incisive R&B-driven lead and rhythm guitars, and Maureen Tucker's Olatunji-via-Bo Diddley tribal stomp was the "genius" of the Velvet Underground.

Ignored or reviled during their time together, VU have proved themselves over the long haul to be arguably the most admired and influential American rock band. Musically they've been important not just for their sonic minimalist aesthetic but for their all-around grasp of rock's roots, vocabulary and resources, from lyrical ballads to machine-shop clamor, modal droning to crafty pop, folk rock to country rock, raga to music-hall soft-shoe.

In the beginning, recording without drums or percussion, the Velvets played an eccentric sort of folk rock. Their '65 demos – the first of Peel's five discs – are reminiscent of New York folk hipsters like the Holy Modal Rounders. The early demos generally make for archival, rather than pleasurable, listening. While Reed was already an extraordinarily gifted songwriter, it was often the other Velvets' contributions that made the music truly special. It's only when Cale cuts loose on the viola that "I'm Waiting for the Man" begins to surge with power, and "Heroin" would not find its ultimate levels of intensity and drama until Mo Tucker's nervous tom-tom pulses entered the picture.

The four Velvets studio albums are included in their entirety; Album 3, The Velvet Underground, is represented by Reed's preferred, now oddly alternative-sounding "closet mix." The sound throughout is breathtaking in its clarity; lyrics one could never disentangle become easily audible. And it's no longer difficult to follow the individual instruments through the densest collective mashups, even on the heretofore impenetrable "Sister Ray."

Discs 2 and 3, which include the first two albums and some welcome extras, document VU before the sacking of John Cale. They're as transcendent as rock & roll gets. Among the extras are live workouts that display the band's often-obscured R&B roots ("Booker T.," "Temptation Inside Your Heart") as well as two group improvisations with Nico. There are also some demos intended for Album 2 (White Light/White Heat) – the stunning "Here She Comes Now" is all swirling, droning, shifting tone colors.

After the bracing, take-no-prisoners barrage of the first two albums, the later group, with bassist Doug Yule replacing multi-instrumentalist Ca