The Velvet Underground & Nico 45th Anniversary (Super Deluxe Box Set) [Box set]

"Femme Fatale" is one of my favorite songs ever. The great Nico coyly identifying "here she comes...you better watch your step. She's going to break your heart in two...it's true." She's just a little tease, indeed. Her vocal work on this album is just amazing. The contrast between her and Lou Reed is genius. "I'll Be Your Mirror" is one of the sweetest love songs I have ever heard. It has a such an original and sweet perspective, and is so melancholy in the hands of Nico, whose voice really is so distinctive, warm and charmingly amateur all at once. It really is a pitty that her work with the Velvet Underground pretty much ended with this album. I can only imagine how the Velvet's history may have been different had she stuck around for subsequent releases.

"I'm Waiting For My Man" is probably my favorite singular song on the album. The low-key guitar approach is pure Lou Reed, and I love the imagery he brings to life about New York, and trying to meet up with his dealer. "He's never early...he's always late. First thing you learn is that you always gotta wait..." Amazing stuff, and Mo Tucker keeps it all together with her electrifying drum assault. The song that most people identify as one of the most important contributions to rock history would have to be "Heroin," Reed's droning anthemic ode to the gift's and perils of the drug he so treasured. It is frightening, pretty, soft and loud, and totally poignant.

The beginning of "Euroean Son" is one of my favorite openings to a song ever, with its thick rhythmic bass line, and then the double guitar assault of Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison, which thrusts the song into a riotous noise-piece.

The one song I wish was included in the original album, which was recorded in the same sessions is "It Was A Pleasure Then," sung by Nico and written by Reed, Cale and Nico. It is one of my favorite songs. It is so beautiful, with the main elements being Nico's amazing voice (which has more range in this song than any other), Cale's plugged in viola, and a quietly strumming guitar that slowly builds throughout, filling the song with amazing bits of feedback in parts. It is one of those songs that gives you goosebumps with every listen. Genius!

I only wish I had been born 20 years earlier, so I could have experienced their live performances around the time of this release. I am sure it was like witnessing something from another planet!

Anyway, this album has payed for itself millions of times-over in my collection. Just a truly amazing album, full of some of the most original music in rock. And more relevant today than ever...