Velvet Underground – Loaded (70)

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01 - Who Loves the Sun
02 - Sweet Jane
03 - Rock And Roll
04 - Cool it Down
05 - New Age
06 - Head Held High
07 - Lonesome Cowboy Bill
08 - I Found a Reason
09 - Train Round the Bend
10 - Oh! Sweet Nuthin'


After The Velvet Underground cut three albums for the jazz-oriented Verve label that earned them lots of notoriety but negligible sales, the group signed with industry powerhouse Atlantic Records in 1970; label head Ahmet Ertegun supposedly asked Lou Reed to avoid sex and drugs in his songs, and instead focus on making an album "loaded with hits."

Loaded was the result, and with appropriate irony it turned out to be the first VU album that made any noticeable impact on commercial radio — and also their swan song, with Reed leaving the group shortly before its release.

With John Cale long gone from the band, Doug Yule highly prominent (he sings lead on four of the ten tracks), and Maureen Tucker absent on maternity leave, this is hardly a purist's Velvet Underground album.