Hi, in the introduction of your analysis you mentioned that this piece is in the tradition of literally modernism. Can you elaborate on that term a little more? Because based on your analysis it seems like this piece fits more within the themes of post modernism. Especially with aspects such as self reference, parody, and the deconstruction of the rock genre. I could be wrong, and if I am could you explain to me the aspects That i am misinterpreting?
tracey williams Great question. It's very difficult for me to comment on musical or literary post-modernism because I'm not altogether sure how to define them. I suppose you could say that artistic post-modernism eschews the notion of progress and denies historicity, positing instead a flat, undifferentiated field of past art that one can borrow from as one chooses -- including the reconfiguration of historical styles, as certain neo-romantic composers do. I don't see this song coming out of that, partly because it's so internally coherent. It has more in common with Joyce, Beckett, Artaud, Burroughs and other modernist figures. Perhaps Warhol could be seen as a liminal figure, as a lot of his ideas stem from Duchamp even as they point towards something very different. I don't feel qualified to venture any further than that.
This is fantastic. I felt an attraction to The Murder Mystery since I first heard it. The song stood in contrast to the rest of the album and seemed to be a kind of anchor for the group's sound. The Velvet Underground were creating fine and subtle pop songs as a departure from their experimental roots. The Murder Mystery was a kind of decryption key that solidified the perverse undertones of the seemingly clean songs on the album. In a weird way, it reminds me of Sunday Morning from their first album with Nico. That song was so calm and tame while the rest of the record was a lurid tour of sex and drugs. Sunday Morning forms the Ying to Murder Mystery's Yang in this context; a drop of order in a swath of chaos and a drop of chaos in a swath of order. Their placement on the album in terms of track order even suggests this.
man (or woman) that is one of the most astute comments on the velvets I've ever read OR heard! I said ∆ up there a little that it harkens back to w. nico, but I've never really been sure why and you just put it into words exactly. its nice to see people still care about what appears to be a dying art to most, the most beautiful art to some. excellent comment!
Thank you, Brian! I try to articulate myself as best and most appropriately as I can, if not for others to find insight or wisdom, then at least for my own good discipline.
I am not a musician, but I have always suspected that this was a work of brilliance. I’ve tried to understand it. I’ve sought out reviews of it. I’ve asked knowledgeable people about it. I’ve never been satisfied until now. I thank you. I am truly grateful. And I thank you.
I wish more reviewers/critics were more like you. I never liked that saying, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." As your videos show, if you have the proper knowledge and analytical skills you can certainly create a thoughtful essay or analysis that goes beyond adjective piling. By the way, are you a fan of Sister Ray?
As an eighteen year old musician, that was proficient enough, with my guitar to play Sister Ray, it was a turning point for me. When I would sit and play along with the album, it felt as though I was hanging out in some dealer's apartment building waiting to score. The characters are so vividly described, in so few words, with the music helping to paint the picture completely. I would love to start playing this, even in my acoustic, when at parties or small gatherings, where me and a couple friends would sing/talk out the characters and the scene we were in at the moment. If things got too personal, I would simply "amp up" my playing to take the attention off of whomever was not enjoying being ,"called out" in front of the group. Ah youth.....
Fantastic analysis. Great to finally see someone approaching this band in terms of what they did with sound. You've talked about parameters of music: pitch, rhythm, timbre, space, etc. I'm not quite sure where my question fits. It may be a consideration unique to indie rock. A good place to start is with the fact that there are two very different 'mixes' of the album. The first "official" version has the instruments pushed up in the mix and the vocals, buried. The second, generally known as the "closet" mix has the voices high in the mix. This state of affairs isn't unheard of in popular music of the era, but I can think of no other album where the each mix communicates something utterly different, and to my ears it makes for two different, indispensable albums. (That the 45 anniversary edition has been released with these two mixes and a third 'mono' mix suggests that I'm not the only one who feels the differences are important.) I don't mean simply that the literary text comes across better in the closet mix, and the texture of the sound more in the first mix (although obviously this is the case) but that the two albums are very different sound objects. I don't prefer one to the other, it's rather like two Warhol silkscreens of the same photographic image, where one is more saturated, or of a slightly different hue than the other and both are successful, perhaps more so if placed side by side. If you want an example of what I'm talking about, go to the part of Murder Mystery just after the crash and then the childlike piano loop that follows it. If you listen to the original mix at about 6:45 the two parallel voices come in more or less simultaneously, fairly deep in the mix. On the closet mix at about 6:42, you'll notice that in the left channel there's a heavy entrance of tape hiss that proceeds the voice by about three seconds and this completely changes how the listener experiences the entrance of the voices. It's a jarring sound event and as integral to how the song works as the division of different 'blacks' in an Ad Reinhardt painting. And the Velvet Underground self-titled is full of such differences from start to finish. My question is how you would describe these subtleties of 'noise' analytically, and if you see any parallels with 20th century electronic music, 'Déserts', 'Gesang der Jünglinge', etc. (Incidentally your description of white noise in the Stockhausen video was the first time I really understood white noise and how it can be 'sculpted''.)
I like how you expose the emptiness of most rock criticism. I'm curious of your opinion of Piero Scaruffi's writing. Personally, I agree with most of his conclusions, but I don't think he does much better than the metaphor dealing of Rolling Stone writers as far as actual analysis goes. I think Rick Beato does a really good job of explaining the techniques that make a pop song stick with the audience. Any comments on those two or other rock critics?
