Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question

a 372-minute live version of "sister ray,"
funny you should mention it -- just saw this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63xKbG_9aok

amazing

going to listen to it all. twice.
stereogum is milking the clickbait: "Unreleased Velvet Underground album to be included in new box set"

that youtube should just be the opening string chords repeated over and over

it'd be like vexations

Sterling Morrison once claimed there was a literal "lost 4th album" that they cut in LA in late '69, of which the tapes were lost in route when shipped to MGM in NYC. Salt grains needed.

most album-losingest band ever. i bet you'd go over to lou's place and there'd be like 4 lost albums down the back of his couch.

lol, yeah, who knows but that mention from sterling is the only thing i've ever heard about that west coast record -- i think there's the possibility that things like "countess from hong kong" and the demo of "i found a reason" were recorded around the time he's talking about. but i don't know, he liked telling people about amazing things they would never hear (see "sweet rock n roll" and "what goes on" live w/ Cale)

but i can't help it, seeing "UNRELEASED VELVET UNDERGROUND ALBUM TO BE RELEASED" headlines today is irritating me.

I wanna talk to that Lou Reed, man, he threw a lost acetate at his roadie.

(Xp) In the spirit of "What else can be left?" in the case of another artist, I always wanted to call a band Unreleased Hendrix.

every time lou reed got drunk he lost another VU album

there are 100s of lost VU albums rotting in landfills tucked into old taxicab seat cushions

You ought to give other people just a little chance, in record collecting anyway.

well some speculate he deliberately lost them so that they could be found again decades later

we may never know

but i can't help it, seeing "UNRELEASED VELVET UNDERGROUND ALBUM TO BE RELEASED" headlines today is irritating me.

― tylerw, Wednesday, October 1, 2014 8:13 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it is obviously super irritating, both the people writing these articles & everybody reading them has owned this unreleased album since they were sixteen & found out music was cool, the regurgitation is distressing. hitchhike trivia attacks too.

Real headline is that the matrix tapes are coming out.

^OTM. I can't believe they're bundling them with like the 96th reiteration of the reissue.

I don't know whether to line up at midnight for this fucker or to resolutely ignore it for a while until the Complete Matrix Tapes come out on vinyl. Now that they've reached an agreement with Abrams, presumably they'll all come out eventually. Eventually.

Yeah, annoys me that they're holding back that incredible Ocean and Black Angels Death Song

just donated to public radio (which i was meaning to do anyway) with the strategic purpose of winning tickets to this dinner
fingers crossed!

i guess i'd know by now if i won so :(

i gave it my all, shamelessly
that's all a person can do

Lechera Says....

great news! i haven't lost yet! the drawing continues into next week. i think they're trying to sell more tickets and then maybe they will fill seats with winners like me and my date.

Did you vu trainspotters see this yet?
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/229143/mystery-package-lou-reed-mailed-to-himself-in-1965-could-contain-the-velvet-undergrounds-first-recording/

dude in the comments on that article seems to know what's up:

This is probably what it is:

May 11, 1965
Pickwick Studios, near Long Island City, New York

8-16 43rd Ave, Queens, NY 11101
Google Maps May 11, 1965 tape

John Cale - Lou Reed - Jerry Vance or Jimmie Sims

Buzz Buzz Buzz (one complete take + a couple of attempts breaking down)
Why Don't You Smile Now
Heroin (take 1)
Heroin (take 2)
Untitled Piano Piece 1
Untitled Piano Piece 1
A full review of this demo tape is available in White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground Day by Day by Richie Unterberger. Buzz Buzz Buzz is a Lou Reed original, not a cover of the 1957 hit by The Hollywood Flames. Untitled Piano Pieces are by John Cale alone.

Source: The Velvet Underground Web Page: http://olivier.landemaine.free.fr/vu/andsoon/studio/studio.html

If it is this, the second take of Heroin surfaced when Hal Wilner played it at a tribute event to Lou:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oha1LyQDCs (skip to 13:48 to hear the recording). So at least part of it is in the hands of a select few. We need to hear this.

Buzz Buzz Buzz is a Lou Reed original, not a cover of the 1957 hit by The Hollywood Flames.
Was wondering about this, since Jonathan Richman did in fact cover the Hollywood Flames tunes.

wrote a little about it here over the summer: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/92161978367/lewis-reed-copyright-demo-may-1965-something

would be awesome if they opened it and it was actually a bag of 50-year-old heroin.

Boping it's actually a cover of Buzz Buzz A Diddle It by Freddie Cannon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3EALU7eUcw

It's the remains of Waldo Jeffers.

Amazon.es (Spain) has the 3rd album box for around $55 shipped (US Amazon is charging $100):
http://www.amazon.es/dp/B00O1GGAZI/ref=pe_386191_41384461_TE_item

i can't remember which parts of the matrix tapes have been excerpted & what's new but i'm listening to waiting for the man on npr & it isn't a zillion times different from the tumbly live 69 cut but still: it's so much fun

nb like twelve minutes through http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/10/28/359407473/new-mix-the-velvet-underground-belle-sebastian-grouper-more

The Matrix Tapes on this are O_O

Just was listening to that NPR broadcast and of course they repeat the canard about how unknown the VU were: "only 72 of us" were fans they claim here. Has anyone ever addressed whether this kind of thing has any basis in fact? Or is it all just relative - ie they were obscure compared to the Byrds but bigger than the 13th Floor Elevators but since no-one knows anything about the 13th Floor Elevators we'll just pretend that the VU were the epitome of obscurity?

eg. in late 1968 they played two four-night residencies in my city in a venue that still exists, so I know it's quite a big venue that can hold almost 1,000. Other acts that played at the same time were Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley. Why is this supposed obscurity always so heavily stressed with the VU?

Elevators had a local radio hit

charted on Billboard and everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wouIoj2p3hY

The Matrix Tapes on this are O_O

― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, October 28, 2014 5:46 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

squeeeeeeeeeee!

13th Floor Elevators only got to play live in Texas and (for a brief period) the San Francisco area.

i think the velvets were pretty well-known but i imagine their rep was bigger than their sales

I finally took the plunge and bought a copy of Sweet Sister Ray for about £90 recently and it turns out it's worth every penny. Can't stop playing it.

Are there any other 'must have' VU bootlegs of this intensity or quality? Any advice gratefully received.

Even taking into account the usual VT hype, this one sounds p mouth-watering:

https://www.volcanictongue.com/artists/show/1613

Cool cheers. I've heard that Praise Ye The Lord, the one with the black and white photo of Mo Tucker on the front cover is really cool as well.

guitar amp tape has an amazing "Sister Ray", the Hilltop festival boot is good as well

The Guitar Amp LP has the same recording of Sister Ray as Sweet Sister Ray, so I already have that but if I can find anywhere in the UK that sells it, I'm going to snaffle that one up.

they're all great! get them all!

pvmic

lol

other essentials:

Gymnasium show
"Chic Mystique" or whatever it's called on the "Caught Between The Twisted Stars" 4CD set which is also pretty great although basically a compilation of various boot tracks
slow drugged-out drumless version of "Train Comin Round The Bend" from the 2nd Fret show in Philly
Columbus 1966 obviously, I think this got officially released on one of the VU & Nico anniversary sets

Yep, Gymnasium is on the WL/WH anniversary set, and Columbus is on the VU & Nico set.