Pale Blue Eyes

Song: Pale Blue Eyes
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Album: The Velvet Underground




It wasn’t until I was in college that I discovered The Velvet Underground, the Lou Reed lead NYC band that came out of Andy Warhol’s Factory and changed the world of Alternative music forever. I think everyone needs to go through a Velvet’s phase at some point in their life and in college was a good time for me. At the suggestion of a very good college friend whom also discovered the band around that time, I went all out and got their at the time recently released box set which contained five discs and everything that they had ever recorded in the studio. If you have the interest in the band I say just spring for this set as you will no doubt love everything they did and it’s re-mastered and all that jazz. Check out “Peel Slowly and See” here.

I won’t bother trying to summarize the bands history, check out their Wikipedia page for that, but the Velvets are such an important part of rock & roll that I feel are sometimes little-known aside from hipsters both new and old. When they released their debut “The Velvet Underground & Nico” in 1965, and brought their dangerous blend of sleaze, gender-bending sex, and rock from the gutter to the masses, it should be noted that the Beatles only then started to change their sound and become more experimental.

I randomly heard “Pale Blue Eyes” a beautiful, haunting ballad from 1969’s “The Velvet Underground” and haven’t been able to stop listening to it. I hadn’t listened to the band in a while and after hearing “Pale Blue Eyes” as well as “I’m Sticking With You” in the movie “Juno” I decided to drag the discs out and give them a new listen… all SO good.

If you haven’t done so already… it’s probably time for your “Velvets Period.”

Enjoy.


Pale Blue Eyes (live) - Lou Reed live Sessions At West 54th
1998-10-31