The Velvet Underground – Loaded – Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series Hybrid SACD

Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series)
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Atlantic Records!
Final Velvet Underground album featuring founding member and songwriter Lou Reed
Hybrid Stereo SACD

After The Velvet Underground cut three albums for the jazz-oriented Verve label that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970.

Label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead focus on making an album “loaded with hits.” Loaded was the result. It was the group’s swan song, with Reed leaving the group shortly before its release. With John Cale long gone from the band, Doug Yule highly prominent (he sings lead on four of the ten tracks), and Maureen Tucker absent on maternity leave, this is hardly a purist’s Velvet Underground album. Still, AllMusic gives the album 5 Stars and Pitchfork calls it a “perfect rock ‘n’ roll record — 40 minutes long, five songs to a side, and not a single wasted note.”

Track Listing

1. Who Loves The Sun
2. Sweet Jane
3. Rock & Roll
4. Cool It Down
5. New Age
6. Head Held High
7. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
8. I Found A Reason
9. Train Round The Bend
10. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’