The Velvet Underground

White Light/White Heat

About this album

Released in 1968.

Tracks:

Cale debuts as a lead singer on record, reciting The Gift and Lady Godiva's Operation. This is the last original Velvets album with Cale.

Musicians:
John Cale: vocals, electric viola, Vox Continental organ, bass, medical sound effects
Sterling Morrison: bass, guitar, vocals
Lou Reed: guitar, vocals
Maureen Tucker: drums

Other credits:
Gary Kellgren: recording engineer
Acy R. Lehman: cover design
Bob Ludwig: mastering
Billy Name: cover photo
Val Valentin: director of engineering
Tom Wilson: production
Andy Warhol: cover design concept

Cale in UP-TIGHT: The Velvet Underground Story, the book by Victor Bockris & Gerard Malanga:

"Most of the recording was done straight through; Sister Ray was one piece. I Heard Her Call My Name and Here She Comes Now evolved in the studio. We never performed them live. The Gift was a story Lou had written a long time ago when he was at Syracuse University. It was my idea to do it as a spoken-word thing. We had this piece called 'Booker T' that was just an instrumental, so instead of wasting it, we decided to combine them."

White Light/White Heat / Here She Comes Now single

White Light/White Heat, is released in November 1967, with Here She Comes Now on the B-side. Same faith as the previous attempts to get into the charts.