Despite their ill-fated, short-lived, acrimonious reunion in 1993, the Velvet Underground are still the coolest rock band there ever was. Nowadays, music critics and historians talk of their seminal influence on punk or grunge, and you can buy big boxed CD sets (bearing that irresistible sticker 'Contains Previously Unreleased Material') of out-takes and rehearsal sessions, although it seems no live recordings survive from their heyday - that is, before Lou Reed kicked John Cale out of the band, ending three years of almost symbiotic closeness.

LRB 16 September 1999 | PDF Download