective. But I believe I could argue credibly that it is or ought to be objective.
Having Reed and Cale in the same band is simultaneous lottery wins, lightning strikes. Jagger/Richards, McCartney/Lennon. Okay.
But there’s something Next Level about early VU’s disregard - entirely - for song structure fused to the Cole Porter level pop tune songwriting talent of Reed. The movie’s best line is, “the heat of this band simply couldn’t survive.” It was really rare. And while I love the Doug Yule stuff, and all of Reed’s solo catalog, there’s something uniquely sticky about the first two records. WL/WH sounds like a pile of noise in parts. “Lady Godiva’s Operation” sounds like a studio throwaway. But that’s intentional. Because the song’s so carefully crafted, if you polished it up, it’d sound too perfect.
And I can get bored even from “Rock n Roll.” But I still can’t turn off “Venus in Furs” once it starts. Cale was a bigger part of the secret sauce of early VU than was ever credited. Glad he got his accolades in the movie.