I like how Scaruffi isn't easy to impress. I'm not that familiar with Beato though he seems like an expert communicator, and there aren't nearly enough of those around. Thanks for your note.
I would definitely recommend Beato's "What Makes This Song Great" series, my personal favorites are his videos on Tool and Metallica. He also has a pretty good video on Bach...now that I think about it, it's interesting that both you and he have only made videos about 20th or 21st century musicians, with the exception of Bach. I suppose everyone recognizes the master.
Glad to see someone who appreciates this piece as much as I do and it's about time someone finally decided to take a stab at what it all means. Great video!
This is fantastic - thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas, and providing a wealth of knowledge. Always glad to see someone who cares about The Velvets as much as I do. Peace and love
Have you though about going over a piece from one of the "krautrock" bands (Can, Faust Neu! etc)? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Can especially, given the direct Stockhausen influence. Or maybe some of the more experimental post punk groups, like This Heat?
Thomas H I've already got the next few videos lined up -- the next one will be on a major 20th c composer. But I'll look into those artists. Thanks for writing.
I second the request for Can, specifically! They are a bit of a rabbit hole; so much of their work is edited improvisations, the greatest example of which is the album Ege Bamyasi, in my opinion. Great work, by the way! I'm enjoying your videos very much.
Great analysis, Samuel. Really superb! Personally, I do like the piano motif set in repetition with lyrical text in and of itself (i.e., apart from the fact that layers of noise are added). I think it's quite beautiful. They did a similar thing with "Velvet Nursery Rhyme" on the live reunion album.
I always enjoyed dreaming, of what the Velvets would've done with Quadraphonic Sound recording techniques, when at the height of their musical talents.
Thanks for the wonderful analysis. One small factual correction- the Dylan Thomas poem Do not go gentle into that good night was actually about his father's loss of sight rather than death. A common enough misunderstanding which I once shared myself. And I think Lou probably did too.
The two simultaneous audio channels seem like a sonic equivalent of Warhol's film Chelsea Girls, which has a split screen, i.e., two simultaneous visual channels. The film came out in 1966, so the Velvets would have had time to process the idea and translate it to a different medium. No idea if the film actually influenced this cut, of course.
Thanks for this perceptive comment. Unfortunately, I've never attended a screening of Chelsea Girls, so I can't comment, but it's an intriguing parallel.
These analyses are fantastic. MM is one of those pieces I loved as a young fella: so beguiling, happy-to-be-confusing. Thank you, Mr. Andreyev. I wonder if Can would be too loose to analyze in the same way. Breaking down Faust would be hoot and a half.
This album actually has two different mixes in wide release. Lou Reed mixed the entire album, (nicknamed "The Closet Mix"). The Lou Reed Closet Mix is the best choice, because it is Lou's, and because The Murder Mystery sounds balanced and battling for attention from Lett and Right speakers. The inferior engineer mix by Val Valentin has different vocal tone eq on Left and Right, one side sounds louder, which greatly weakens the effect. Both mixes are included in the 45th Anniversary 6 CD set. The 45th Super Deluxe 6-CD set has a hardcover book that shows photos of the reel-to-reel mixes, Lou's is A-File, but sadly B-File has magic marker saying "We corrected tape for mastering." "Some Kind of Love" is an obvious way to tell, Lou's Closet Mix slowly fades in to full volume, while the inferior album mix starts at full volume. I'm confused about release dates of both versions. I have it on old vinyl of Lou's version, but the 1980s re-release uses the inferior mix. It is worth getting Lou's Closet Mix. I think you used the superior Closet Mix for this video because the Murder Mystery vocals sound balanced and dueling on my laptop, but I'm not sure because I never noticed some guitar licks moving from left to right until I heard this video.
Thank you for this. And it's followed by After Hours. There's a contrast there :-) I carry that "reverse diverse obverse inverse perverse" (don't quote me on the order) mantra around in my head, I'd forgotten where it came from.
Hey Sam, fantastic video... I had forgotten how great the text is in this song. The only point where I disagreed was your comment that this track is unlike anything else in VU's catalogue.... I always think of 'Black Angel's Death Song' as a sort of precursor to 'Murder Mystery,' more so in the live bootlegs (that go on for 15' or more) than the album version. Of course, those recordings are lacking studio treatment, but I read somewhere that in live shows the band tried to reproduce the split, 2xmono effect by panning everything to either extreme left or right and placing the PA speakers as far apart as possible. As for production, and concept for that matter, it is also obviously closely related to 'The Gift'. Reed and Cale must have been aware of experiments in dichotic listening that were going on at around that time. Anyway, once again, great analysis, bravo.
Paul Clift Great to hear from you, Paul. These are good points. It would have been more precise just to say that the track is unlike anything else on that particular album.
Came from your video with Jonathan pageau. This is the second video of yours I have seen following your analysis of frownland. I’m excited to explore your channel more. Thanks!
Wow. That was something. I never thought anyone would step up and try to analyze this bizarre hurricane of a song. I admire your analysis. I like how you flesh out the poetic sections and gave some semblance of context as to what it actually means. I must admit, they make a little sense as they did when I was 9 and heard the Velvet Underground for the first time. Great interpretation nonetheless!
I completely forgot I owned this album and had these songs on my phone. So when this came in shuffle mode I couldn't tell which band it was. Really liked it but was very very weird. Now I'm here after having looked it up. Looking forward to this analysis.
