Loaded (The Velvet Underground album)

Loaded
Studio album by
the Velvet Underground
ReleasedNovember 1970
RecordedApril–August 1970
StudioAtlantic, New York City
Genre
Length39:48 (original pressing)
40:35 ("full length" version)
LabelCotillion
ProducerGeoff Haslam · Shel Kagan · The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground chronology
The Velvet Underground
(1969) 		Loaded
(1970) 		Live at Max's Kansas City
(1972)
Singles from Loaded
  1. "Who Loves the Sun"
    Released: April 1971[2]
  2. "Head Held High"
    Released: 1971 (France)
  3. "Sweet Jane"
    Released: July 1973

Loaded is the fourth studio album by the American rock band the Velvet Underground, released in November 1970 by Atlantic Records subsidiary Cotillion. It was the final album recorded featuring the band’s remaining original members, including the lead singer and primary songwriter Lou Reed, who left the band shortly before the album's release, and the guitarist Sterling Morrison, who left the band in 1971 along with the drummer Maureen Tucker.[3][4] For this reason, it is often considered by fans to be the last "true" Velvet Underground album.[5] The multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule remained and released the album Squeeze in 1973 before the band's dissolution the same year.

Despite having a number of singles originate from it, Loaded itself failed to chart.[6] It has retrospectively gained critical acclaim; Loaded was ranked number 110 in 2012, and number 242 in 2020, on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[7][8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Greene was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (August 23, 1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 870. ISBN 9780862415419.
  3. ^ Bockris, Victor (1994). Transformer: The Lou Reed Story. New York City: Simon & Schuster. p. 177. ISBN 0-684-80366-6.
  4. ^ Unterberger, Richie (2009). White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day. Outline Press Ltd. pp. 307, 317. ISBN 978-1-906002-81-7.
  5. ^ Sommer, Tim (October 30, 2015). "The Velvet Underground's 'Loaded' Is Mediocre—But It's Still Important". The New York Observer. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  6. ^ Molanphy, Chris (November 1, 2013). "Embrace and Repel: Lou Reed's Chart History". Pitchfork. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference 500 greatest albums was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2021.