White Light/White Heat (LP)

"No one listened to it. But there it is, forever - the quintessence of articulated punk. And no one goes near it." - Lou Reed, August 2013

The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat is one of the most confrontational and inspirational second albums ever made by a rock band. Recorded in a matter of days at the end of the summer of 1967, a season in which everything seemed possible in rock and much of it happened at now-mythic speed, White Light/White Heat is an album that reeks of the gritty NY street life and could only have been made in New York, by one band. And that group is the classic-quartet lineup of The Velvet Underground - singer-guitarist Lou Reed; bassist-organist and viola player John Cale; guitarist-bassist Sterling Morrison; and drummer Maureen Tucker.

"Cited by nearly every group in punk's long lineage and by more than a few arty types, the Velvets defined New York rock, poised between street-level grit and literary irony, rock simplicity and minimalistic drones, clarity and noise."- The New York Times

Originally released by Verve Records on January 30, 1968, the LP cracked Billboard's Top 200 albums chart on March 16, entering at No. 199. Forty-five years later, The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat is considered one of the most influential albums of all time, laying down the blue print for punk and experimental rock, critically acclaimed and included on many "Top Lists" including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time and on Rolling Stone's Greatest Artists List.