Loaded

About

Of The Velvet Underground’s four albums (discounting 1973’s in-name-only <i>Squeeze</i>), <i>Loaded</i> is the straightforward one: The songs are short, the writing is direct, and the feel is closer to something you might hear on classic-rock radio than at a downtown happening. Aren’t they supposed to be transgressive and avant-garde? And here they are singing about cowboys (“Lonesome Cowboy Bill”) and trains (“Train Round the Bend”) and young girls who are lifted by the spirit of rock ’n’ roll (“Rock & Roll”)? Is this the counterculture, or is this “American Pie”? Listen to <i>Loaded</i> expecting <i>White Light/White Heat</i> and you might be confused, even disappointed: There’s nothing that bites or tears at the fabric of what rock music can be. But listen to it as part of the band’s broader creative journey and it offers a kind of wholeness: Whereas <i>The Velvet Underground</i>’s quiet balances <i>White Light</i>’s noise, <i>Loaded</i>’s simple American pleasures not only balance the progressive, arty quality of <i>The Velvet Underground & Nico</i>, but they’re also a reminder that for however far out the band got, they were still the children of doo-wop (“I Found a Reason”) and Chuck Berry (“Head Held High”), of energy and rhythm and a music that put its audience first. Lou Reed was never shy about his criticism of hippie culture. But one of the best comparisons for <i>Loaded</i> is the Grateful Dead’s <i>American Beauty</i>, which came out two weeks earlier, in late 1970. Both are examples of radical bands growing into something accessible. But they’re also instances of a moment in rock culture when even radical bands were embracing the myths and imagery of early rock ’n’ roll as fertile ground—not just The Rolling Stones’ <i>Sticky Fingers</i> and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Travelin’ Band,” but The Stooges’ <i>Fun House</i> and, eventually, <i>New York Dolls</i>. They were plenty radical in their way, but listen to <i>Loaded</i> and you realize that The Velvet Underground weren’t trying to destroy rock ’n’ roll—they were trying to keep it alive.

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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