I'm not sure if I've been more effected by your analysis of the music or the poetry. The way you reveal the craft behind both arts is really impressive and enlightening. Do you plan to make videos focused specifically on poetry? If not, maybe you could recommend someone else doing videos in that line. Musically, Alfred Schnittke is one of the composers I find most interesting, but intuitively I suspect you don't have him planned because similar concepts were covered in your Ives video.
This is phenomenal, thank you! I listened to your breakdown of “Frownland” recently, and thought it was brilliant; it actually caused me to return to that song/album for the first time in a while, and I’ve totally reappraised that opening track thanks to your video on it. When I first heard ‘The Velvet Underground’ (album), this was initially my favorite track, and I was a little disappointed by the album as a whole (I’ve since come to love it). I always thought this track would have fit in better with ‘White Light/White Heat’, my favorite of their albums, so it’s interesting to hear that it was recorded in 1968, when WL/WH was released. I’m not suggesting they were recorded together, as I’m fairly certain WL/WH was recorded in late ‘67, as it was released at the beginning of ‘68. It just sort of makes sense to me that it was worked on in separate sessions than the rest of the material on the album, presumably around the time the band would have been playing WL/WH live, and still be in that more avant-garde mode. Anyway, I look forward to returning to, “The Murder Mystery”, and the self-titled album, to see if I get another perspective from it, as I did after your video on, “Frownland”! Thank you! 🙏✌️♾
I'm at work right now and can't watch this sure to be amazing video. this song is truly odd, especially at this point in VUs catalog. kind of harkens back to the w. nico days in the midst of some really soul searching reed tunes.
Brian Smith It's a fascinating piece, there's no question. As I try to demonstrate in the video, it really comes more from an avant garde literary / musical tradition than rock per se..
+Samuel Andreyev OK, now I've seen it. I can agree that this song definitely takes banal, ordinary parts and molds them slowly into something extraordinary. to me it has the "competition with Cale" vibe, and in a Lou reed/john Cale competition, EVERYBODY wins. I've heard, maybe not ALL, but the vast lot of both of their material, and VU is both of their prime in my opinion. not to say the rest is bad, or even mediocre. well...some of it is (probably their cocaine years, I mean, come on! "the original wrapper"? ) anyway, I digress, but you get my drift, I'm sure. thanks again, great perspective and insight as usual.
+Brian Smith also, don't forget that Delmore Schwartz (sp?) was Lou's mentor/hero, so there was always a literary sensibility to Lou's writing. I read in an interview with him one time that he had hoped that if he were still alive, Schwartz would be impressed with his work.
Just read Mojo's 50 Greatest Lou Reed Songs and was puzzled to see that this song never featured - Pale Blue Eyes at number 2, Satellite of Love at 3, but no Murder Mystery.? For me it continues the iconoclasm that epitomises the spirit of the Velvet Underground though is out of character when considering Lou Reed's subsequent solo career. I always thought Cale was the brains behind the VU sound/ethos but this song would belie that theory. I've always wondered if he had anything to do with it's writing or conception before he left the band.
Wow ! J'ai découvert ta chaîne hier, Samuel, par hasard. J'ai dévoré l'entrevue avec John French, ainsi que l'analyse de Frownland. Et puis là ça se poursuit aujourd'hui avez un autre de mes groupes préférés - ça y est, je suis vendu ! Continue ce merveilleux travail ! Je vais retourner sur ton SoundCloud, car mon écoute rapide de quelques-unes de tes compositions m'a beaucoup plu. Longue vie à ta chaîne !
Je serais preneur ! Personnellement, ça m'aiderait à enrichir mon vocabulaire musical, cruellement limité à l'anglais. Je m'interroge souvent sur les équivalences anglais --> français en musique. J'habite à Montréal. Vraiment, je suis complètement épaté par tes analyses (et ton bon goût par-dessus le marché). Impatient de visionner les prochaines !
gator9700 Heureux de voir un compatriote ici. J'ai des concerts de temps en temps à Montréal -- dont un concert portrait à la Chapelle du bon pasteur (rue Sherbrooke Est) à l'automne 2018. Restons en contact.
I always loved this track, always reminded me of slam poetry. You should analyze some Mr. Bungle songs, like None Of Them Knew They Were Robots or Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz
I find this to be one of the most terrifying "rock" songs ever recorded. Bluntly, it scares the everloving SHIT out of me. I'm loving your videos; best channel I've discovered in years! Would love to hear your thoughts on Sisters Ray.....Thanks for your fantastic content!
I love the Velvet Underground but could never get into Sister Ray. It seems like an average song stretched to an inordinate length. Velvets enthusiasts really venerate the track, but I just can't sit through it. 17 minutes? Wow! What's the appeal? I'm more of an All Tomorrow's Parties/New Age type of guy, I suppose.
Another great video Samuel, thank you! Looking forward to the next one! P.S. Have you listened to Scott Walker at all? Lots of interesting songs of his that are worth looking into..
Hello, thanks for your kind words. I have Scott Walker's Tilt and have listened to it many times. There's no question he's a compelling artist (and very strange).
Really awesome video, guess it's a deconstruction, or thesis. I tried to reason with friends of mine how awesome, this song(and album) was when I was 18. Only time I could slip it into a playlist, was nights we all took hallucinogenics. The Gift was more difficult for the few that were open to sit and listen closely due to the "story". But, Lady Godiva's Surgery always seemed to be the most off putting for people to listen to. It would sneak up on them, as it has a cool groove and is rather psychedelic. But as you get further into the song, the sounds of the operation get louder, and one realizes what is happening although too late.....as he makes the first incision. Such a powerful moment. Lou Reed was a literary genius as well as sonically, and is ability to soak up everything, and everyone around him, then put it in song, was uncanny.
The orientation of this song is based not on classic arrangement yet on ones personal principles of musical assertion in my opinion. It makes no attempts to create a pleasant listening experience yet delves the recipient into chaotic sonic embellishments of the artists imagination and creativity. It lingers on the edge of being overwhelming yet sustains the listener through its uncharacteristic manners and intrigue. But I do believe this was more of a purposely unconventional approach to song writing to create a complex emotional and and creative ride which perplexes the senses yet envelopes them into the unknown and unpredictable world which is The Murder Mystery.
I've followed a lot of your youtube videos, Samuel, and I wondered what you think of Krautrock. I have never heard you mention it. (I now see that someone underneath has also raised this; I would still be very interested to hear your response to Krautrock, though.)
Do you have any literary or linguistic training to recognize the formal techniques or you learn them on the way as you anylize a new piece? Because I also note how you pronounce foreign names and words correctly. Do you speak more languages or just look them up? Thanks for doing these videos, i love them.
Beto Moya Thank you. I started out as a poet, actually -- I've published two books so far. I'm bilingual (French / English) and have a good working knowledge of Spanish and German.
The more i watch you the more i love you man. You really have studied these things. As someone who is trying to learn more about these bands, i appreciate it. It does seem a bit anal and overanalytic at times, but since i am that way some times too, i like it! Just watching you rip these writters of crap known as "rock journalists" apart was enough to make me subscribe. Cheers man. (and i really would love to see this kind of analysis on some maybe not so hoity toity artsy fartsy avant garde bands. this treatment on those regular subpar bands would just be so ironically brilliant!)
What is that outro music, which plays after the video is over, and accompanied the "if you like this video" text? Really interesting stuff. What is it?
Hi, I very much enjoyed this video as well as the Beefheart analysis. I want to ask if you are familiar with the work of avant-garde folk musician Joanna Newsom? It seems like something right up your street. Best Wishes from the UK, Petr
MiniOmegaKing I met Jojo Hiroshige in the 90s in Canada and was impressed with his performances. My uncle Greg Curnoe founded the Nihilist Spasm Band in the 1960s, who are considered forerunners of the genre. A little goes a long way, but a little can be very powerful.
Allan MacDonald I've heard it and enjoyed it, but it's not something that lends itself particularly well to analysis. Or perhaps that's just my personal limitation.
Very Good video. I've always skipped the song when listening to this album, but perhaps now I wont! Are you aware of Vasily Andreyev? You share a great name
Hi, in the introduction of your analysis you mentioned that this piece is in the tradition of literally modernism. Can you elaborate on that term a little more? Because based on your analysis it seems like this piece fits more within the themes of post modernism. Especially with aspects such as self reference, parody, and the deconstruction of the rock genre. I could be wrong, and if I am could you explain to me the aspects That i am misinterpreting?
tracey williams Great question. It's very difficult for me to comment on musical or literary post-modernism because I'm not altogether sure how to define them. I suppose you could say that artistic post-modernism eschews the notion of progress and denies historicity, positing instead a flat, undifferentiated field of past art that one can borrow from as one chooses -- including the reconfiguration of historical styles, as certain neo-romantic composers do. I don't see this song coming out of that, partly because it's so internally coherent. It has more in common with Joyce, Beckett, Artaud, Burroughs and other modernist figures. Perhaps Warhol could be seen as a liminal figure, as a lot of his ideas stem from Duchamp even as they point towards something very different. I don't feel qualified to venture any further than that.
Thank you for your response!
@@samuel_andreyev Wow! Follow up question: HUH?! ;)
@@samuel_andreyev I completely agree with your assessment
This is fantastic. I felt an attraction to The Murder Mystery since I first heard it. The song stood in contrast to the rest of the album and seemed to be a kind of anchor for the group's sound. The Velvet Underground were creating fine and subtle pop songs as a departure from their experimental roots. The Murder Mystery was a kind of decryption key that solidified the perverse undertones of the seemingly clean songs on the album.
In a weird way, it reminds me of Sunday Morning from their first album with Nico. That song was so calm and tame while the rest of the record was a lurid tour of sex and drugs. Sunday Morning forms the Ying to Murder Mystery's Yang in this context; a drop of order in a swath of chaos and a drop of chaos in a swath of order. Their placement on the album in terms of track order even suggests this.
man (or woman) that is one of the most astute comments on the velvets I've ever read OR heard! I said ∆ up there a little that it harkens back to w. nico, but I've never really been sure why and you just put it into words exactly. its nice to see people still care about what appears to be a dying art to most, the most beautiful art to some. excellent comment!
Thank you, Brian! I try to articulate myself as best and most appropriately as I can, if not for others to find insight or wisdom, then at least for my own good discipline.
I am not a musician, but I have always suspected that this was a work of brilliance. I’ve tried to understand it. I’ve sought out reviews of it. I’ve asked knowledgeable people about it. I’ve never been satisfied until now.
I thank you. I am truly grateful. And I thank you.
I wish more reviewers/critics were more like you. I never liked that saying, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." As your videos show, if you have the proper knowledge and analytical skills you can certainly create a thoughtful essay or analysis that goes beyond adjective piling. By the way, are you a fan of Sister Ray?
pie460 Thank you very much. Yes, I love Sister Ray. White Light is my favorite VU album..
As an eighteen year old musician, that was proficient enough, with my guitar to play Sister Ray, it was a turning point for me. When I would sit and play along with the album, it felt as though I was hanging out in some dealer's apartment building waiting to score. The characters are so vividly described, in so few words, with the music helping to paint the picture completely. I would love to start playing this, even in my acoustic, when at parties or small gatherings, where me and a couple friends would sing/talk out the characters and the scene we were in at the moment. If things got too personal, I would simply "amp up" my playing to take the attention off of whomever was not enjoying being ,"called out" in front of the group. Ah youth.....
I love Zappa but I don't agree with that phrase.
If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, surely writing music would be like dancing a building.
I love this, finally someone giving rock music some serious musical analysis
Nice to hear from you, glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned.
I knew there was something deeper to this song but it was so dense I couldn't break it down, many thanks for doing so!
Oziel Esparza So glad I could be of service.
I can see why people might think it's incomprehensible, but this is probably one of my favorite rock songs. Great video!
Fantastic analysis. Great to finally see someone approaching this band in terms of what they did with sound. You've talked about parameters of music: pitch, rhythm, timbre, space, etc. I'm not quite sure where my question fits. It may be a consideration unique to indie rock. A good place to start is with the fact that there are two very different 'mixes' of the album. The first "official" version has the instruments pushed up in the mix and the vocals, buried. The second, generally known as the "closet" mix has the voices high in the mix. This state of affairs isn't unheard of in popular music of the era, but I can think of no other album where the each mix communicates something utterly different, and to my ears it makes for two different, indispensable albums. (That the 45 anniversary edition has been released with these two mixes and a third 'mono' mix suggests that I'm not the only one who feels the differences are important.) I don't mean simply that the literary text comes across better in the closet mix, and the texture of the sound more in the first mix (although obviously this is the case) but that the two albums are very different sound objects. I don't prefer one to the other, it's rather like two Warhol silkscreens of the same photographic image, where one is more saturated, or of a slightly different hue than the other and both are successful, perhaps more so if placed side by side. If you want an example of what I'm talking about, go to the part of Murder Mystery just after the crash and then the childlike piano loop that follows it. If you listen to the original mix at about 6:45 the two parallel voices come in more or less simultaneously, fairly deep in the mix. On the closet mix at about 6:42, you'll notice that in the left channel there's a heavy entrance of tape hiss that proceeds the voice by about three seconds and this completely changes how the listener experiences the entrance of the voices. It's a jarring sound event and as integral to how the song works as the division of different 'blacks' in an Ad Reinhardt painting. And the Velvet Underground self-titled is full of such differences from start to finish. My question is how you would describe these subtleties of 'noise' analytically, and if you see any parallels with 20th century electronic music, 'Déserts', 'Gesang der Jünglinge', etc. (Incidentally your description of white noise in the Stockhausen video was the first time I really understood white noise and how it can be 'sculpted''.)
Your videos are always very interesting and well-made. Keep up the good work!
Lars Von Trier Thank you.
I like how you expose the emptiness of most rock criticism. I'm curious of your opinion of Piero Scaruffi's writing. Personally, I agree with most of his conclusions, but I don't think he does much better than the metaphor dealing of Rolling Stone writers as far as actual analysis goes. I think Rick Beato does a really good job of explaining the techniques that make a pop song stick with the audience. Any comments on those two or other rock critics?
I like how Scaruffi isn't easy to impress. I'm not that familiar with Beato though he seems like an expert communicator, and there aren't nearly enough of those around. Thanks for your note.
I would definitely recommend Beato's "What Makes This Song Great" series, my personal favorites are his videos on Tool and Metallica. He also has a pretty good video on Bach...now that I think about it, it's interesting that both you and he have only made videos about 20th or 21st century musicians, with the exception of Bach. I suppose everyone recognizes the master.
Glad to see someone who appreciates this piece as much as I do and it's about time someone finally decided to take a stab at what it all means. Great video!
This is fantastic - thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas, and providing a wealth of knowledge. Always glad to see someone who cares about The Velvets as much as I do. Peace and love
Moe tucker's story is amazing . A woman in the beginning of alernative visions in rock!
Have you though about going over a piece from one of the "krautrock" bands (Can, Faust Neu! etc)? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Can especially, given the direct Stockhausen influence. Or maybe some of the more experimental post punk groups, like This Heat?
Thomas H I've already got the next few videos lined up -- the next one will be on a major 20th c composer. But I'll look into those artists. Thanks for writing.
Yes! This Heat's debut is an incredible experiment in musique concrete.
Samuel, I love seeing your comments on the Beefheart FB page I'm on. I'm on at least 3. Love yr analysis of his songs as well as yr Drumbo interview
I second the request for Can, specifically! They are a bit of a rabbit hole; so much of their work is edited improvisations, the greatest example of which is the album Ege Bamyasi, in my opinion. Great work, by the way! I'm enjoying your videos very much.
Something from Tago Mago PLEEEEAAAASSSEEEE!!!!
I used to listen to this song endlessly trying to decipher it. It's a very strange song. I'm happy to have found this video. Thank you!
Jose Noriega No problem. Thanks for writing.
The whole record is a message to Cale. We can do what you did, better and also more heartfelt things than you could ever imagine.
Great analysis, Samuel. Really superb! Personally, I do like the piano motif set in repetition with lyrical text in and of itself (i.e., apart from the fact that layers of noise are added). I think it's quite beautiful. They did a similar thing with "Velvet Nursery Rhyme" on the live reunion album.
