I got all their original studio LPs in the early 70s, starting w Loaded, soon after it was released. They sounded like bootlegs. Reed told an interviewer they had one day each to master their first three (Loaded sounded about the same). And of course Live At Max's Kansas City sounded like it was recorded on a dictophone or something, which it was, and Live in '69 was pretty bootleggy audio-wise, though compare w the actual bootleg source and seems like Paul Nelson did some pretty astute editing. Of course this was part of their mystique, as the underground Beatles or Beatles upside down, as some said of Big Star (Beatles seek hitmaking vinyl perfection in Fortress of Solitude, VU slap it down and go make $ in clubs)
― dow, Thursday, 29 March 2012 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
Paul Nelson's "editing"= song selection, not excising solos etc, best I recall.
― dow, Thursday, 29 March 2012 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
Have you read that Paul Nelson bio, don?
― Singularities Going Steady (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 March 2012 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
xp there's a thing in the paul nelson bio/anthology where nelson talks about the hell he had to go through to get mercury to issue Live 69 -- the president was always like "Why did I let you release this Deep Purple album!?"
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 March 2012 21:36 (twelve years ago) link
And wasn't there something about him finally getting shitcanned from Mercury after the two Dolls records stiffed?
― Dancing with Mr. T (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 29 March 2012 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
yeah. sounds like he kept his job for as long as he did simply because rod stewart liked him.
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 March 2012 22:40 (twelve years ago) link
"I am an orange don't juice me lucifer"
is this a line from something I have somehow missed my entire life?
― akm, Thursday, 29 March 2012 23:22 (twelve years ago) link
Idk if it is or isn't but I thought it was an allusion to a pervasive 'urban legend' I heard about in high school about a drug dealing teenager who fell into a swimming pool with a hundred hits of acid in his pocket and lived his life thinking he was an orange
― dies irate (loves laboured breathing), Thursday, 29 March 2012 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
Loaded is such an easy album to like. How can you not like it? It's so warm and genial.
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 00:15 (twelve years ago) link
not a big fan of Yule's vocals throughout the LP, but once that screaming guitar comes in on "Train Comin' Round The Bend" all is forgiven. still their weakest imo.
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Friday, 30 March 2012 00:46 (twelve years ago) link
just as long as you realize that their "weakest" is better than most people will ever make. their weak beats your career.
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 00:54 (twelve years ago) link
Scott, have you ever heard American Flyer's LP? Only one, as far as I know--with Doug Yule, Eric Justin Kaz, and others, was kind of intended as, not a supergroup, but pros of proven ability nobody know what else to do with--Like KGB, or Triumvirate, In this case, kind of refined singer-songwriter-country-rock hoping for a hit ballad, I think; haven't heard it. James, have not yet read the Nelson bio. Did you? What did you think? What did it say about his working on the Velvets live stuff?
― dow, Friday, 30 March 2012 01:27 (twelve years ago) link
I have a copy but I haven't really looked at it yet. Seems like Tyler has read it
― Singularities Going Steady (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 30 March 2012 01:46 (twelve years ago) link
not a whole lot about the velvets, really. worth a read. depressing, though, dude was a pretty sad sack. american flyer album is....not very good. i wanted to like it! produced by george martin even.
― tylerw, Friday, 30 March 2012 01:50 (twelve years ago) link
So not as good as any of those h____ albums he produced for America?
― Singularities Going Steady (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 30 March 2012 02:01 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, American Flyer is seriously bland. IIRC, they did two albums.
― Mike Love Costume Jewelry on Etsy (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 30 March 2012 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 00:54 (1 hour ago)
oh yeah this is a given
― Flat Of NAGLs (sleeve), Friday, 30 March 2012 02:54 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i couldn't get into american flyer at all
― buzza, Friday, 30 March 2012 02:57 (twelve years ago) link
I listen to Loaded the most if I listen to VU, but I'll take the Dead over the first three VU records, now those bootleg Sister Ray 20 minute jams might be better than any of their records.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:04 (twelve years ago) link
ANd Nico sounds half dead most of the time, main reason I haven't listened to their first record since I was 20.
― JacobSanders, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:05 (twelve years ago) link
she totally works on those songs. i've always thought. the half dead thing totally works. i mean astrud gilberto was really big back then.
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:07 (twelve years ago) link
But Astrud makes it sounds sexy!
― JacobSanders, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:08 (twelve years ago) link
i dunno i'm a fan of hammer horror vampire living desd girls.
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:15 (twelve years ago) link
"dead" girls. living dead girl one of my alltime fave movies.
plus, i just love the delivery. damn, if YOU'RE my mirror, i'm fucked!
― scott seward, Friday, 30 March 2012 04:16 (twelve years ago) link
Lol
― dies irate (loves laboured breathing), Friday, 30 March 2012 05:09 (twelve years ago) link
oh hell yeah, me too. has there been much jean rollin discussion on ilx?
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Friday, 30 March 2012 06:31 (twelve years ago) link
their weak beats your career.
Ha! Loaded reignited my VU love a couple of years ago following a long stretch where I stopped listening to them (though I was delving into the solo careers a fair bit). I'd rank it below the 1st and 3rd albums but yeah all four are such great records. I've had that a lot recently, getting back into things I thought I'd completely played out, it's great.
― Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 30 March 2012 08:39 (twelve years ago) link
My VU 'in obtain order' was:
Double LP "Andy Warhol's VU featuring Nico" http://eil.com/images/gallery_50x50/361886.jpg"
Which has all the first album apart from "I'll be your mirror", and all the second apart from "Lady Godiva's op", about half of the third album, and none of "Loaded" onwards.
I got a cheap http://991.com/images/thumbnails/455201b.jpg after that.
