was John Cale the true brains of the Velvet Underground?

>>71969059
Yes

>>71969059
No, and only hipsters who just found out VU wasn't Lou Reed's backing band think so.

>>71969059
He was the brains behind the interesting side of VU
Lou was the brains behind the pop side of it

Both were equally needed to be VU

>>71969059
Yes

No, but he has a better solo career than Reed

>TVU release White Light/White Heat
>Cale leaves the band
>Lou Reed takes control of the band and releases s/t
>realizes later that experimental TVU was better
>releases Metal Machine Music
>It's shit

Yeah, John Cale was the better musician

>>71969550
>applying a nonexistent narrative to artists careers
wtf is wrong with you?

>>71969059
How did Andy know that a gay drug addict with an bachelors in English and an autistic viola player from Wales will be great musicians. I wouldn't think anyone would have known their artistic potential before Andy found them. What did Andy see in them?

>>71969059
It's not like nico (only on the first album of course) or reed didn't make great solo albums, so it was a combination of all those factors. Not to say that John Cale isn't a fantastic producer, songwriter and arranger.

Considering they released 1.5 good albums without him, no.

>>71970423
IIRC they were already playing music before Andy found them

Well they sound very different after his departure so he obviously had an effect on the sound. Wouldn't necessarily say he improved it, nor did he worsen it.

WL/WH > TVU > TVU&N >>> L