2. The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground And Nico
Whoever it was that said this album didn’t sell a lot of copies but every person who bought it went on to form a band, I think there is probably some truth in that. It is such an influential record; such a truly unique, maverick record and it’s one of the records I play more than anything else. I often go back to it now – I will just feel like needing to hear ‘Venus In Furs’. It still sounds weirdly modern considering it was made in the sixties.
I love the whole way The Velvet Underground went about things – John Cale playing viola, Nico singing on some of the songs and Lou singing on others. It has a feel to it that is unlike anything and nobody has really touched for originality since then. It sounds so strange – it was made in New York during a period that has the whole mystique of Andy Warhol’s Factory. It’s also one of the great album covers of our time – Warhol’s peeling banana. I knew Andy very well throughout the eighties until he sadly died. That whole scene was so stylish and underground – they had the perfect name.
I’ve been lucky enough over the years to meet John Cale a bunch of times and Lou Reed – I sat next to Lou at a dinner a few months back – and to me they are still great icons of modern music. We actually played with Lou onstage once in the late eighties. We did a charity show and he came and played ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ with us, which was surreal. We have covered ‘Femme Fatale’ – we could cover the entire album but it wouldn’t be nearly as good so there’s no point.
