The
Velvet Underground entry in Universal's environmentally friendly, three-disc
Playlist Plus series features 38 tracks culled from the group's four studio albums, as well as cuts taken from solo
Nico and
Lou Reed records (sadly, no solo
John Cale). For the most part, Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat, Velvet Underground, and
Loaded have arrived more or less intact. Absent tunes like "Black Angel's Death Song," "Jesus," "The Gift," "Lady Godiva's Operation," and "Who Loves the Sun" are augmented by solo
Reed and
Nico tunes such as "Lisa Says" and "These Days." In keeping with the source material, there's a whole lot of great music here, but there are enough key tracks missing to keep it from being definitive. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi