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White Light/White Heat

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 550 ratings

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Format Blu-ray
Contributor The Velvet Underground
Language English
Colour Colour
Number of discs 1

Track Listings

1 White Light/white Heat
2 The Gift
3 Lady Godiva's Operation
4 Here She Comes Now
5 I Heard Her Call My Name
6 Sister Ray

Product description

High Fidelity Pure Audio edition of the Velvet Underground album White Light/White Heat. High Fidelity Pure Audio is a range of physical HD audio products from Universal Music Group which uses Blu-ray technology to deliver the ultimate listening experience to the user. High Fidelity Pure Audio discs are playable through all Blu-ray devices.

Product details

  • Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 17 x 1.1 cm; 20 g
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ UMC
  • Manufacturer reference ‏ : ‎ 5347654
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2014
  • Label ‏ : ‎ UMC
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00GXQEKSI
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 550 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
550 global ratings

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"...and then my mind split open".
5 out of 5 stars
"...and then my mind split open".
Their first LP 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' is quite possibly the greatest album of all time so obviously can't be topped (by me anyway) but White Light/White Heat is at the very least a 9/10. Worth it alone for the 17 minute 'Sister Ray' which consists of Reed, Cale and Morrison battling each other over their respective volumes.This LP also contains the greatest guitar solo ever put to tape. Just listen to Lou Reed's playing in 'I Heard Her Call My Name' and you'll understand.
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2006
    If you've got this far you probably know this is one of the most critically acclaimed rock albums ever. That is well deserved but it doesn't mean you're going to like it - it's also one of the most uncompromising rock albums ever (one reason the critics like it so much) and was quite unprecedented at the time - and completely out of step with the current hippie/flower power/peace and love ethos. It was also made very quickly and cheaply with an engineer who wasn't hugely enamoured of the group, so the niceties of production were pretty much non-existent. This doesn't matter, for the most part, as long as you like extreme, noisy, brutish rock'n'roll.

    The title track is a short, snappy slice of distorted rock'n'roll which you could imagine being recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard - although it would sound very different. Then they slow down for The Gift, with the band jamming grungily away on 3 chords in one channel while John Cale, with his marvellously deadpan Welsh voice, recites an amusing and macabre short story Lou Reed wrote while studying English in the early 1960s. This is followed by the two quietest tracks on the album, Lady Godiva's Operation and Here She Comes Now. The former is sung mostly by Cale, with sudden interjections from Reed, and is another macabre little tale over a quite unique droney background with the only appearance of Cale's viola on this album. The latter is by far the most "pleasant" piece of music on the album, a prettily hypnotic little ditty wondering whether a girl will come.

    What was side 2 of the original lp begins with probably the most extreme track, I Heard Her Call My Name. By all accounts this doesn't do justice to their live performances of the song and is the one track where the recording shortcomings matter, but it is still quite extraordinary, featuring among the most savagely atonal lead guitar ever committed to tape. This really isn't for the fainthearted but it certainly isn't without merit. And finally... the last 17+ minutes of the album are taken up by the awesome Sister Ray. Again the lyrics (about a bunch of drag queens shooting up heroin and murdering a sailor they don't appear to have known very long) are sordid and macabre, but Lou Reed relates this scuzzy tale with sardonic relish over an astonishing and propulsive one chord blast that never lets up, driven along by Maureen Tucker's hypnotic drumming. They were determined that there wouldn't be either a second take or overdubs - they had to nail it first time. There is no bass, just two guitars, organ and drums. At various points it develops into a volume duel between Lou Reed's guitar and John Cale's organ, with Cale pulling out more and more stops and then Reed cranking up the volume and distortion on his guitar. It never degenerates into self-indulgent jamming or outlives its welcome, indeed for many devotees it's too short. The demented glee with which they bash it out completely transcends the sordid subject matter - this really is rock distilled down to its essence.

    Unless you like really abrasive stuff already (e.g. The Stooges' Fun House, with which it shares the pinnacle of proto-grunge) you may well find this a bit much, so it's not the ideal place to start if you haven't heard the Velvet Underground before. Try their equally excellent debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, which is the only one of their albums to combine both pretty tunes and noise and consequently gives a good idea of the range of music they played. If you like the noisy stuff on that, you'll love this. If you don't but like the more tuneful stuff, you'll like their untitled 3rd album and Loaded.
    89 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2012
    Distortion, perverse lyrics, off-key singing, speaking over an improvised jam and a near twenty minute song mostly about sucking on a 'ding dong,' is hardly the sort of stuff that would appeal to a commercial music listener, or even someone interested in The Velvet Underground. It might be better to start with the Banana album, which is more accessible than this.

    Having said that, I have grown to love this album mostly because of the shear audacity that it is infused with. This album captures the essence of Punk music, long before it began. It sounds like a mess and I think the band knew this, but the fact was that they really didn't care, because this record is about creating an atmosphere and if you can tap into that, I can assure you that you will love this record.

    When I first heard the opening track, I was shocked and thought I was going to hate it, but now I think that even with it's low-fi distortion, it is wonderful. It is also one of the easiest listens of the album. From what I've read about The Gift, it seems more popular with people who aren't into the velvets than those who are. Regardless, I love it, especially as it is Cale who does the reading and what a job he does! I am always enthralled by this track from start to finish and the end of it always brings a twisted smile to my face. Lady Godiva's Operation also contains Cale's vocals, especially because they are quite soft and work well with Reed's harder vocals, which also feature on this track, shouting over Cale and creating an unsettling air to an unsettling track.

