Hvem skulle have troet at The Smiths’ musikalske mastermind og guitar-es Johnny Marr er besat af det ‘glemte’ Velvet Underground-album VU, der udkom til stor overraskelse i 1985?! Endda til et punkt hvor han nævner det som hovedinspiration for hans musik til The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead. På det engelske website The Quietus fortæller Marr i denne uge om sine 13 favorit-albums. Her er hvad han har at sige om VU:

When VU came out in 1985, everyone I knew had absorbed the official Velvets albums from the late 60s and early 70s, and had listened to all the bootlegs they could get their hands on. We had heard in the press mention of lost recordings and there were a couple of those songs on bootlegs that were hard to get.

So, when this album came out it was like finding The Commandments 11 to 20. I almost didn’t want to get my hopes up too much as it promised amazing things. When I did get it, I couldn’t believe how good it was. It has a particularly important part in my life, in that The Smiths were already going at that point and we were a successful band. To be hit by something as a fan of music when you are already number one in the album charts yourself – I think Meat Is Murder had just come out at that point – was an utterly brilliant thing. It dropped into my life like a ton of inspiration. I was obsessed with it and, in particular, the versions of ‘I Can’t Stand It’ and ‘Foggy Notion’. I couldn’t understand why that version of ‘Ocean’ hadn’t come out before as it was easily the best one.

I played ‘I Can’t Stand It’ so many times that it stuck in my subconscious and that came out as the inspiration for the rhythm part on the song ‘The Queen Is Dead’. So, the VU album was what I was listening to almost exclusively before I started writing the album The Queen Is Dead. The earlier Velvets albums are so revered that to better them is quite a feat. I have been in many an argument with people who think I am insane for preferring this record. When you take away the reverence for the early albums – which are undeniably incredibly important – VU is my favourite listen.

Hvis du ikke kender albummet, så også en anbefaling herfra. Der er en vital crispness og friskhed over disse VU-indspilninger, som er ret utrolig. At sangmaterialet er voldsomt stærkt og Lou Reed 100% tilstedeværende i sin levering, gør dette post-Velvet Underground-sammensatte værk til noget af en lost classic. Men bedre end samtlige de oprindelige Velvet-albums, som Marr siger? Tre’eren slår den IMO ikke, og bananpladens ikoniske status er svær at blive stillet op imod. Men døm selv. VU er klart det album hvor The Velvet Underground lyder mest som et toptunet rocknroll-band.