I’ve reviewed the first 3 Velvet Underground albums, and I had a lot of fun doing so, so now I’m reviewing the album where they went as commercial as a band who made White Light/White Heat could get. Their self-titled album was a change from the craziness of the previous two albums, but Loaded almost feels like it’s from a different band, while still being great. On this album, they actually had some commercial hits? Loaded is a 1970 rock album and the 4th album by the Velvet Underground and sort of an odd one in their discography because this album is only ever ranked as the 4th best Velvet Underground album or as the 2nd best. Can I just talk about the title of this album for a second? Loaded. What a great double-entendre. The label wanted the band to make an album “loaded with hits”, so it’s called Loaded. But that could also mean “loaded with alcohol”, if not other drugs, and knowing this band, it probably does. Anyway, I’ve seen every other VU album (except Squeeze, but I don’t know how much that counts) ranked in every single spot, #1, 2, 3 and 4, but I feel like I've only ever seen Loaded get ranked as either the weakest of the 4 or the 2nd best behind The Velvet Underground & Nico. I fall into the category of people who think it’s the weakest of the 4, but it’s still a damn good album and an album a lot of commercial bands probably wish they could live up to. I think a big part of why some people don't like this album as much as their previous albums is because this one doesn't feature drummer Maureen Tucker, as she'd recently had a baby. I'm pretty sure she's on record saying this album could have benefitted from her, and yeah, she's probably right. She was a pretty good drummer, and I feel like she doesn't get enough credit. A song like Run Run Run is hard to drum on, but she kicks ass on that song. Yes, this album is much more commercial than anything they’d made so far, but some of the lyrics still sort of have that trademark Lou Reed weirdness. I guess that never left. Even Lou’s biggest hit, Walk On The Wild Side on his solo album Transformer, features lyrics about transsexuals and oral sex. Not your average Beatles song.
Speaking of the Beatles, the album’s opener Who Loves the Sun is definitely at least parodying the song Here Comes the Sun. Apparently, Lou hated the Beatles. I don’t think I’ll ever hate the Beatles or even do anything but enjoy their music, and saying that a Velvet Underground song making fun of Here Comes the Sun is better than the actual Here Comes the Sun is probably not too common. But you’ll hear it now; I prefer this song to Here Comes the Sun. That is entirely my own personal preference, I am aware of what a great song Here Comes the Sun is, and I love that song quite a bit. But anybody who doesn’t love this song… doesn’t have the wrong opinion of the song, but I just disagree with them strongly. Oh yeah, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Lou is on lead vocals on this song, but that’s not Lou, that’s Doug. They have very similar voices, don't they? I love this song, and I hate to call it underrated, because that word gets used way too much these days and people try to apply it to things that aren’t underrated, but I feel this is a really great song. Actually, it's probably not underrated. That comes later on in the album.
Sweet Jane however is one of the band’s biggest songs, and it may not be their most critically acclaimed song, but it might actually be the most popular. And it’s not hard to see why. It’s sick (in the good way), it’s commercial, and it's fun to sing the chorus. Perfect radio song. And yet there’s still some transvestite lyrics, like “Jack is in his corset, Jane is in her vest”. Oh, those were different times. This song can go through phases of being one of my absolute favorite songs ever, and when I’m not in one of those phases, I still absolutely love it. The bridge of the song is amazing, it’s probably my favorite part of this incredibly wonderful song.
The song Rock and Roll is pretty straightforward, right? Well, for a Velvet Underground song, yes. But listen to the chords and the way they’re played. It’s not that normal. This song is absolutely fantastic. The plot of the song is really nice. It’s about a girl named Jennie who discovers rock and roll at the age of 5, and it ends up saving her life. Again, not too normal. But this might be one of the most uplifting songs the Velvets ever made, and I think it does a great job of conveying the message that on a bad day or even a good day, listening to some good rock and roll can make the day better. Amazing song.
Cool It Down is strange to me, because in the comment section to the YouTube video of this song, a guy named Josh Russell commented. Like, dude, what the ***, my dad’s name is Josh Russell, and I know that wasn’t him. I may always associate this song with that fact, but I do think it’s a really good song. The word “cool” is in the title for a reason, not many songs get cooler than this. Unless it’s another Velvet Underground song. The single coolest Velvet Underground song is Foggy Notion. I’ll talk more about that song some other time, though. But just know that Cool It Down is one of the Velvet Underground’s most underrated songs, at least in my opinion.