    Here She Comes Now is light White Light/White Heat, as it is an easy listen, probably the easiest on the album and works as a nice bridge between Operation and I Heard Her Call My Name, where the distortion returns, along with Reed's vocals. This is a gritty rock and roll track and it only gets bettwe with the epic, Sister Ray. It goes on for a long time and I'll admit that I don't listen to it often, but when I do it's an invigorating listen, for there isn't a moment where this track turns into a dirge and I never check to see how long it has before it's over.

    Overall, I wouldn't dismiss this album if you've only given it a single listen. It shows the Velvets at their peak before Cale left and they eventually wound up with god awful Doug Yule and like I said, has a great Punk attitude that once more proves that this band was well before its time.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2014
    At this price I would say from other comments that the two two cd deluxe package is the one to get. I have not gone for the bigger box version as the price is excessive for just a hard copy edition of the book and the mono version cd, which from what I understand, it is hard to hear any real difference with the stereo version. This classic needs the stereo separation for gems like 'The Gift' and 'Lady Godiva's operation'.

    The paper booklet included is still very good. My only criticism is its so tightly packed I nearly ripped the inside sleeve trying to get it out of the middle panel. I hate this particular 'innovation' in packaging which is now often used where there are three cds/ DVD combinations. I will be getting a large format cd polythene cover to house the whole package within and will just place the booklet loose in the middle of the open up cd as I will not be trying to force it back into the cover.

    The second live CD is also well worth the admission price as are the extras on the first Cd most of which have been available before, but not in this superior mixed format.

    If already a fan you really need this version.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Carles
    5.0 out of 5 stars Discazo
    Reviewed in Spain on 22 September 2023
    Mi disco favorito de la Velvet. Mucho más oscuro y más auténtico que el escuchadisimo disco de la banana de warhol, más rockero. Es una parra muy buena
  • HG Decades
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente!!
    Reviewed in Mexico on 4 May 2020
    Un articulo excelente, en 180 grs su sonido es nítido y a la vez garage, es el Velvet caótico post Nico. Muchos lo consideramos el álbum mas salvaje de los 60s y el hito a nuevos subgeneros del rock (suerte que Charles Manson no lo escuchó en aquel tiempo).
    Ademas esta edición nos regala 3 canciones mas; Stephanie Say, Hey mr. Rain y Temptation inside your heart que no se incluyen en el LP del 68. Una joya en bruto apta solo para unos cuantos.
  • nikky
    5.0 out of 5 stars I Velvet a tutto noise !
    Reviewed in Italy on 13 April 2021
    Album d'importanza storica questo secondo LP dei Velvet Underground (senza più Nico, e per l'ultima volta con John Cale). Sebbene il primo sia forse il migliore ,ed il terzo abbia influenzato l'indie rock maggiormente, in questo secondo disco i newyorkesi hanno anticipato i tempi come in nessun altro loro album, soprattutto per quanto riguarda il rock più rumoroso. CINQUE STELLE OBBLIGATORIE !
  • ながぬまひろし
    5.0 out of 5 stars 感謝
    Reviewed in Japan on 19 December 2024
    ありがとうございます
  • Coloratura
    5.0 out of 5 stars Blu Light/Blu Heat
    Reviewed in the United States on 7 March 2014
    I will save "Sister Ray" for another time, but I just listened to the balance of the new WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT Blu-ray Audio disc. As with the VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO BD disc, which I also enjoyed, there are three different HD listening options; I settled on Dolby Digital Tru-HD. I was smiling through every track. This release has been on the receiving end of some good-natured joshing, which I can understand. The original album is one of the most notorious low-fi listening experiences in rock, recorded well into the red with everything bleeding together. But what this presentation does is to perfect all the incoming sound sources to the extent that they no longer sludge together; the ear can now isolate the piano on the title track or the viola on "Lady Godiva's Operation" and appreciate what they are contributing to the whole. Even the noise, the distortion and feedback are better defined; I had the feeling of hearing input that was previously aurally cropped in its uncropped form, so I could finally grasp the whole outline of the chaos. I suspect you will need to really love this record, and to have gone through a lot with it, to appreciate such nuances... but they are finally there for the appreciating. And, as this technology goes, the louder you play it, the more you will hear.

    PS: Have now listened to "Sister Ray," which is sonically the most challenging track on this album, especially in terms of a Blu-ray presentation. When it was recorded, everyone was cranked up to 10 - especially Cale and Reed - and slugging it out to be heard. This results in not too much space being available for the sounds to breathe, and that's where Blu-ray finds detail. But there is a section of the piece where the overdubbed guitar drops out, leaving it to what sounds like a somewhat muted basic track of the four-piece where everyone can be more clearly heard and defined. Before this point, the track sounds at least as good as we've ever heard it, with Cale's organ sounding slightly more vicious and ogreish in its detailing; and after this point, seasoned listeners will find slightly more to appreciate, with Moe Tucker's steady, metronomic drumming and Sterling Morrison's rhythm guitar contribution somewhat easier for the ear to latch onto. (I assume it's Morrison, and that the lead guitar noodling also heard at this point is Reed.) Furthermore, the lyrics sound a bit easier to make out now, so there's a small but appreciable leap in definition there, as well. All in all, though the odds were against it, I feel this album as a whole gains somewhat more from the Blu-ray treatment than THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, though it's a more violent ride and requires a palate for refined noise.