Archetypes: The Velvet Underground and Sister Ray

White Light / White Heat, The Velvet Underground’s second album, ranks high in my list of all-time favorite recordings. It is also the first tape I grab when preparing for road trips with the old Dodge.

The album’s drone-based protopunk sound is drenched in distortion and feedbacks – there is bleed as well as leakage all over the place, and that makes listening to the Stereo 8 version of White Light / White Heat particularly enjoyable. It is surprising how well the format responds to sonic excesses.

“Sister Ray,” the album’s closing piece, best exemplifies the conflicting energies and creative impulses that shaped the album. The song is a forward surge of competing egos intent on pushing the VU meters in the red. Maureen Tucker, in an interview for What Goes On, talks about Sterling Morrison and John Cale trying to “blow each other off the track.” Morrison also recalls that,

on “Sister Ray,” which we knew was going to be a major effort, we stared at each other and said, “this is going to be one take. So whatever you want to do, you better do it now.” And that explains what’s going on in the mix. Everyone’s trying to do what he wants to every second, and no one backs off.

Incidentally, MGM’s Stereo 8 version of White Light / White Heat opens with “Sister Ray,” thereby precipitating the listener toward and early climax. The 1974 MGM reissue forms part of the Archetypes series and comes with an alternate cover which brings to mind Edgard Froese’s Stuntman. I am not certain that the artwork is appropriate and unconvinced that relocating “Sister Ray” to the beginning of the album was a judicious decision.

I will, therefore, just have to keep playing programmes 1 and 2 of the MGM tape last – that is, until I can get my hands on a Verve cartridge.

Sister Ray (Programmes 1 & 2)

Stereo 8 (MGM Records M8G-4950) – Track Listing:
Programme A: Sister Ray
Programme B: Sister Ray (continued) – White Light/White Heat
Programme C: The Gift – Lady Godiva’s Operation
Programme D: Lady Godiva’s Operation (continued) – I Heard Her Call My Name – Here She Comes Now

LP – Track Listing:
Side A: Sister Ray – The Gift – Lady Godiva’s Operation – Here She Comes Now
Side B: I Heard Her Call My Name – Sister Ray