Great insight to a highly overlooked piece of genius. Thank you Samuel.
offisk dahl No problem, glad you liked it.
I always enjoyed dreaming, of what the Velvets would've done with Quadraphonic Sound recording techniques, when at the height of their musical talents.
Thanks for the wonderful analysis. One small factual correction- the Dylan Thomas poem Do not go gentle into that good night was actually about his father's loss of sight rather than death. A common enough misunderstanding which I once shared myself. And I think Lou probably did too.
The two simultaneous audio channels seem like a sonic equivalent of Warhol's film Chelsea Girls, which has a split screen, i.e., two simultaneous visual channels. The film came out in 1966, so the Velvets would have had time to process the idea and translate it to a different medium. No idea if the film actually influenced this cut, of course.
Thanks for this perceptive comment. Unfortunately, I've never attended a screening of Chelsea Girls, so I can't comment, but it's an intriguing parallel.
love this album and this analysis thank you!
These analyses are fantastic. MM is one of those pieces I loved as a young fella: so beguiling, happy-to-be-confusing. Thank you, Mr. Andreyev. I wonder if Can would be too loose to analyze in the same way. Breaking down Faust would be hoot and a half.
Beat poetry esque with the lyrical wordplay and repetition for sure
Amazing analysis, this is one of my favorite albums from all time. Could you possibly do an analysis on Swans?
This album actually has two different mixes in wide release. Lou Reed mixed the entire album, (nicknamed "The Closet Mix"). The Lou Reed Closet Mix is the best choice, because it is Lou's, and because The Murder Mystery sounds balanced and battling for attention from Lett and Right speakers. The inferior engineer mix by Val Valentin has different vocal tone eq on Left and Right, one side sounds louder, which greatly weakens the effect. Both mixes are included in the 45th Anniversary 6 CD set. The 45th Super Deluxe 6-CD set has a hardcover book that shows photos of the reel-to-reel mixes, Lou's is A-File, but sadly B-File has magic marker saying "We corrected tape for mastering." "Some Kind of Love" is an obvious way to tell, Lou's Closet Mix slowly fades in to full volume, while the inferior album mix starts at full volume. I'm confused about release dates of both versions. I have it on old vinyl of Lou's version, but the 1980s re-release uses the inferior mix. It is worth getting Lou's Closet Mix. I think you used the superior Closet Mix for this video because the Murder Mystery vocals sound balanced and dueling on my laptop, but I'm not sure because I never noticed some guitar licks moving from left to right until I heard this video.
Thank you for this.
And it's followed by After Hours. There's a contrast there :-)
I carry that "reverse diverse obverse inverse perverse" (don't quote me on the order) mantra around in my head, I'd forgotten where it came from.
Fascinating analysis! You really put this song under a microscope. Thank you so much!
Sharon Baker My pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
You look liked a an alternate, happier version of Lou reed
Great analysis, I'm hooked to your videos. I love this velvet underground album to bits
Hey Sam, fantastic video... I had forgotten how great the text is in this song.
The only point where I disagreed was your comment that this track is unlike anything else in VU's catalogue.... I always think of 'Black Angel's Death Song' as a sort of precursor to 'Murder Mystery,' more so in the live bootlegs (that go on for 15' or more) than the album version. Of course, those recordings are lacking studio treatment, but I read somewhere that in live shows the band tried to reproduce the split, 2xmono effect by panning everything to either extreme left or right and placing the PA speakers as far apart as possible. As for production, and concept for that matter, it is also obviously closely related to 'The Gift'. Reed and Cale must have been aware of experiments in dichotic listening that were going on at around that time. Anyway, once again, great analysis, bravo.
Paul Clift Great to hear from you, Paul. These are good points. It would have been more precise just to say that the track is unlike anything else on that particular album.
It's true, this track really does stand out in that context....
Congratulations once again on your big news, by the way!
Came from your video with Jonathan pageau. This is the second video of yours I have seen following your analysis of frownland. I’m excited to explore your channel more. Thanks!
Wow. That was something. I never thought anyone would step up and try to analyze this bizarre hurricane of a song. I admire your analysis. I like how you flesh out the poetic sections and gave some semblance of context as to what it actually means. I must admit, they make a little sense as they did when I was 9 and heard the Velvet Underground for the first time. Great interpretation nonetheless!
I completely forgot I owned this album and had these songs on my phone. So when this came in shuffle mode I couldn't tell which band it was. Really liked it but was very very weird. Now I'm here after having looked it up. Looking forward to this analysis.
I'm not sure if I've been more effected by your analysis of the music or the poetry. The way you reveal the craft behind both arts is really impressive and enlightening. Do you plan to make videos focused specifically on poetry? If not, maybe you could recommend someone else doing videos in that line. Musically, Alfred Schnittke is one of the composers I find most interesting, but intuitively I suspect you don't have him planned because similar concepts were covered in your Ives video.
This is phenomenal, thank you! I listened to your breakdown of “Frownland” recently, and thought it was brilliant; it actually caused me to return to that song/album for the first time in a while, and I’ve totally reappraised that opening track thanks to your video on it.
When I first heard ‘The Velvet Underground’ (album), this was initially my favorite track, and I was a little disappointed by the album as a whole (I’ve since come to love it). I always thought this track would have fit in better with ‘White Light/White Heat’, my favorite of their albums, so it’s interesting to hear that it was recorded in 1968, when WL/WH was released. I’m not suggesting they were recorded together, as I’m fairly certain WL/WH was recorded in late ‘67, as it was released at the beginning of ‘68. It just sort of makes sense to me that it was worked on in separate sessions than the rest of the material on the album, presumably around the time the band would have been playing WL/WH live, and still be in that more avant-garde mode.
