The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary (Remastered)

Personnel: Lou Reed (vocals, guitar, background vocals); Sterling Morrison (guitar, background vocals); Doug Yule (organ, background vocals); Maureen Tucker (percussion). Audio Mixer: Val Valentin. Recording information: T.T>G. Studios, Hollywood, CA (11/1968-12/1968). Photographers: Doug Yule; Billy Name. Arranger: The Velvet Underground. Velvet Underground's self-titled third album seemed like the debut of a new band. John Cale had left (replaced by Doug Yule) and the group became, for all intents and purposes, Lou Reed's back-up band. The songs actually sounded like rock music and John Cale's screeching musicality was reworked into songs that featured Sterling Morrison's most eloquent guitar accompaniment. Reed's songwriting moved beyond the armed-to-disarm approach of the previous two albums towards a spiritual level of empathy with the human race--a change that wouldn't go unnoticed. The man who once begged someone to "nullify [his] life" ("Heroin") was now asking "Jesus"