Velvet Undergrounds Nico
33 1/3 is a new series of short books when it comes to severely acclaimed and much-loved albums of the last 40 years. Focusing on one album rather than an artist’s entire output, the books dispense with the ordinary biographical background that fans recognise already, and cut to the heart of the music on each album. The writers provide fresh, initial perspectives – ofttimes through their access to and relationships with the key figures involved in the recording of these albums. By turns obsessive, passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this series demonstrate some dissimilar ways of writing with regards to music. (A task which may be, as Elvis Costello famously observed, as tricky as dancing in regards to architecture.) What binds this series together, and what brings it to life, is that all of the writers – musicians, scholars, and writers – are deeply in love with the album they have chosen.
From BooklistA new entry in a series in regards to widely known and esteemed LPs. Harvard seeks not to “‘explain’ the Velvet Underground, or their initial and definitive album” but to part what he finds “interesting in regards to it.” Much has been written already with regards to this album and how, while it wasn’t a big mercantile success, it inspired a heap of future rock stars. In exploring what early Velvet John Cale called “an almost religious fervor when it comes to what we were doing,” Harvard evokes the heady days of promise before internal pressures cut the band’s career short. Mike Tribby
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From the Inside FlapIn 1966, galore studios, like Abbey Road, had technicians in white lab coats, and even the less formal studios commonly had actual engineering graduates behind the consoles. Studios were still more regarding science than art. Clients who dared make technical suggestions were treated with bemusement, derision, or hostility. The Velvets were a young band underneath neverending critical attack, and the pressure to conform in order to gain acceptance must have been tremendous. Most bands of that era compromised with their record companies, through wholesale revamping of their effigy from wardrobe to musical style, altering or omitting lyrics, creating drasti edited versions for radio airplay, or eliminating songs completely from their sets and records. With Andy Warhol in the band’s corner, such threats were minimized.
About the AuthorJoe Harvard separates the facts from the myths surrounding The Velvet Underground’s legendary 1967 debut album.
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Most helpful client reviews
15 of 15 persons found the following review helpful.
 A Rock Book That Really Rocks
By F.Scott
A few pages into The Velvet Underground and Nico you already sense that Joe Harvard distinctly enjoys the heck out of his work. Conversational at times, more formal where fact-gathering is concerned, Harvard’s tone moves seemlessly from hilarious indie-rock-vibe riffing to an closely poetic wonderment when describing the songs themselves. The result amply justifies Continuum’s choice of musician/fans – rather of career critics – to write the 33-1/3 series. At times reading this book was like looking at a band on stage, and you can’t ask much more than that from a book on rock.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
 Peel Back & See
By Thomas Magnum
Joe Harvard’s entry in the 33 1/3 series is an immensely gratifying read. I like the Velvet Underground’s music, but wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan. This book provides interesting clear or deep perception into the band’s roots and the sessions for the album. It’s tough to perceive how revolutionary the album was for it is time, but Mr. Harvard does an magnificent occupation of setting the 60′s NYC scene in Andy Warhol’s world.
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