The Velvet Underground

By this point in rock history, it's a given that the Velvet Underground were one of the most important and influential American bands of all time, and that the four studio albums they recorded between 1966 and 1970 are brilliant and essential listening. The first three of those albums -- The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat, and The Velvet Underground -- are collected in toto on this box set. As a listening experience, this is all glorious stuff, from the adventurous and decadent pop/rock of the first album, to the noisy assault of White Light/White Heat, and concluding with the quieter and more contemplative surfaces of the third disc. But if you're interested enough in the Velvet Underground to pick up a three-disc box set of their first three albums, logic would dictate that you might as well go the whole nine yards and get Peel Slowly and See, the five-disc box that features these three discs in full along with the band's final album, Loaded, a full disc of early acoustic demos, and dozens of live tracks, unreleased recordings, and "Lost Album" cuts as bonus material. Chronicles is most of what you need from the Velvet Underground, and that's a fine thing, but Peel Slowly and See is everything you need from the Velvets, and while it costs more, it's ultimately a better value. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide