The Velvet Underground "White Light/White Heat"

The Velvet Underground's second studio album, "White Light/White Heat", was released on Verve Records on January 30, 1968. It was the last album that included John Cale, a founding member and multi-instrumentalist, as he was fired after the album's recording. This followed Andy Warhol's departure, who produced the band's debut album, "The Velvet Underground & Nico". The band hired Steve Sesnick as their manager and Tom Wilson as the producer for "White Light/White Heat". The album was engineered by Gary Kellgren.

Lyrically, the album explores controversial themes like sex, amphetamines, and drag queens, similar to their debut album. Lou Reed, the band's primary songwriter, was inspired by authors like William S. Burroughs and Alice Bailey. The lyrics feature a cast of characters, like in "The Gift" and "Sister Ray", and Reed's musical influence included jazz music and saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

The album was recorded quickly and based on the band's live sound, using improvisation techniques. They played loudly with new equipment from an endorsement deal with Vox, which contributed to the album's distortion and compression. While the final product was not well-received by most band members, "Sister Ray", a 17-minute track, is considered a standout piece by critics and fans.

"White Light/White Heat" did not sell as many copies as their debut album and peaked at 199 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. The album's only single, "White Light/White Heat", failed to chart, which the band blamed on airplay bans and insufficient promotion from Verve. The album was not positively reviewed by mainstream music critics at the time, but received attention from underground newspapers. Nonetheless, it significantly influenced early punk rock and no wave and is frequently included on lists of the greatest albums of all time.