CD CORNER : Exploring Rock’s Velvet Underground

What is one thing that David Bowie, R.E.M., Bryan Ferry, Patti Smith and the Cowboy Junkies all agree on? That the Velvet Underground was one of the great American rock ‘n’ roll bands.

The New York group was short-lived (it released its first album in 1967 and was history by 1970), but it brought an urban social realism and arty sensibility to rock that stretched the music’s boundaries as much as any other U.S. group of its time.

That makes PolyGram’s “The Best of the Velvet Underground/Words and Music of Lou Reed” a welcome introduction--especially timely in a year when Reed, after several uneven releases, has rebounded with one of the most acclaimed albums of 1989, “New York.”

The 62-minute collection (also available in cassette) brings together for the first time 15 of the Velvets’ best-known songs from its early Verve/MGM Records packages and “Loaded,” which was released in 1970 by Atlantic Records.

The material--ranging from “I’m Waiting for the Man” and “Heroin” to “White Light/White Heat” and “Sweet Jane”--remains remarkably gripping; a walk on society’s wild side that is as alternately unsettling and stirring as the “Exile on Main Street” portraits of the Rolling Stones.

SOUND ADVICE: Rock & Roll Disc, a monthly CD review journal published in Memphis, in its October issue focused in on the sound quality of CD reissues, listing the 100 best-sounding reissues and the 10 worst-sounding reissues. (The magazine editors defined a reissue as any album that was released in vinyl or cassette before compact discs became widely available in this country in the mid ‘80s.)

And the winner: “Buddy Holly/From the Original Master Tapes.” Praising the MCA Records release, Rock & Roll Disc editor Tom Graves declared, “This disc is the best argument I know for owning a CD player.” The album was remastered by Steve Hoffman, who now works with DCC Compact Classics.

Runners-up, in order: Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” (the Mobile Fidelity edition), Steely Dan’s “Aja” (Mobile Fidelity), Roxy Music’s “Avalon” (Warner Bros.) and Donald Fagen’s “The Nightfly” (Warner Bros.). The biggest surprise on the list was the No. 8 entry: the Beatles’ “Ultra Rare Trax 1 and 2,” the bootleg packages that appeared last year. Graves argues the sound quality of the bootlegs is far superior to most of the official Capitol Beatles packages.

The magazine expressed special fondness for the CD reissues of Mobile Fidelity, Bear Family, Rhino, DCC, Rykodisc, MCA and PolyGram, with the most displeasure for Columbia Records. But Graves pointed out that many of the problem Columbia CDs were early releases, which have since been remastered and reserviced to stores.

And the worst, according to Rock & Roll Disc: the original CD of Santana’s “Abraxas” (which was since remastered with better sound), Derek & the Dominos’ “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” (a remixed album is due next year) and Elvis Costello’s “My Aim Is True” (a remastered version is reportedly on the way). More information about Rock & Roll Disc may be obtained by phoning (800) 522-2410.