AllMovie

The Velvet Underground were perhaps the single greatest example of a rock & roll band ahead of their time. When their debut album was released in 1967, most listeners didn't know what to make of their music, which could be both melodically seductive and wildly abrasive, and their willingness to embrace kinky sex, drug abuse and other minutiae of the demimonde in their lyrics would have seemed provocative within any genre, but in the context of "pop" music it was genuinely shocking. But four decades after Lou Reed left the band to launch a solo career, the Velvet Underground's four original albums have become acknowledged classics and the group is regarded as one of rock's most influential acts, expanding the music's creative boundaries while setting a standard others are still trying to live up to today. The Velvet Underground: Vanishing Point (also released as The Velvet Underground: Under Review) is a documentary that explores the group's short but memorable career, with a particular focus on their studio recordings. The film includes interviews with Velvet Underground alumni Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule, noted rock writers Robert Christgau and Clinton Heylin, Norman Dolph (who helped produce the VU's debut album), Billy Name (a photographer who helped create the covers for three of their albums), Dean Wareham (whose band Luna opened for the Velvets on their 1993 reunion tour) and many more.