Velvet Underground Trainspotting Question

I've never really warmed to live 1969, despite owning and listening for 20-odd years

You are Lou Reed

I was listening to the Quine Tapes yesterday - soooo good. Especially the Sister Rays! Like a whole, weird world to get lost in.

Quine Tapes is all about the Sister Rays imo

just ridiculous that there are close-to-perfect quality recordings of some of those shows in that Matrix dude's vault. Not that I don't love the murk and hissssss ...

The murk and hiss somehow works with Sisters, not sure about the rest though

i also love other sister rays that are out there. one called "Sweet Sister Ray" is esp. wonderful (sorry don't have deets handy). oh, and the End Cole Ave. i got ~1990 from Italy still sounds a bit better than 1969 Live, fwiw

Sister Rays are generally great. What's the one where it goes straight into it from "Heroin" - and it's like, to quote Nico, "The red sea paaaaaaaaaarting"

yeah, and then there are the ones with bits of the Murder Mystery thrown in at the end ... They're just awesome rollercoasters.

The Quine Tapes are pretty dud free, IMO. "Sister Ray" live is almost always a highlight of any of the boots I've heard. I wrote something about the version "I'm Waiting For The Man" (Quine Tapes, disc 3) several years ago that I think holds up okay. You can read it here if you choose:
http://ezsnappin.blogspot.com/2007/04/cold-chillin.html

nice! i love that version -- so mellow, but so intense. Kind of unbelievable really -- what else sounds like this in the 1960s? Not what the VU is known for but kind of just as revolutionary. And I think you're right about the dreamlike quality -- for all the talk of Reed's lyrics being "hardboiled, photorealist" kinda things, I think that there's a strain of the epic/surreal, too. even in "waiting for the man" it's sort of a fantasy, quest kind of thing. With heroin.

"Waiting For The Man" as hero's quest - classic or dud?

http://www.rpgmmag.com/images/site/rpgm/games/heros_quest_title.jpg
Hey, Knight Boy, whatchu doing uptown?

Ha!

"Thou chaseth our maidens around"

There is now a reason for this wistful, strolling take on the song; the singer is already fixed, just picking up more before the hunger ever hits.

such a great version of that song, immediately I thought "oh that has to be about that long lazy one".

I want them professor tapes but I can't be arsed to register at that forum :-/

i'm sure they'll slip into general circulation pretty quickly. Not sure why there's all the cloak & dagger stuff over at the velvet forum -- plenty of other unreleased VU material circulates freely doesn't it? Doesn't seem like Lou has an intern surfing the blogs for bootlegs or anything. I would apply to be that intern, however.

I do that for my label. It's really frustrating work. Some of the file sharing sites are like "abuse? sorry, we'll take it down" (not in an email, just in their FAQ or whatever, and they do.)

Others though...have all this text saying "if you have a claim of ownership to something being hosted with us, you have to send us your name and address and explain how you own it and where you found it and who linked to it and prove this and that" and even then still don't take it down. The bloggers themselves are more response in deleting the link to the shared file, even if the sharing site still has it up.

I have google alerts for my releases and have to say either file sharing has gone up or the new CD is more popular than the last, but it's not a great feeling to get emails from google every day telling me about the various torrent sites and mediafire and rapidshare and megaupload locations that the entire CD is being hosted at.

oh yeah, i can see having someone tracking down sites that are offering officially released material, but the bootleg-y stuff seems like a different thing ... at least I hope it does, as someone who runs a bootleg blog! btw, dan, you reminded me I need to order that Method Actors disc!

these professor tapes are sounding gooooood. sound quality probably on par with the Quine Tapes now. So, not amazing, but very listenable.

Really special. Definitely better than any other boot of these shows.

Aside from alternate mixes, have any actual outtakes from the first 2/3 albums been released? Like "Sunday Morning, Take 01" or something?

actual outtakes from the first 2/3 albums

The versions of some of the tracks on that Norman Dolph acetate of the 1st album session have different takes or unedited versions (not just different mixes) of some of those songs. Other than that, I don't think so.