Left the third for a while, knew I'd like it more, so saved it..
― Mark G, Friday, 30 March 2012 09:05 (twelve years ago) link
"Ramble Tamble" is their "What Goes On."
"Keep On Chooglin'" is their "The Gift"!
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Friday, 30 March 2012 11:48 (twelve years ago) link
Could imagine 'Heard It On The Grapevine' done in the style of 'Sister Ray'.
― Valéry Giscard d'Staind (NickB), Friday, 30 March 2012 11:53 (twelve years ago) link
Talking of introductions to the VU, my sister had a live tape and some demos of a punk band she knew and when the punk band's own stuff finished the tape went into "Sister Ray", about halfway through, that sort of weird mellow bit with almost raga guitar from Lou - and for about a year I had no clue what it was and I'd never heard anything like it before! This is despite the fact that my sister had the 1st album and I knew it like the back of my hand.
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Friday, 30 March 2012 11:56 (twelve years ago) link
Definitely associate CCR with post-Cale VU, sort of stripped down rock with a minimum of flashiness
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Friday, 30 March 2012 11:57 (twelve years ago) link
My introduction to the Velvets was the Joy Division version of Sister Ray on Still and that put me right off for the longest time.
― Valéry Giscard d'Staind (NickB), Friday, 30 March 2012 12:05 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, similar.
― Mark G, Friday, 30 March 2012 12:44 (twelve years ago) link
Some of the stuff on VU (my intro to them) would not sound the least bit out of place on a CCR record ("I Can't Stand It," "Foggy Notion").
xp
― Dancing with Mr. T (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 30 March 2012 13:32 (twelve years ago) link
I was in 9th grade I think; had just got the big orange book SPIN's Alternative Record Guide and was kind of obsessed with the list of albums in the back. VU & Nico was #3; I had heard of the Velvets before but was never that interested, but soon after I started reading that book I got my dad to buy me that album and fell in love w/ it instantly
― what is a dog-robber? (loves laboured breathing), Friday, 30 March 2012 13:55 (twelve years ago) link
my intro to VU was 1969: VU live, which i bought used when i was about 17. took me a while to get the hang of it. at the time, the only VU/reed songs i knew were the 70s rock radio staples and new sensations, which i'd heard the year before. the live album didn't sound anything like that stuff. a close friend picked up VU the next year and loved it to death, especially "stephanie says" and "foggy notion". that's really what spurred me to track down the proper studio LPs.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Friday, 30 March 2012 14:29 (twelve years ago) link
make that "and i loved it to death", tho she did too
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Friday, 30 March 2012 14:30 (twelve years ago) link
Sweet Sister Ray is a good jam boot, haven't heard The Lord's Prayer. Peel Slowly And See collected several good jams, like "Melody Laughter." Forget which of their posthumous has "Booker T," but that's real good too; it's also the background music for "The Gift." Was always fascinated by the downhome roots, bluesy infections, "the devil's "third" etc w avant-associated dissonance, ditto Mo Diddly's minimalism. Especially in versions of "What Goes On and "It's Just Too Much" on the Live 69 double LP, w the latter bringing out the Chuck Berry suggestions (or lifts) and Long Guy Land Lou, exclaining, "Take me back down/Where Ah bee-long/Evah-thing Ah DOO is wrowng!" So I was ready for Gun Club and the original Flesh Eaters, w members of X and the Blasters. Was a long thing by them on YouTube for a while, maybe too long, but good enough. Of course, once I thought about it, was a theme at least as far back as the 60s: Mingus, Beefheart, Paul Butterfield Blues Band finding their way into "East West", Henry Threadgill's Air playing Jellyroll Morton, Trane's blues elements, Archie Shepp, some of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time tracks, Sonny Sharrock ("All Blues" got him into guitar, "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground" got him into slide) Tom Waits from Swordfishtrombones on, etc. etc.
― dow, Friday, 30 March 2012 14:39 (twelve years ago) link
"Peel Slowly" also has Booker T.
― Mark G, Friday, 30 March 2012 14:40 (twelve years ago) link
I actually hear VU as a proper studio LP. It seems selected and sequenced as such, and never sounded to me like an odds-and-sods compilation, like Another View does.
xxp
― Dancing with Mr. T (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 30 March 2012 14:40 (twelve years ago) link
you can hear the vu combine european son & suzy q here. this is 1966 tho, so it's not a CCR reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2Tj7S5xlw
― tylerw, Friday, 30 March 2012 14:51 (twelve years ago) link
Always liked Cale's li'l Tex-Mex organ bit in "Sister Ray" too--hola Augie Meyer!
― dow, Friday, 30 March 2012 15:38 (twelve years ago) link
^otm
― what is a dog-robber? (loves laboured breathing), Friday, 30 March 2012 16:18 (twelve years ago) link
The organ-guitar duels generally!
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 March 2012 16:19 (twelve years ago) link
someone told me that back in the day the live album was the only velvets album that stayed in print, so it was the one that people would usually hear first.
― the penultimate prophets (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 30 March 2012 16:58 (twelve years ago) link
Yes, that's exactly the case. 1969 Live was the first one I bought...finally found a copy of Banana at the Vinyl Solution in Tuscaloosa in 1982, then 2 and 3 were rereleased in 1985, the ones with the Kurt Loder liner notes.
― Whiney Houson (WmC), Friday, 30 March 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
I think I found Loaded in late 84 or early 84.
― Whiney Houson (WmC), Friday, 30 March 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link
Some of Cale's Sun Blindness Music discs have some duel-icious guitar-organ dueling, only it's with Sterling instead of Lou.
― Dancing with Mr. T (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 30 March 2012 17:13 (twelve years ago) link