There was a bit of a theory going around the time of VU that if they could get the 4 to reune, Polydor would issue "I can't stand it" as a single, it would chart and get played on the radio and so in, which is why they have it a more contemporary mix.
Of course, the 4 didn't reune, so that was that.
― Mark G, Sunday, 9 November 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
Weird, didn't know that. fwiw, I did hear "I Can't Stand It" on the radio at the time, exactly once, on Chicago's WXRT, around 11:00pm on a weeknight.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 9 November 2014 22:52 (nine years ago) link
I can only imagine what Lou's thought process was at the time. "A Velvets reunion?! Now?! Are you kidding?! I'm about to release my magnum opus, Mistrial!"
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 9 November 2014 22:56 (nine years ago) link
new "Foggy Notion" mix:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/nov/12/the-velvet-underground-foggy-notion-hear-an-unreleased-mix
(with the opening six note thingy restored!)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:08 (nine years ago) link
and even a little more chatter! haha. this doesn't sound radically different to me, just the drums are less boomy? everything's a little drier, I guess. i like it.
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:09 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it sounds pretty similar to the one on VU, with maybe less reverb on the vocals (which seem lower in the mix). I'm digging it, but it doesn't trample on my cherished childhood memories the way the new mix of "I Can't Stand It" did.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:15 (nine years ago) link
so the versions on that 1969 LP that sundazed put out a few years ago aren't this radically different right?
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:20 (nine years ago) link
My understanding is that the mixes on VU, Another View, and 1969 are identical. I believe Sundazed used the 80s 2-track masters, as they were the only mixdowns of those tracks.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link
cool, yeah that's what i thought.
― tylerw, Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:26 (nine years ago) link
i'm confused. someone want to make a flow chart?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 13 November 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link
Sorry...ok, so...
- In 1985, unreleased Velvets songs were to be released on two albums, VU (1985) and Another View (1986).
- For these "new" records, the multitrack tapes of these songs were mixed down to 2-track for the first time; in the process, certain "80's" touches were added (e.g., booming reverb on the snare in "I Can't Stand It").
- In 2013, Sundazed issued a vinyl-only box called The Verve/MGM Albums.
- Included in the box was an album Sundazed assembled called 1969; this included tracks from VU and Another View.
- Because the only 2-track masters that existed for these songs were the mixdowns done in the 80s, those were the masters/mixes used for 1969.
- For the new self-titled 45th anniversary deluxe set, the producers have gone back to the original multitrack tapes to create mixes that are ostensibly true to 1960s, rather than 1980s, studio techniques.
(to add to the confusion, "Ocean," and possibly 1 or 2 others, was mixed to 2-track in 1969; this mix is on VU)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 13 November 2014 21:49 (nine years ago) link
I've been following this for a few weeks being very confused - and slightly afraid to ask whats going on. Tarfumes to the rescue! I thought people talking about 1969 meant the Live commercially released album. Duh.
I'm only really finding my feet as a VU trainspotter. I went and bought into the V**can T> hype about the "Legendary Guitar Amps" LP and its lovely but not quite how I imagined. I'm going to get very drunk tomorrow and play it again.
― kraudive, Friday, 14 November 2014 00:50 (nine years ago) link
start with the "Sister Ray"
― sleeve, Friday, 14 November 2014 01:29 (nine years ago) link
as i never had beef with the 80s mixes, you can call me moe tucker cuz iiiiim sticking with VU
― da croupier, Friday, 14 November 2014 01:34 (nine years ago) link
it makes me wonder where the mixes on the 'Etc" and "And So On" bootleg albums came from...
http://www.discogs.com/Velvet-Underground-Etc/master/660580
http://www.discogs.com/Velvet-Underground-And-So-On/master/613376
those comps were (relatively speaking) huge among the US VU fans I knew in the 80's, and they include "One Of These Days", "Foggy Notion", "Ferryboat Bill" and "I'm Sticking With You" - maybe they were taken from acetates? hell if I know, but there were versions that had been mixed down before VU/Another View were released.
― sleeve, Friday, 14 November 2014 01:40 (nine years ago) link
btw Edward III (ILX Milk Carton alert) has argued most eloquently for the superiority of the Etc mix of ISWU, somewhere on one of the VU poll threads
― sleeve, Friday, 14 November 2014 01:43 (nine years ago) link
thanks tarfumes for the breakdown!
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 14 November 2014 03:46 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, acetates. Which is why they would be 'rough, working mixes' sort of thing.
e.g. that's the off-key backing vocals version of "Stephanie Says", presumably they had another go at the BV's the next day, and that was all right then.
So, the rest presumably got 'finished' the same way. Which mix is better is in the ear of the beholder, obv.
(Still have not heard a 'not goofy bv's' version of "Temptation inside of your heart", but I assume one exists. It won't be better, but I'd still like it.)
― Mark G, Friday, 14 November 2014 09:18 (nine years ago) link
Xpost yeah where is Ed III lately?
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Friday, 14 November 2014 14:32 (nine years ago) link
watching Adventure Time with his kid iirc
― sleeve, Friday, 14 November 2014 15:33 (nine years ago) link
as i never had beef with the 80s mixes, you can call me moe tucker cuz iiiiim sticking with VUhaw yeah, i never really thought of them as too 80s, though these new mixes are throwing that aspect of them into relief. not gonna get rid of VU or Another View, they're both great.
