Ten years after they first emerged from Warhol’s Factory, the Velvet Underground loomed larger than ever before in the CBGB-centered NYC punk scene of the mid-1970s. With Patti Smith leading the charge — she covered the Velvets frequently  — John Cale and Lou Reed suddenly found themselves with a whole new generation of acolytes. What [...]

Tuesday, while walking through the hallowed halls of Capitol Records’ studios, in Hollywood, surrounded by decades of recorded musical history, I had a conversation with a friend regarding album art: the power it can wield, and its demise over the past 20+ years, thanks to, first, compact discs, and more recently MP3s (guilty). This got [...]

The enmity between Lou Reed and John Cale is no secret. After Cale’s departure from the Velvet Underground in 1968 (following the release of White Light/White Heat), there was really only one thing that still connected them: Andy Warhol. Seems like that was enough to put a temporary halt to about 20 years of bad [...]