Anyway, I look forward to returning to, “The Murder Mystery”, and the self-titled album, to see if I get another perspective from it, as I did after your video on, “Frownland”! Thank you! 🙏✌️♾
Could you do a Zappa video of some sort?
Brandon Burroughs Hi, yes I'm planning to.
I truly enjoy your content and perspective and will donate as soon as possible.
Brian Smith Thank you for your kind words -- I truly appreciate it. Patreon contributions allow me to make more, and hopefully better, videos.
I'm at work right now and can't watch this sure to be amazing video. this song is truly odd, especially at this point in VUs catalog. kind of harkens back to the w. nico days in the midst of some really soul searching reed tunes.
Brian Smith It's a fascinating piece, there's no question. As I try to demonstrate in the video, it really comes more from an avant garde literary / musical tradition than rock per se..
+Samuel Andreyev OK, now I've seen it. I can agree that this song definitely takes banal, ordinary parts and molds them slowly into something extraordinary. to me it has the "competition with Cale" vibe, and in a Lou reed/john Cale competition, EVERYBODY wins. I've heard, maybe not ALL, but the vast lot of both of their material, and VU is both of their prime in my opinion. not to say the rest is bad, or even mediocre. well...some of it is (probably their cocaine years, I mean, come on! "the original wrapper"? ) anyway, I digress, but you get my drift, I'm sure. thanks again, great perspective and insight as usual.
+Brian Smith also, don't forget that Delmore Schwartz (sp?) was Lou's mentor/hero, so there was always a literary sensibility to Lou's writing. I read in an interview with him one time that he had hoped that if he were still alive, Schwartz would be impressed with his work.
Just read Mojo's 50 Greatest Lou Reed Songs and was puzzled to see that this song never featured - Pale Blue Eyes at number 2, Satellite of Love at 3, but no Murder Mystery.? For me it continues the iconoclasm that epitomises the spirit of the Velvet Underground though is out of character when considering Lou Reed's subsequent solo career. I always thought Cale was the brains behind the VU sound/ethos but this song would belie that theory. I've always wondered if he had anything to do with it's writing or conception before he left the band.
Very interesting! Sort of reminds me of Elliott Carter's Syringa in the counterpoint of texts and textures.
Noah Mayer Spore I have to say would never have thought of that comparaison!
Samuel Andreyev The similarities end there!
Wow ! J'ai découvert ta chaîne hier, Samuel, par hasard. J'ai dévoré l'entrevue avec John French, ainsi que l'analyse de Frownland. Et puis là ça se poursuit aujourd'hui avez un autre de mes groupes préférés - ça y est, je suis vendu ! Continue ce merveilleux travail ! Je vais retourner sur ton SoundCloud, car mon écoute rapide de quelques-unes de tes compositions m'a beaucoup plu. Longue vie à ta chaîne !
gator9700 Merci beaucoup, oú habites-tu ? Je me dis depuis un moment que je devrais vraiment faire une vidéo en français un de ces jours..
Je serais preneur ! Personnellement, ça m'aiderait à enrichir mon vocabulaire musical, cruellement limité à l'anglais. Je m'interroge souvent sur les équivalences anglais --> français en musique. J'habite à Montréal.
Vraiment, je suis complètement épaté par tes analyses (et ton bon goût par-dessus le marché). Impatient de visionner les prochaines !
gator9700 Heureux de voir un compatriote ici. J'ai des concerts de temps en temps à Montréal -- dont un concert portrait à la Chapelle du bon pasteur (rue Sherbrooke Est) à l'automne 2018. Restons en contact.
Certainement ! Ça m'intéressera d'y aller, c'est sûr ! Quel heureux hasard quand même.
I always loved this track, always reminded me of slam poetry. You should analyze some Mr. Bungle songs, like None Of Them Knew They Were Robots or Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz
Man these are some high quality videos
Much obliged
This:
is a really fucking helpful review.
I find this to be one of the most terrifying "rock" songs ever recorded. Bluntly, it scares the everloving SHIT out of me.
I'm loving your videos; best channel I've discovered in years! Would love to hear your thoughts on Sisters Ray.....Thanks for your fantastic content!
vollsticks It is terrifying, isn't it? Glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Sister Ray is amazing. WLWH is one of my favourite records, by anyone.
I love the Velvet Underground but could never get into Sister Ray. It seems like an average song stretched to an inordinate length. Velvets enthusiasts really venerate the track, but I just can't sit through it. 17 minutes? Wow! What's the appeal?
I'm more of an All Tomorrow's Parties/New Age type of guy, I suppose.
I feel the same way. I like the fact that its huge and profane but its not on my top ten list by a long sight.
Another great video Samuel, thank you! Looking forward to the next one!
P.S.
Have you listened to Scott Walker at all? Lots of interesting songs of his that are worth looking into..
Hello, thanks for your kind words. I have Scott Walker's Tilt and have listened to it many times. There's no question he's a compelling artist (and very strange).
I had a feeling you'd have heard Scott Walker before, thanks for the response :)
great analysis, love the song too. can you do analysis for "Let's go away for awhile'' or another song from Pet Sounds?
Just subscribed, you are a vault of wonderful information .
