Velvet Underground

Funding Velvet Underground member John Cale performed the band’s 1967 masterpiece, The Velvet Underground & Nico, alongside selections from its follow-up, White Light/White Heat, during a gig at La Philharmonie de Paris. As previously reported, he was joined by a handful of guest performers including Animal Collective, Mark Lanegan, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât of The Libertines, and more…

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is a 15-track Velvet Underground Companion to blow your mind, starring Lou Reed, John Cale, Nico, Bo Diddley, Olatunji, Luna, Spiritualized, Ornette Coleman and the Velvets themselves!

Tensions were growing within the Velvet Underground following the release of their sophomore album, White Light, White Heat: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work, and Lou Reed and John Cale were pulling the group in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording sessions the band had with Cale in 1968: three pop-like songs in Reedx27s direction (Temptation Inside Your Heart, Stephanie Says and x27Beginning to See the Light) and a viola-driven drone in Calex27s direction (Hey Mr. Rain)n Reed told Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker that Cale was out, and while neither was happy with the idea, faced with a choice of either no Cale or no band at all, the pair reluctantly sided with Reed. Cale played his last show with the Velvets at the Boston Tea Party in September 1968, and was fired shortly afterwards.Before work on their third album started, Cale was replaced by musician Doug Yule, formerly of the Boston group the Grass Menagerie, who had been a close associate of the band.