The Music of the Spheres

v/a The Velvets Revolution: 15 Bands Inspired by the Velvet Underground
This compilation of Velvets influenced stuff came with Uncut magazine. It is surprisingly good, featuring some wonderful pieces of music by such kewl bands of yore as The Feelies and Suicide, while contemporary hipsters like The Vivian Girls throw in some top tunes. The tracks by all of these bands are highly recommended. The Feelies do sound like they may well have heard the odd VU record in their time, but I also detected a certain motorik Krautrock influence. The Vivian Girls seem to be shoegazing revivalists rather than VU followers as such – so their Velvets influence is at a much greater remove. But their track here ('Tension') is a stormer, and I think I may have to seek out more of their music. Indeed, I am starting to regret not including this track on my end of year CD.

I found Orange Juice's 'Blue Boy' a lot more appealing than when I first heard it twenty years ago – maybe Orange Juice are not actually rubbish? Further investigation may be required.

Velvet Pandas