Hi Samuel, what are your thoughts on Gérard Grisey? I've recently heard Les espaces acoustiques and was amazed by its richness and range of sounds
Adam I think Gérard Grisey was a genius, and certainly one of the most important composers of the last 50 years.
Really awesome video, guess it's a deconstruction, or thesis.
I tried to reason with friends of mine how awesome, this song(and album) was when I was 18. Only time I could slip it into a playlist, was nights we all took hallucinogenics. The Gift was more difficult for the few that were open to sit and listen closely due to the "story". But, Lady Godiva's Surgery always seemed to be the most off putting for people to listen to. It would sneak up on them, as it has a cool groove and is rather psychedelic. But as you get further into the song, the sounds of the operation get louder, and one realizes what is happening although too late.....as he makes the first incision. Such a powerful moment. Lou Reed was a literary genius as well as sonically, and is ability to soak up everything, and everyone around him, then put it in song, was uncanny.
The orientation of this song is based not on classic arrangement yet on ones personal principles of musical assertion in my opinion.
It makes no attempts to create a pleasant listening experience yet delves the recipient into chaotic sonic embellishments of the artists imagination and creativity.
It lingers on the edge of being overwhelming yet sustains the listener through its uncharacteristic manners and intrigue.
But I do believe this was more of a purposely unconventional approach to song writing to create a complex emotional and and creative ride which perplexes the senses yet envelopes them into the unknown and unpredictable world which is The Murder Mystery.
Thanks, Andreyev! I really appreciate the work you are doing. Why don't you analyze a piece by the Sun City Girls?
I've followed a lot of your youtube videos, Samuel, and I wondered what you think of Krautrock. I have never heard you mention it. (I now see that someone underneath has also raised this; I would still be very interested to hear your response to Krautrock, though.)
Thanks for the video. I'd love to hear your opinion of Erik Satie's Vexations...
yeild101 I think it's hilarious, in the best sense.
I guess the 'counterpoint' refers to the moments when a line begins to be sung before the previous line is finished?
Do you have any literary or linguistic training to recognize the formal techniques or you learn them on the way as you anylize a new piece? Because I also note how you pronounce foreign names and words correctly. Do you speak more languages or just look them up?
Thanks for doing these videos, i love them.
Beto Moya Thank you. I started out as a poet, actually -- I've published two books so far. I'm bilingual (French / English) and have a good working knowledge of Spanish and German.
Love your videos man!!!
The James brothers band Thank you -- that's kind
The more i watch you the more i love you man. You really have studied these things. As someone who is trying to learn more about these bands, i appreciate it. It does seem a bit anal and overanalytic at times, but since i am that way some times too, i like it! Just watching you rip these writters of crap known as "rock journalists" apart was enough to make me subscribe.
Cheers man.
(and i really would love to see this kind of analysis on some maybe not so hoity toity artsy fartsy avant garde bands. this treatment on those regular subpar bands would just be so ironically brilliant!)
What do you think of Royal Trux's song "(Edge of the) Ape Oven"?
What is that outro music, which plays after the video is over, and accompanied the "if you like this video" text? Really interesting stuff. What is it?
Can "avant garde" have a "tradition"?
Problem Dogg has a great cover of this song
Hi,
I very much enjoyed this video as well as the Beefheart analysis.
I want to ask if you are familiar with the work of avant-garde folk musician Joanna Newsom?
It seems like something right up your street.
Best Wishes from the UK,
Petr
Petr Svoren Yes, I have heard her music and enjoyed it.
Great video, got a quick question for you. What're your thoughts on noise music?
MiniOmegaKing I met Jojo Hiroshige in the 90s in Canada and was impressed with his performances. My uncle Greg Curnoe founded the Nihilist Spasm Band in the 1960s, who are considered forerunners of the genre. A little goes a long way, but a little can be very powerful.
nice
your microphone is a bit noisy but you probably knew that, might wanna chuck a sound gate or something on it, its a nice noise tho
billied_2003 It was a hot day and the fan of my macbook was operating noisily, unfortunately..
Nice vid, subscribed
_Insipid piano motif_ LOL
There's a song title waiting for some music.
Just saw this video for the first time. Very well put togheter in every way. By the way, do you like the early Pink Floyd stuff?
Syfoll Oh yes, huge Syd Barrett fan.
High five! Post-Syd and Pre-Dark Side?
Syfoll Saucerful and Ummagumma are personal favourites. See Saw is one of the best songs in their catalogue
Samuel Andreyev very cool! Have a nice day
Im a tiny bit upset UA-cam didnt notify me of any of your latest vids
Smh
Juan Olivo You didn't receive any notification? And you're subscribed?
Do you appreciate Aphex Twin's work? Richard D James. I would really love to hear your thoughts on his work if it's of interest to you.
Allan MacDonald I've heard it and enjoyed it, but it's not something that lends itself particularly well to analysis. Or perhaps that's just my personal limitation.
Very Good video. I've always skipped the song when listening to this album, but perhaps now I wont! Are you aware of Vasily Andreyev? You share a great name
Jordan Peterson Brought me here. Great stuff. You talked about the sorry state of Rock Journalism. Do you have a Rock Journalist you really enjoy?
Yes -- Nick Kent is an excellent rock journalist. And thanks.
I know you're probably swamped with requests, but could you do a video on Fluxus?
Justin Byers Is Ligeti good enough?
Samuel Andreyev totally
yea that and drugs .
I missed the part where you explained why anyone would write two poems and then make each unintelligible by reciting them at the same time.