"...and then my MIND split open!": The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat POLL

i think wiki is just saying that the jam developed during live shows where Lou was in the hospital and maclise returned for those shows. still, i mentioned it above -- the music for "the gift" does not equal the track released on Peel Slowly and See as "Booker T" ...

I woulda voted for "I Heard Her Call My Name." In fact, the moment depicted in the thread title, and the cochlea-raping feedback shriek that begins the guitar solo remains among the most devastating rock "moments" ever captured. The onomotapoetic perfection of that phrase followed by that sound has seldom been equalled.

I would have voted for The Gift!

Plus this is my favorite VU album by a good margin.

the music for "the gift" does not equal the track released on Peel Slowly and See as "Booker T" ...

Could not agree less on this

is booker t the same song as that looong roadies jam? the gift would have been tied #3 on my list with sister ray.

You know I can't actually remember much about the "Booker T" on "Peel Slowly...", it's a blues thing (unlike "The Gift)?

Booker T on Peel Slowly is pretty much just a blues progression jam thing. It's got some cool guitar work, but it doesn't have the nasty fuzz bass riff that the Gift has.

I dont like the Velvet Underground, but "Heard Her Call My Name" is awesome.

I fondly recall staring, mouth agape, at my stereo the first time I heard "I Heard Her Call My Name." Most of the times since that an air-guitar fit accompanied by hysterical laughter has been the result.

hey one of mine got revived :D

i'll be honest here: as far as I Heard Her Call My Name goes, call & response vocals > guitar feedback (not >>>>>>, just >)

the fact that they coexist on the same song....sheer amazement.

The "single" version of Heard Her Call My Name is kinda interesting. Tones down the mix so the song's a little more musical, and the solo doesn't smack you in the face as much. Not an improvement...

John Cale OBE, apparently

Yeah, John Cale OBE!

Disappointing....not that he gets one, but that he accepts.

Don't have a problem with him accepting it at all. It's a recognition of his achievement. It doesn't mean he's turned into an Establishment lickspittle.

The "single" version of Heard Her Call My Name is kinda interesting.

Wasn't that box set just a way of sneaking out an alternate version under Lou's nose?

Apparently, Lou was the only one who wanted that original version/mix out, the rest wanted this 'new' mix.

John Cale OBE, apparently

He'll certaiinly be welcome back in Chipping Sodbury now

here she ever comes now now

n-nah nah

Last place for "The Gift". That's a real shame.
For those put off by the "story" in the left channel, all you have to do is concentrate on the fantastic lead guitar on the right. Starts as a nice little Cornell Dupree "Memphis Soul"-type figure and slowly mutates into feedback skronk.

i think someone's done a mix of "the gift" that's just the backing track, but i don't have it. anyone?

There's a live version on the "Peel Slowly and See" box.

i know some people disagreed with me upthread, but these sound pretty different to me ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHgGnl4Hd_o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egFezSPH4D8

They're both in the same key of D, but that's about it.
Boggles my mind that anyone would hear them as "the same".

45 years old today - still one of the greatest avant-rock records

^^^^

this was the first vu record i owned
probably listen to it least but still have a certain fondness for it

Here She Comes Now probably most in line with my tastes these days

was just thinking about this album after making my own 100 Most Influential Albums list on FB at the behest of AG. This was at the top (tho I did it chronologically, sort of)

anyways: still ride for Heard Her Call My Name. super-classic

hmmm
http://www.amazon.com/White-Light-Heat-3CD-Anniversary/dp/B00FH3UI66/?tag=vglnkc4192-20
so it'll be regular mix, mono mix ... gymnasium tapes? wonder if there'll be anything previously unheard.

Cool, saw that the other day. Isn't Cale sitting on a couple of Velvets tapes from around then? Thought I remembered reading that somewhere.

yeah, though those might just be the gymnasium tapes that surfaced a few years back ... not sure! i think he talks about a tape of them playing "walk it and talk it" at the gymnasium, which isn't on the bootleg.

there is a rumor of a studio version of "story of my life" w/ cale, I believe. GET EXCITED. or maybe it was "beginning to see the light"?

Whichever, yay!

That's what I was thinking of; supposedly Cale has some '67-'68 studio tapes that he's hiding from Reed. Can't remember the titles, but I think there were one or two that ended up on Yule Velvets records.

xp

But damn, $100 for 3 CDs? That's Neil Young pricing.

So, this is out early December?

Need News.

xp 3CDs with additional, what? Big Book?

xxp yeah according to the VU web page -
May 29, 1968
T.T.G. Studios, Hollywood, California

1441 N McCadden Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90028

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

Hey Mr. Rain [Version I] (4:40)
Hey Mr. Rain [Version II] (5:25)
I'm Beginning To See The Light

i would hope that the price on that comes down considerably (which is usually the case w/ these early amazon things?)

but that "beginning" really seems to be the only (documented) cale studio outtake from this period... hopefully they prove me wrong and there's an insane "what goes on" w/ cale they've unearthed.

More details, you guys..

http://akson.sgh.waw.pl/~kg23187/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=95921

Hi guys

I have been collaborating a bit with Universal on the project and now I am allowed to share some of the information with you:

Stereo and Mono mixes of the Album plus the singles, and the material already iussed in VU & Another View will go in Cd 1 and 2.
No alternate take of "Sister Ray" i am afraid , but there are fantastic surprises for the fans: the alternate take of "I Heard Her Call My Name" and the long time rumored "Beginning to See the Light" recorded May 29, 1968 with Cale at fuzzy bass!! Those alone are exciting enough to warrant the set.

The Gift will have some special "treatment" on the issue with Vocal and Instrumental versions.

Cd #3 will be "Live at The Gimnasium April 30, 1967" with a previously unreleased (not in the bootleg) "The Gift", similar tempo than the studio version but live!!!

As always thanks to Levenson and Mercuri for the great job done to keep the VU catalog alive and make these gems finally available

It should be availble by end Nov early Dec.

Enjoy!

There is also some mention about how WLWH mono is just a fold-down on side 2, but side 1 has proper mono mixes.

Random observation, but the 67 Velvets were on some kind of unsettling vibe. "Here She Comes Now" and "Hey Mr Rain" are two songs that genuinely creep me out, unlike anything else in their (glittering) catalogue.
Also, I miss Sterling Morrison.

I've heard the fold-down, and it's actually ok. There's nothing in the mix that makes it obvious it's a fold-down (which is odd, considering the meticulous, Steely Dan-like approach they took with the recording and production of this album).

Well, I have one, and it's fine.

There's the 'single' mix on the single box of "I heard her call my name", that's fine too.

so this alternate "i heard her call my name" won't be the so-called "single mix" that came out on the sundazed thing? kind of wild that there is a live "gift" w/ vocals (i assume)! all in all, not an amazing selection of unheard things, but who am i kidding, i want it.

Yeah, I want it too. I don't have the Gymnasium dealie, have never heard the alternate "Beginning To See The Light," and if the 45th VU/Nico set is anything to go by, the book will be fantastic.

(If there's a book.)

But I still think it's hilarious that this happened:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JBMSGDBZL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

yeah haha.
hopefully the format of the box will be the same as the vu & nico one, that felt pretty definitive. and yeah, the book was very nice.

& if you haven't heard that gymnasium material, tarfumes, you are in for a treat. it is killer.