Another View

Like VU, 1986’s Another View is a collection of songs discovered by The Velvet Underground’s label in the early ’80s while planning to reissue the band’s albums on vinyl. As influential as they’d been, they hadn’t recorded much: If you started playing their albums chronologically at 9 am (discounting the post-Lou Reed Squeeze), you’d be done before noon. So, to get not one but two collections supplementing their legacy is an event, both musically and historically. Listening to Another View, you’re reminded just how mercurial they are: direct one minute (“We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together”) and obscure the next (“Hey Mr. Rain”), uplifting (“Rock and Roll”) and goofy (“Coney Island Steeplechase”), always arty but never pretentious—a rock band you could mistake for neighbours.