C/D: The Velvet Underground Live MCMXIII

Except for the fact he'd been dead for a decade and a half at the time, I would've liked to have heard these songs done with Angus Maclise.

I'm not the biggest VU fan, but the songs I do like are redone poorly on this album. That said, the version of "Hey Mr Rain" is pretty stunning.

Then I heared this album, and umm it was the same. But not great.

You really had to be there.

The playing is great. "Guess I'm falling in love" obviously Lou barely remembered it.

The year before, I saw a Moe solo gig with Sterling on Guitar, and afterwards asked her why she hadn't played it. "Well, we can't play everything!" she replied. Then she turned to the band (This was after the gig) and said "Actually, we haven't played it for ages...".

So, call me responsible. For once.

Most classic:
Hey, Mr. Rain
Heroin
All Tomorrow's Parties

Most dud:
Pale Blue Eyes
We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together
White Light White Heat

On a sliding scale, in comparison to stuff like "Live 1969" or the Quine Tapes or a few other bootlegs in my collection, the album as a whole would be a dud.

Cale singing "All Tomorrowr's Parties" is pretty great too; so is the version of "Afterhours" with Cale on piano. Lou unleashes some scorching solos on "Some Kinda Love."

That's really all I listen to.

And Alex is completely right about the "Velvet Nursery Rhyme." Assuming gargling with toilet water is a bad thing, that is.

this came out about the time that i first understood i had to listen to the velvet underground and was much more easily found on BMG or whatever... i remember hearing it played in its entirety the evening before thanksgiving. i holed up in my room finally hearing this legendary band while family arrived and so forth.

i think ive either sold it or moved it to the bottom end of a pile of stuff never played.

all tomorrow's parties on this = classic.

yeah.

20 years since this tour! weird. i remember being so bummed that they broke up before playing the USA. here's a little curio from the summer of 93: http://t.co/nUqNru5GC4

Nice! Thanks for posting that!

"Hey Mr. Rain" is definitely a -- probably the -- highlight of the live record.

yeah, the things where cale sounds engaged and into it are probably the highlights -- the "some kinda love" is terrible for the first half and then cale is like oh fuck it and throws down those crazy piano jams.

haha, totally.

Reed's singing makes me shake with anger. SHINYSHINY SHINYBOOTSOFLEATHER.

20 years ago wtf i am so old :(
saw them twice, at the first night in Edinburgh & later on at Glastonbury
at Edinburgh everyone seemed nervous & didn't want to step on each others toes
by Glastonbury it had become the Lou Reed Rock Show featuring some other people

severin take the whip, now severin take the whip, now blee-ee-ee-eed for me

i had just gotten into the velvets in middle school when the reunion was announced and i was euphoric

yeah me too. i spent the next several months desperately scanning the LA Times calendar section for news of a local show...that was where I got pretty much all my music news at the time! weird to imagine the "Unplugged" that they were thinking about doing.

i owned a best-of on CD and the third album on tape, a pal had lou reed's best-of and then bought the 1 tape version of this live show. by the end of 8th grade i grabbed 1969 Live and WL/WH on tape. didn't have loaded and the 1st album until the end of that summer. it's funny to think of kids gradually assembling a band's work like that. precocious kids today not only have the streaming option but have to dig through demos and box sets and shit.

Dunno if this link will work, but it's Ira Kaplan's writeup of their Paris show (Sept. '93 issue of Spin, page 129):
http://books.google.com/books?id=g6gb7frVZeYC&printsec=frontcover&rview=1&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

nice... and here's dean wareham's diary for the dates where luna opened for the VU: http://www.fullofwishes.co.uk/category/history/velvet-underground-tour-diary/
i like this: "I’m sitting up in the balcony and the guy behind me keeps calling out for “New Sensations.”"

it's funny to think of kids gradually assembling a band's work like that
yeah looking for VU albums was basically what got me going to record stores other than my local chain store. for a long time i only had the first record and this:
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/28630743/The+Best+of+The+Velvet+Underground+Words+and+Music+Folder.jpg

I remembering a burning to hear this record RIGHT AWAY when it came out, being, like a lot of folk have mentioned, a newly discovered VU fan. Even though I think I sort of knew it would be awful.

I even strained my meager budget that the time to get it. Hated it. Sold it. Am I curious to hear it now? Maybe?

Ha, that's great.

Then I look at Lou’s rig – it’s about the size of a refrigerator – two Soldano power amps, a couple of preamps, a stack of effects, with a space-age military-spec foot controller.

That reminded me at how awful Lou's sound was on "The Gift." But I thought it was hilarious that the audience was wildly cheering the climax of the story.

hee hee, awesome to think how much lou's 93 rig cost compared to the stuff used on the VU & Nico. they really should've gotten doug yule to play bass, then cale could've just shredded on every song. must've been odd for him to be suddenly playing bass on "sweet jane."

I forgot that they did those dates opening for U2 as well, wtf?

totally funny -- apparently the final song the VU ever played together was "satellite of love" with bono guesting on vocals. what a way to go!

(i was into u2 at the time though... summer of 93 was zooropa, right? i listened to that album so much on my discman!)

I was just starting to come out of my U2 phase at point, I mean yeah I probably would have gobbled that shit up but just thinking of VU playing to a half-full stadium before U2...

for every half-full stadium the VU played, one kid went out and started a terrible U2 covers band.

I remember buying this and just wincing and grimacing through the musical missteps and lou's awkwardly poor timing and complete lack of range. And to think it was culled from several performances, I'd hate to hear the B and C reels...

The only song I salvaged from the entire 2xCD was the new song "Coyote", I still think it's unexpectedly stunning for them:

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

they really should've gotten doug yule to play bass, then cale could've just shredded on every song. must've been odd for him to be suddenly playing bass on "sweet jane."

― tylerw, Monday, June 10, 2013 3:44 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

iirc, Cale actually lobbied for Yule's involvement at some level, but Lou nixed it.

Ok now I really want to hear this album again

Even though I know it's probably still awful!

Cale plays a Sadowsky bass on this -- those are very much not cheap, either.

Coyote just sounds like an outtake from New York to me

I never even bothered to listen to this album

when it came out, that is

"Hey Mr. Rain" is worth the price of admission, provided that price is under seven dollars. But it's the only reason I held onto this disc.

yeah it is exciting every time i hear it. the "pale blue eyes" here is nice too. maybe if you subtract lou's vocals.

Actually, "All Tomorrow's Parties" works surprisingly well with Cale singing. Cale sings Nico better than Lou sings Lou.

Getting my "New favourite old band" to reform and play not the USA but my local rock venue (The Forum) was much much more than I could have reasonably hoped for.

I don't care which of my favourite bands get back together, that's up to them.. This happened.Whether or not it was great is so not the point, this was impossible, and now it is very impossible...

We could always get another Songs For Drella

i think lou and moe should just spend an hour arguing politics and then spend an hour recording skronked out guitar/drum jams. i'd totally buy it.

except lou is basically apolitical (cf. the "Give Me An Issue and I'll Give You A Tissue" rap)

Lou did a whole bunch of political shit in the 80s

Amnesty International and other benefit concerts, pretty much the entirety of the New York album, etc.

altho I'll grant you that he's about as smart/informed politically as, oh, Neil Young