The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground & Nico : Deluxe Edition
Universal Records

Well, this is the definite rock album ever, if ever there was one! The new edition includes two discs. Here are both the stereo and mono versions of the album, single versions of four songs off the album and the five songs off Nico's first solo album Chelsea Girl written by Velvet members. I first bought the vinyl album as a teenager. It had a gatefold cover, but no re-peelable banana. I might have bought the first straight CD edition, but didn't. 1995 saw the release of my most treasured Velvet release, the five CD box including the four studio albums with Lou Reed, a bonus CD of early demos, several bonus tracks spread over the remaining discs in addition - and a re-peelable banana.

The songs of the new edition sound as distorted as they've always done. They attack body and mind instantly, set my hair and teeth on end and keep spinning in my head for days afterwards. They're beauties and beasts. John Cale's haunting viola of "Venus In Furs" is probably the definite highlight.

So do I need another edition? Nope! The mono and stereo versions sound similar to me, as do the single versions apart from a few small alterations. And I do own Nico's Chelsea Girl already including all ten songs. The Deluxe Edition is also a Cash-flow Edition.

But if this necessity of an album is missing in your collection, you might be advised to buy the Deluxe Edition, at least if costs less than the price of an ordinary single CD as mine did. It's got a nice booklet with an essay, some new pictures and lyrics of all the songs. It's even got that re-peelable banana! More wisely, I'd go directly for the box. And I'd also pick up the posthumous released VU and Another View albums at the same time. Happy hunting!

Copyright © 2002 JP