That's too bad, what with the wealth of VU and Loaded-era material. It'd be nice to hear some studio-quality stuff from earlier. Were the tapes destroyed? Wiped over?

yeah, it doesn't seem like there's any session outtakes from WL/WH or the third record ... but the Dolph acetate is fab, if you don't have that you should try to track it down.

never noticed it til the Unterberger book pointed it out, but Reed's little "Eight Miles High" tribute on the 12/12/68 "Sister Ray" is awesome! Pretty unmistakable. I love all of these "Sister Ray"s -- totally fun rollercoasters.

Ah bloody hell -- I grabbed the first .rar batch of these professor tapes (VUProf1-1-1) from a blog which then was guilted into removing the entire lot before I could grab the rest. So now I have three songs mocking me. Any tips on acquiring the rest of this set?

pm'd u

A limited edition run of 1969 Live was reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day last week, by the way. Two separate LPs. How limited isn't very clear (1500 of LP1 and 3000 of LP2 ????).
No new audio source, still no sign of the "Matrix tapes".

yeah, sort of crazy that they've never upgraded that set. I think the End of Cole Ave. bootleg sounds better than the official release ... and yeah, the Matrix Tapes sampler is clearly from a superior source. as nice as it is to have these upgraded Boston Tea Party tapes, those Matrix recordings are pretty much the holy grail right now.

Plus, the Cd editions both have extra tracks, and you can find the original 2LP set in most 'collector vinyl' shops.

the 7/11/69 show from the Professor Tapes is uhhh, pretty nuts. Were they drunk and/or high? That batshit 14 minute Run Run Run, the shambolic WL/WH, Reed's crazy vocalizing on Pale Blue Eyes. Shame it isn't a slightly better recording. Guitar playing here is wild.

Maybe Lou overdosed on papaya juice and wheat husks before he went on

possible. too much health food can cause serious noize jams. also cool to hear Lou sing Candy Says here as opposed to Doug.

He was seriously into health foods at the time

yeah, there are interviews from around the time where he sounds pretty hippie-ish. talking about auras, how "white light" is the white light of consciousness or something. drinking honey from a jar. lou reed, flower child.

It's the beginning of a new age.

Not gonna lie, this looks pretty amazing: http://www.sundazed.com/vu_quine.php
Not gonna pay $100 for it though ...

I'm past the point that I care about the object as fetish, so I'll be happy with the cds.

yeah, it's obviously bait for ummm VU trainspotters. speaking of which, wow, there are some *serious* completists over at that VU forum.

That forum scares me a bit. The cocksmanship is pretty unappealing.

yeah, kind of a weird scene. still, I'll keep lurking if things like those professor tapes keep showing up ....

Totally. That was worth it.

Indeed! Thanks for that heads up, tylerw!

anyone who wants to hear that Heard Her Call My Name from the Sundazed singles box, ahem: http://decrepittapes.blogspot.com/2010/01/velvet-underground-singles-1966-69.html

for some unknown reason i've never checked out the band's live material until recently... suddenly i find myself sucked into a frenzy of exploring this stuff. i discovered i have the first disc of the 'caught between the twisted stars' bootleg, which i downloaded and never got round to listening to at the time. i'm currently half way through acquiring the first of the professor tapes so looking forward to hearing it.

i admit to being tempted by the sundazed quine tapes set. my few rational brain cells are arguing that for that price i could get the cd version, along with the Live 1969 cds, and still have room for the sundazed singles box to scratch the vinyl itch.

Live 1969 is essential Puppa, so I'd listen to your brain cells there. The fidelity of the Quine set isn't so great that vinyl is going to make a difference over the cd versions. (I totally understand the fetishism of the lavish vinyl packaging though).

Thanks Officer Pupp. It's a sunny Sunday morning (ha!) here so I think I'll head on down to the record store and see what they've got. Good point on the Quine set fidelity. Sometimes one must set aside fetishistic tendencies.

I was never aware of how improvisational the band was. That becomes obvious when you start listening to them live of course, but usually whenever you read/hear about them the focus seems to be on their influence, the avant-garde aspects, the lyrical content, Andy Warhol, rather than the Velvet Underground as live band.

Does anyone know where I can find the new Professor tapes? Can't seem to find them anywhere

yeah, the guy who put them out asked that it not be put up on blogs for the time being ...
i'll get around to upping them at some point for people who missed em the first time around.