― tylerw, Friday, 14 November 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
more odd writing about this set -- does anyone actually refer to this album as "Third"? http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-velvet-underground
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:23 (nine years ago) link
I refer to it as Brother Lovers...
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 17 November 2014 23:25 (nine years ago) link
maybe i'm just trainspotty about this album, but man, why does every article about it just have flat-out wrong info?
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:27 (nine years ago) link
I've always called it "the third album". But not just "Third".
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Monday, 17 November 2014 23:39 (nine years ago) link
yeah! oh well, it's not the end of the world. definitely one of the top 10 tragedies of all time though.
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:40 (nine years ago) link
Third album or self-titled but I've never heard it called Third. It isn't Big Star.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:43 (nine years ago) link
EZ, it's on you to get absolutely nothing wrong in your review of this set. we're watching you!
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:44 (nine years ago) link
I'll give no factual information whatsoever so I can't get it wrong.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:51 (nine years ago) link
maybe you can just do an interpretive painting or dance...
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:58 (nine years ago) link
Mime.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 00:05 (nine years ago) link
"boy, this velvet underground album recorded sometime in the 1960s sure is good!"
― I dunno. (amateurist), Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:41 (nine years ago) link
"After hearing this record, you'll want to start your own band!"
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 02:43 (nine years ago) link
more odd writing about this set -- does anyone actually refer to this album as "Third"? http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/reissue-cds-weekly-velvet-underground― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:23 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― tylerw, Monday, 17 November 2014 23:23 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Some time back, University Challenge, music round...
Paxman: "You're going to hear some introduction music to bands' debut albums, I want the title of the album.
(some twinkly keyboard notes, fade..)Student: "um, Is it the Velvet Underground?"Paxman: "No, that's their third album, that was "The Velvet Underground and Nico"
(true story)
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 November 2014 12:16 (nine years ago) link
Nice little Doug Yule interview where both he and the interviewer refer to it as "The Grey Album" which I've never heard before, either.
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/the-velvet-underground-reissue-doug-yule-lou-reed-photos-live-footage
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 17:58 (nine years ago) link
What is your relationship with the stuff that’s on there now? I know from previous interviews you have a sort of ambivalent relationship with rock n’ roll. Ambivalent?Maybe I read into it wrong. I am only going by old interviews. What’s your relationship to the lost album now? Is it something you wish had been released?What lost album do you mean?Well, the one that is referred to as that. I know you refer to it as just demos. Is that the last word now?That was the intent going on at the time. You’re talking about the stuff that was recorded at MGM?Yes!
Maybe I read into it wrong. I am only going by old interviews. What’s your relationship to the lost album now? Is it something you wish had been released?What lost album do you mean?
Well, the one that is referred to as that. I know you refer to it as just demos. Is that the last word now?That was the intent going on at the time. You’re talking about the stuff that was recorded at MGM?
Yes!
I will never understand why Vice don't edit down their interviews. There's some great material there, but we didn't need to read the above interaction. Bonkers...
― you fuck one chud... (stevie), Wednesday, 19 November 2014 18:11 (nine years ago) link
see also "while not losing site of...", ouch
― sleeve, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 18:13 (nine years ago) link
heh, yeah, some good stuff in that interview for sure, but also some very unnecessary stuff. good to hear from dougie yule, though!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 18:48 (nine years ago) link
Did you see his response to "I hate music" Tanya?
― Mark G, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 19:08 (nine years ago) link
New mix of live "Sweet Jane":
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/velvet-underground-early-version-sweet-jane-20141120
(I think this is the same performance as on 1969 Live, but not 100% certain)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 20 November 2014 20:46 (nine years ago) link
where is the ibiza remix?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 20 November 2014 20:53 (nine years ago) link
xp same performance, but the mix is definitely much improved...
― tylerw, Thursday, 20 November 2014 20:54 (nine years ago) link
well, different, anyway -- i love Live 69 so much it's hard to say anything "improves" it...
― tylerw, Thursday, 20 November 2014 20:55 (nine years ago) link
surely some balearic drums and a guest rap verse would improve it?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 20 November 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I mean, I never thought of the sound on 1969 Live as something that particularly needed to be improved (except for the dubbed-from-vinyl tracks on the CD), but...I dunno, this sounds great and everything, but the original mix seems more intimate.
(I also love how that album is sequenced: he says "good night" after side 1!)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 20 November 2014 21:06 (nine years ago) link
Listening to the new live stuff now. I'd heard the Matrix samples so had a sense of how clean they were, but hearing the full songs is just kind of unreal. They sound so good, it's hard to believe they aren't some recent production. I don't think I ever thought I'd listen to Heroin again with anything like fresh ears, but the version here is amazing...probably better than the album version. Expectations greatly exceeded. I'm sorry, but this just destroys 1969 Live.
― dlp9001, Tuesday, 25 November 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link
so excited for this, I will be buying it next week
― sleeve, Wednesday, 26 November 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
listened to the "highlights" disc of the matrix recordings last night -- oh man, so great. basically my favorite music ever.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 November 2014 15:48 (nine years ago) link
and hey, here's EZ's review -- he didn't get anything wrong!http://www.popmatters.com/review/188481-the-velvet-underground-the-velvet-underground-45th-anniversary-super/
― tylerw, Wednesday, 26 November 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
Wellp, mine's just arrived.
― Mark G, Thursday, 27 November 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link