PSA: booklet notwithstanding, deprogram 4-6 to avoid John Cale singing "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "The Gift" ("Some Kinda Love") *īootleg Series: Volume 1: The Quine Tapes Because nobody experimented more successfully than these folks. From the raw power of the instrumental "Guess I'm Falling in Love" to the dry lyricism of the instrumental "I'm Gonna Move Right In," from the tight studio "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together" to the intense early "Rock and Roll," you don't have to know jackshit about the band to enjoy the music-on the contrary, you have to put aside your preconceptions. But another objective part of me knows that the barrel scrapings of a seminal, protean, conceptually accomplished band are their own reward. One objective part of me knows that these barrel scrapings are for fanatics and archivists. If you ever doubt the VU's rightness, just compare the flashy compromises of the solo "Lisa Says" and "I Can't Stand It" (itself the making of Lou Reed) to the flat rush of the Tucker/Morrison-powered versions here. As a result, especially given PolyGram's state-of-the-art remix, it's their most listenable record even if its friendliness is deceptive-the disarming straight-ahead rocker "Foggy Notion" has a lyric whose casual sadism beats any of The Velvet Underground & Nico's shock-horror perversities. It's goofy, relaxed, simultaneously conversational and obscure, an effect accentuated by the unfinished feel of takes the band never prepared for public consumption. A-Įach of the Velvets' four official studio albums had a distinct personality, and so does this unofficial one, recorded mostly in mid-1969, right after The Velvet Underground appeared. And if it's not as essential as any of the four studio albums, it does provide an overview of the band's music: deadpan, demotic, jaded, oddly sensationalistic, primitive both harmonically and rhythmically and all but devoid of flourishes, always hard-edged and usually quick, never slow and heavy at the same time.
This is a more impressive testimonial to Lou Reed than any of his solo LPs. It's nice to have a decent-sounding live record of the legend, especially one that adds a few new songs-notably "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together"-and choruses to the canon.
Notable performance: Lou Reed's cover of the Maureen Tucker classic "Afterhours." B-ġ969 Velvet Underground Live The (mono) sound isn't bad for a record mastered from a Brigid Polk cassette, but that's not to say it isn't bad, and though I'm not one to cavil about out-of-tune guitars, this time I notice. If this is all that remains of the legendary 1970 engagement, I'll take my memories. Other subjects include drag, poverty, not loving nature, and the new age, mysteriously connected to an over-the-hill actress who would like her old age back. Lou Reed's singing embodies the paradox even on beat-goes-on throwaways about cowboys and trains. The Velvets are to Manhattan what the Rascals are to New York-that is, they really make "Rock & Roll" (a title), but they're also really intellectual and ironic. The Velvet Underground Ĭontains another bummer experiment, some stereo mystery, but otherwise their best-melodic, literate, compellingly sung Paul Williams loves it. How about that-they're gonna be famous more than 15 minutes. Nico's contained chantoozy sexuality works against the dispassionate abandon of Reed's chant singing for a vocal variety the band will never duplicate, although their ever-increasing mastery of electric noise and throwaway wordplay, will more than make up for it. It sounds intermittently crude, thin, and pretentious at first, but it never stops getting better even "Venus in Furs," Lou Reed's first recorded sadie-maisie exploitation, is held in place by the narcotic drone that identifies and unifies the LP musically. This was hard to suss out at the time, which is probably why people are still learning from it.
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