VELVET UNDERGROUND

 from BIG O

A true rarity here from a band of heroes. The Velvet Underground would have had a page to themselves on my blog had there been sufficient boots around to feature. Even the band individually I would feature pages on had there been enough and frankly the quality of Cale and Reed boot material is usually less than lossless. So as Big O mentions there is always a lot of fuss when something surfaces. It is really worthwhile reading the notes here to understanding how rare such an event truly is.

The Velvet Underground - Psychedelic Sounds From The Gymnasium 1967

Enjoy!

UPDATE!
Coupla days later Big O added this little doozie

VELVET ORIGINS!
The Velvets - Everything You Ever Heard.....

Big O says:

Everything You’ve Heard About The Velvet Underground [VU333, originally released as a three-LP set, shared here on 2CD]
Demos, early recordings, outtakes, rehearsal and live, tracks and out of print material. Good to fairly good audio. Vinyl rip, with some pops and crackles.

Anyone who requires a one-stop gateway into The Velvet Underground should get the group’s five-disc Peel Slowly & See boxset. Even hardcore fans might want the set for its different mixes and demo tracks.

For a companion compilation of odds and sorts, Everything You’ve Heard About The Velvet Underground, released in 1982, ought to fit the bill nicely.

Here are some comments by james_jones, posted at rateyourmusic.com in 2004:

Disc One [Ed: Writer was referring to LP1 or Side 1 and 2] comprises 12 tracks highlighting Lou Reeds’ pre-Velvet days. Included are songs by luminaries such as The Carol Lou Trio, The Shades, The All Night Workers, The Primitives, The Beachnuts and, of course, The Roughnecks (how could you forget them!).

I really like the emerging druginess of Why Don’t You Smile by The Nightworkers (which was later reworked by Maureen Tucker and Jad Fair in the late ’80s). I even like (Do) the Ostrich by The Primitives, but some of the tracks such as The Beach Nuts singin’ I’ve Got A Tiger In My Tank, suck bigtime. You can see the future direction Lou was gonna go by the recordings done by The Roughnecks, in that Lou’s drawl and distinctive guitar sound were starting to form. A lot of the early tracks sound very weird now and they must have sounded even weirder when they were recorded in 1964/5. Maybe the drugs were just starting to kick in coz some of the recording sessions sound like they would have been a real hoot!

The last three tracks of Disc One include a strange feedback drone called Loop which more than definitely hints at Lou’s future direction with noise eg Metal Machine Music recorded a decade later (or was the track just caused by speed psychosis?). The closing two tracks probably recorded in 1967 include taped conversation at a Andy Warhol book launch - with the Velvet’s first album playing in the background. The last track was simply more experimental taping of dialogue for the East Village Electronic Newspaper - circa 1967. Disc One is a very interesting historical piece, but easy listening it is not.

Easy listening? You want easy listening? Then why you checking out a Velvet Underground boot?

I played 'Metal Machine Music' the other day after checking these postings and found it positively melodically tuneful. Loop is positively danceable!

But that's just me.........murble murble mutter mutter

Enjoy!

P.S and remember they don't stay up for long so get 'em while they're hot.

Hot Tamale and they're red hot!

"You better decide which one of them bills you want before they all disappear...."