There’s no sustained attempt at narrative indeed, there is no narration, per se, outside of the remarks of band members, fellow-artists, friends, and family. If one is coming to it Velvets-curious but not Velvets-familiar, then the film could be a somewhat confusing experience. That role would seem to relieve the film of the burden of a coherent narrative it can cater to nostalgia without any obligation to tell a connected story.

(Read everything Ellen Willis ever wrote about them, beginning with her piece for Greil Marcus’s anthology “ Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island.”) If a viewer is steeped in the Velvets’ legend but hungry for the multimedia sights that originally accompanied their sound, then Haynes’s “The Velvet Underground” delivers: it functions almost as online bonus material for all the books and articles and interviews. How, at this very late date, might a documentary filmmaker come in and presume to tell this tale? The Velvet Underground is a storied band in a very literal sense few pioneering rock groups have been written about so well and in so much detail. Most of those who would tune in for the two-hour film already know a lot about the band, with knowledge they’ve cobbled together from print sources. Yet the film’s belated appearance raises questions not just about documentary technique but about audience. Reed is also present, albeit in archival voice-over, to give his side of the story. But Cale gives every impression of being an evenhanded, terrific storyteller and historian. Given that Reed threw Cale out of the band, in September, 1968, after the first two Velvet Underground records, Cale’s prominent talking head might seem to threaten the film’s objectivity. The only founding members with onscreen interviews are John Cale (bass/viola/keyboards) and Maureen (Moe) Tucker (drums). Four of the band’s principals- Lou Reed (guitar/vocals), Sterling Morrison (guitar), Nico (vocals), and Andy Warhol (impresario/genius)-died before the documentary was made. The film’s late arrival does create some unusual narrative challenges. Although the film was long in its coming, the exciting trailer, released in August, and the awareness that the film was directed by Todd Haynes, the virtuoso behind two powerful, quixotic rock-and-roll movies-“Velvet Goldmine” (1998) and “ I’m Not There” (2007)-suggested that the half-century-plus wait may have been worthwhile. Think we’ve missed one of your best Velvet Underground songs? Let us know in the comments section, below.More than a half century after the Velvet Underground’s obscure rise and spectacular implosion, one of the most storied American bands of the nineteen-sixties finally has a proper documentary. Since the main VU line-up was only together for less than five years (The Velvet Underground was christened in late 1965 Lou Reed left in August 1970), the 20 best Velvet Underground songs on our list include more than half their core catalogue – which didn’t make it any harder to narrow it down.

To that end, there are some truly transgressive songs in their catalogue, but there are also some of rock’s most beautiful love ballads and celebratory rockers. Eno was referring to the countless up-and-coming groups who were, at that time, either covering the Velvets’ songs or copping their sound, but there’s a deeper meaning to his observation as well: The Velvet Underground’s music dared you to start thinking differently to approach your life in a more creative way. Our hats are forever off to Brian Eno, who observed in a 1982 interview that The Velvet Underground’s debut album only sold 30,000 records, but everybody who bought one started a band.

The velvet underground online