CLOSER
The Velvets’ second album dragged rock music to new places. Gary Tipp couldn’t hit it sideways
VINYL’S GREAT E S T FINAL TRACKS
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After 59 seconds of relative calm, European Son, the final track on The Velvet Underground’s debut album, is abruptly interrupted by an almighty crash before mutating into a six-minute burst of frenetic, avant jazz-like experimentation. The ‘crash’ was created by John Cale smacking a stack of dishes with a metal chair and the track was a discordant precursor to what was to come; the unforgiving methamphetamine onslaught of White Light/White Heat.