Polydor / Pgd
2005
The Velvet Underground: Gold
About This Album
At this point in music history, it's become a given that the Velvet Underground were one of the most important and innovative rock bands of their era, and that the four albums they released during their lifespan rank with the most challenging and satisfying work in the rock canon. For beginners and dabblers, though, this invites the question of where to start exploring the group's catalog, an especially vexing question since each of the Velvets' albums has a very distinct musical personality, from the approachable and upbeat surfaces of Loaded to the all-out assault of White Light/White Heat. While Gold, an installment in Universal's ongoing series of "best-of" albums, was doubtless intended as "the Velvet Underground's Greatest Hits Writ Large" (an ironic approach, since the group never had anything even approaching a hit when they were around), it's also one of the best introductions to the group's repertoire that's been released to date. Universal opted not to license any material from Loaded (the VU's final album, released by the Atlantic offshoot Cotillion) for this collection, but short of that, Gold offers a healthy overview of their first three albums, and doesn't shy away from the band's more abrasive material (including all 17 howling minutes of "Sister Ray" from White Light/White Heat).
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 4 and 13)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,3,8,9,11 and 12)

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