Speaking of underrated, it’s amazing to me how incredible the song New Age is. Like, seriously. “It’s the beginning of a new age” goes hard. I’ve seldom seen this song talked about in people’s lists of favorite Velvet Underground songs, and while it’s probably not in my top 10 favorite Velvet Underground songs (and probably not even in my top 20), it's great. It’s another song that features Doug Yule on vocals, and this might be my 2nd favorite vocal performance of his behind Candy Says. Yes, I’m saying that although this is my 3rd favorite song with him on lead vocals on this album alone. This song kind of reminds me of Jesus, and while I don’t like this one as much, I love the way it sounds. I just think everything about this song is great.
Side 2 begins with Head Held High, which is feckin’ badass. I think this is another one of their more underrated songs. New Age kind of reminded me of Jesus in the way it sounded, so I guess it’s fitting that this one reminds me of Beginning to See the Light. I prefer that song, but this song is surprisingly close to it in terms of quality. This could’ve easily been this album’s lead single, but it’s one of the more obscure ones on the album. Just a surprisingly really great song.
Lonesome Cowboy Bill is the 3rd of 4 songs on the album with Doug on lead vocals. They’re all great, including this one, so it kind of hurts my feelings to call this my least favorite of these songs. It’s still a super strong country song (that sounds cool to say out loud), and it’s pretty catchy. I don’t have much to say about this song, but it’s fun.
I Found a Reason’s riff reminds me of the riff on Pale Blue Eyes. Just listen to the opening and try telling me I’m wrong. This song is really nice. It’s pretty simple, but that’s part of the beauty of this band. I really love this song, but it’s not one of my favorite Velvet Underground songs. Unfortunately, this is another one I have disappointingly little to say about.
Train Round the Bend is probably my least favorite song on the album, but it’s still really good. Sounds on this song remind me of David Bowie’s Station to Station, especially the opening. The only problem I have with this song isn’t the song’s fault, it’s the rest of the album’s fault for being so good. It makes this the least memorable song on the album, and sure, if I heard it not knowing it was by the Velvet Underground, it probably wouldn’t wow me too hard, but I still like it.
The album closes with Oh! Sweet Nuthin’, which is sometimes my favorite song on the album. Screw it, it’s always my favorite song on the album. Sure, songs like Who Loves the Sun rival it, but this is the actual best. Doug sings lead vocals here, and while it’s not my favorite vocal performance of his, this is either my favorite or my 2nd favorite song he sings on, again maybe behind Candy Says. This is surprisingly one of their most popular songs, even though it’s 7 and a half minutes long, and it doesn’t really have the commercial sounds of songs like Sweet Jane and Rock and Roll. Like, hearing it in Zombieland made me happy, but I’m surprised they didn’t play one of their bigger songs. Even though I can’t really picture any other Velvets songs being used in that movie. Chills are sent down my spine whenever I hear the opening riff to this song. It’s that moving. Venus in Furs, Heroin, Foggy Notion, What Goes On, Lady Godiva’s Operation, All Tomorrow’s Parties and this song are the Velvet Underground songs that I think are truly something else. They’re all amazing, but these songs in particular. I’m probably forgetting at least one, but I’m happy right now with it. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ is really sumthin’ special.
On rateyourmusic.com, this is easily the lowest-rated Velvets album. No, I’m not counting Squeeze. The first 3 are in the top 200, and this one is outside the top 2000. I can see why fans of the first 3 albums, especially the first two, may not like this album as much because they did go commercial on it, but the songs are really good. I can say this about pretty much every song on the album, but every song sounds like it could be one of their biggest hits. This is my least favorite of their first 4 albums, but it’s obviously great and I was even debating giving it 5 stars. If I could give it 4.75, I would, because this album is probably a 9.5/10 to me. If this was the 5th and final Velvet Underground album after VU (or preferably my own mix of the album, but hey), the world would be at peace. And I’m one of the people that actually doesn’t hate Squeeze too much. But I think Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ would’ve been a much more powerful end to their discography than Louise, I think it’s called.
