Yes, it was the reputation that built this up in mind over the years... Of course, I'd heard, and love the banana album, and kind of knew this was considered a bit of a Marmite album, but that implied there was something about this that could make people like, as well as dislike it, in equal measure...
...But I just don't hear it. This album is a muffled lazy fart of an album that is barely strong enough to form a memory of, let alone whether you like or dislike it.
If it were a photograph, you'd be squinting to see the trace of an image due to it's underexposure... And they are trying to tell us it's on purpose.
It's weakness is it's strength Magic! Did I just say that? It's hard to look at the Velvets in hindsight as their reputation and esteem is monumental these days. However, this album was the end of the road for the band and Lou Reed apparently didn't even hang around to mix it. So to some extent you're right Magic the band was on it's last legs and this attempt at commercial success - the title "Loaded" was intended to mean loaded with hits - but the album went nowhere. Yes, it sounds like a MOR version of the band but it still has back to back all time classics in "Sweet Jane" and "Rock 'n' Roll" and cheesy fillers like "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" are at least amusing.
You might want to look up Steve Sesnick to see how much influence he might have had on what your ears have witnessed.
If I were to characterise this, I would imagine the conversation that preceded it's creation:
"Hey guys, we've used up our one great idea about what this band is (And our fifteen minutes of fame :), so let's make an album that sounds like we're trying to be Bob Dylan (and the Band), and also, at the same time, trying to be a bit Of David Bowie, and maybe a dash of John Lennon (after the Beatles - and the non singles, album stuff)...
... But also, let's do all this as if we were a first time high school band naively trying to be those things, and really not quite getting there"
I had looked forward to finally listening to this when I found this CD a couple of weeks back, but it is painfully dull and amateurish, like The Velvet Underground trying to be like The Velvet Underground, and acting as their own crappy tribute band.
This is going back to the charity shop, as I can't afford the space on the shelf for it.