Rattle your brain!

You're Driving Me Insane 7" (1977, 1980)
Before the Velvets, Lou Reed worked as part of a hack team at Pickwick Records churning out cheesy songs for cheesy comps on a cheesy label. These tracks, by "The Roughnecks" and "The Beachnuts", are two nuggets taken from one of these mid-60's comps called 'Soundsville!' and bootlegged on this French single.

Heroin

Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
After dabbling along, Lou Reed and John Cale and Sterling Morrison hooked up with some nut named Andrew Warhola and a German singer named Nico. Inevitably, they put out this explosive piece of plastic. And now I present it to you, dear followers, in glorious monophonic fidelity. Perfect for all tomorrow's parties!

What goes on

The Velvet Underground (1969)
For their 3rd longplayer The Velvets come out more mellow and somber compared to their previous efforts. Rumor has it that this was in part because their swell noise-making equipment was stolen while on tour. Still it's a fantastic plastic, hitting punk, art and gentle tones. See the light.

Primitive Lou Reed

The Primitives 'The Ostrich/Sneaky Pete' 7" (1964)
In 1963, Lou Reed moved to New York City, and began working as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records. In 1964 he scored a minor hit with the single 'The Ostrich', a parodic novelty song of popular "dance songs" such as "The Twist". His employers had felt the song had hit record potential, and arranged for a band to be assembled around Reed to promote the recording. The ad hoc group, called The Primitives, included musician John Cale. The Welsh Cale had recently moved to New York to study music and was playing with the composer La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music along with Tony Conrad. Cale and Conrad were both surprised to find that for "The Ostrich" Reed tuned each string of his guitar to the same note. This technique created a drone effect similar to that which Cale and Conrad were experimenting with in their avant-garde ensemble. By contrast, according to Cale's memoirs, Reed demonstrated little interest in Cale's musical pedigree and continually propositioned him for sex, which Cale grudgingly accepted. Disappointed with Reed's performance, Cale was nevertheless impressed by Reed's early repertoire, and a partnership began to evolve. - Wikipedia

The gift

The Velvet Underground 'White Light/White Heat' (1967)
After ditching Andy Warhol and Nico, VU recorded these 6 shards of distorted pre-punk feedback about amphetamines, shooting heroin with a transsexual and getting stabbed with scissors. At least that's what Sister Ray says.