Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question

Yup

thinking about the Bangs interview where he's raving about George Benson records and George's tone (which I love fwiw)

It's even nerdier than that he's talking about an amp which he seems to think George Benson invented.. he also seems to think George Benson is a bassist but, hey, it's Lou Reed, it's the 70s.

so good.. "absolutely zero distortion" "hey lou, why doncha turn off that herbie hancock shit". would a play that was just bangs interviewing reed for a couple of hours be cool or lame?

Same guy who rates James Williamson but not Ron Asheton, iirc.

What! <3 williamson but also all stooges, cmon now.

Sorry, overreached and thought you were a friend of yours instead of you yourself.

I think one of those 'hacks' above were involved with the same set-up as Lou, and at least one is credited with "The Ostrich" along with Lou and others..

... and shared a manager with Captain Beefheart (this I know from John French's indigestible tome).

i'm not usually a fan of releasing new covers for old albums (like when kraftwerk ruined half of their old covers), but it's difficult to imagine a worse cover than Loaded.

Well, it fits alongside "Squeeze"

There are so many worse covers than Loaded

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/worst-album-covers

i like how when they did the Fully Loaded reissue, they took a good hard look at the cover art and decided to change it by upgrading it to glorious 3D lenticular

I like the Loaded album cover much more than I like the album.

i want this to be true for me as well (i really like the album)

yo la tengo closed the set i saw last night w/ a gorgeous "I Found A Reason". it was perfect.

Gotten used to the cover over the years, admittedly it's way way way below the standard of the earlier covers! Nice photo on the back sleeve of the band's resident genius, Doug Yule, working on one of his compositions/arrangements.

ha, yeah i'm used to the cover now and kinda dig it.
isn't the story that the artist had never even heard the VU, and was just told the name of the band?

Something like that, so velvet smog(?) billowing out from the Underground...uh, yeah, that'll do. I seem to think he was Russian or Polish or something, have visions of Atlantic cutting costs by shipping out graphic design to somwhere behind the Iron Curtain.

nah, if they truly outsourced it to an early 1970s polish graphic designer it probably would have turned out to be pretty cool

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/the-legacy-of-polish-poster-design/

Yes, they were pretty good at it. Anyway, it was Stanisław Andrzej Zagórski, who did a shitload of covers, mainly jazz, "Loaded" definitely not one of his better ones. Some others I recognize: The Rascals, "Time Peace"; Yusuf Lateef, "The Blue Lateef"; Sam & Dave, "Best of"; Dr. John, "Babylon".

ha, did not know it was the same dude who did Babylon -- but looking at it now, it makes sense. that cover is great.

maybe dr john should've produced loaded.

that would have been great imo

yeah - you know, i was listening to Loaded this week and wondering if they ever considered using a horn section. don't know if it would've worked, but there are a few places where it seems like that's kinda what they're going for.

The horns on "How Do You Think It Feels?" would sound right at home on, say, "Head Held High."

yeah, wouldn't have sounded too out of place on something like Train Round the Bend

Soooooooo now that I've worn through the Matrix discs, are we gonna see a stand-alone release of the 1969 studio sessions?

http://cdn.discogs.com/9bXHdjkfMo1rb870yXyxLeZEboU=/fit-in/350x216/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-3988067-1351512972-7528.png.jpg

It makes no sense but I would dig a Dr John/John Cale collaboration where they both just get really drunk and let 'er rip, Gil et Jorge style

Xpost Yeah like that one, except with all the songs from those sessions, and using the mixes from the s/t Super Deluxe version and available separately instead of as part of a boxed set. Otherwise just the same.

Might have to wait for the 50th anniversary from them to break that stuff out (or get it's own box).

a standalone 1969 release would render that 45th anniversary 3rd album set totally redundant pretty much... really is annoying now that there are two discs of matrix stuff on that set when they could've filled those discs w/ some of the boston tea party recordings from 68 and 69. sound quality of those is not fab, but they're better than the second fret show on the loaded box set anyway.

Sessions for the lost 4th Album (50th Anniversary Super Duper Deluxe Edition)
Disc 1: the 1969/2014 mixes
Disc 2: the 1969/2014 mixes (mono)
Disc 3: the Sundazed "1969"
Disc 4: V.U (original 1984 version)
Disc 5: V.U. (Special 80s-style mono mixes)
Disc 6 & 7: Another View (ditto)
Disc 8: highlights from End of Cole Ave
Disc 9: the Honeymoon Acetate (truncated)

haha yeah... maybe a disc's worth of the "Velvets Roadie Jam" from Cole Ave too!

gotta say that the Sundazed sequencing for the 1969 sessions seems all off to me ... obviously just a matter of trainspotter taste.

also i prefer some of the 80s mixes! so there!

I'm all about the "shot em all let God pick the rest" attitude towards boxsets

or however that saying goes

really is annoying now that there are two discs of matrix stuff on that set when they could've filled those discs w/ some of the boston tea party recordings from 68 and 69. sound quality of those is not fab, but they're better than the second fret show on the loaded box set anyway.

― tylerw

yep even tho I knew it would be reissued it is still super annoying that they didn't use something like the guitar amp tape instead

really is annoying now that there are two discs of matrix stuff on that set when they could've filled those discs w/ some of the boston tea party recordings from 68 and 69. sound quality of those is not fab, but they're better than the second fret show on the loaded box set anyway.

― tylerw, Saturday, January 2, 2016 9:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Agreed. I decided to pass on the Loaded box after hearing a clip of the Second Fret show (which sounds like it was recorded from a passing car as it drove by the club possibly, but not likely, while the Velvets were onstage), and I never could grok Max's Kansas City due to Billy Yule's overplaying.

The first two boxes got it right re: unreleased live stuff (even if the WL/WH set was overpriced for how little it contained).

gotta say that the Sundazed sequencing for the 1969 sessions seems all off to me ... obviously just a matter of trainspotter taste.

― tylerw, Saturday, January 2, 2016 9:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also i prefer some of the 80s mixes! so there!

― tylerw, Saturday, January 2, 2016 9:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes and yes. VU to me is flawless and canon; 1969's running order doesn't cut it.

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.

Yes, "1969" is wrong, but the art/sleeve/package is alright, if you manage to get one not in the box set like I did.

yeah i think having all that 1969 material in one place is the right idea, but the execution of it so far has been a little lacking. the art is cool! i like those groovy shirts the VU are wearing.

The next boxset will come with replicas of those shirts.

GROOVY.
I've actually always wanted to know where that photo shoot took place... is the LA Zoo or something?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uMCca4v7Myc/UyMN4QnQ8CI/AAAAAAAAI-0/qT64Vl0M-rA/s1600/front+1.png

not sure if this is the thread for a q like this or not but here goes anyway
looks like my erstwhile VU jam is going to be revived, and i need some new-to-me live VU jams to listen to. what is my best bet for highest concentration of long groovy tracks (i have live 1969 LP but i need something i can burn to CD to listen to in the car)?

you have these bootlegs? long jamz galore:
http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/72879443131/the-velvet-underground-the-boston-tea-party
http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/82918200243/sweet-sister-rayns-heroin-more-invisible-hits

i don't - how's the sound?

crappy!
well it varies ... but if you haven't heard it, i think "sweet sister ray" would be right up your alley.

hm. ok -- any recommendations of recordings that are less muddy?

well, the Matrix set :D

maybe the Gymnasium set as well? Or the Hilltop gig?