Loaded by The Velvet Underground

"Loaded has always been my favourite VU record. This song [Rock and Roll] is just one of the many reasons why." Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)

 

The Rolling Stone review of the time noted that "the Velvet Underground on Loaded are more loose and straightforward than we've yet seen them". As such it is the first to feature in what I hope to be a series of 'feel' albums. Loose sounding records that really sound like a band in a room playing together. Limited overdubs and no metronome in sight. And ideally, with this mood reflected on the back cover.

Choosing Loaded belies that fact that it was recorded amid growing tension within the band. It is the last album to feature Lou Reed, who quit shortly after it had been recorded. The back cover provides a peak into the recording process, or at least the recording studio. It shows the studio setup for the band, but perhaps tellingly only features Doug Yule (John Cale's replacement after White Light/Whiter Heat), who had taken a more prominent role.

According to the Wikipedia entry: "Reed also felt snubbed by being listed third in the credits on the album; and by the large photo of Yule playing piano; and by all the songwriting credits improperly going to the band, rather than Reed himself."

The photograph used for the back cover was taken by Henri Ter Hall. As the Lost Loaded Shots notes: "In 1970 Dutch photographer Henri ter Hall, then living in New York City, shot The Velvet Underground during the recording sessions for Loaded. His image of the almost-empty recording studio appeared on the back cover of the album."