ZEROSOUNDS : The best of The Velvet’s Live! 1966-1972

 THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

THE PSYCHOPATH’S ROLLING STONES

Velvet Underground The Psychopath’s Rolling Stones - Zerosounds

 

Zero says:

A lot of the Velvet Underground fans are saying this is the one VU bootleg to get if I had to get just one."The Psychopath's Rolling Stones" is just as odds-n-ends as those excellent "Ultra Rare Trax" CDs and even as random as the official "Peel Slowly and See" box set itself, but it has got some incredible numbers & versions I've never heard elsewhere.

Let's start with the definitive live version of "Run Run Run" -- for me, the most underrated Velvets song of all time and one that's easily in my Top 5 along with the other ones we all love. This one's a long version from February 8th, 1969 in New Hampshire, and as the back cover says, "features some remarkable guitar work.

The solos (Reed's?) are just blistering -- the song is transformed into the latter 2/3rds of "European Son" while still maintaining its bounce and chugga-chugga drive.

Also revelatory is the demo version of "Chelsea Girl" recorded in those famous hotel sessions, just Lou and Nico and a beat-up old tape deck. That's my favorite song on her first record, and this version's better.

Other hotties of note are a fire-breathing Cleveland 1967 "Guess I'm Falling In Love" (with vocals and another killer solo) and the 1966 tin pan alley studio outtake "Sheltered Life".

And what 70s-era bootleg wouldn't be complete without a hidden track not by the featured artist? This one's got one and a half: a warbling, half-insane live version of Nico doing "The End", and a choogling 1920s-era jump blues called "Bootleggin' Blues" from someone certainly not from the lower east side*.

This collection is heavy on the first two VU records, so if the rough, sodom-and-gomorrah Velvets are your thing and you're pretty sure Yule's a fool, this digital platter of scorching obscurities is your ticket to hog heaven.

Tracks:

1. Star Spangled Banner (2:06)

2. White Light/White Heat (4:33)

3. I'm Waiting For My Man (4:07)

4. All Tomorrow's Parties (5:14)

5. Run Run Run (8:48)

6. Guess I'm Falling In Love (4:11)

7. Venus In Furs (5:02)

8. Black Angel's Death Song (2:53)

9. I Can't Stand It (8:01)

10. Sheltered Life (2:51)

11. Vernissage (0:58)

12. Real Good Time Together (2:34)

13. Chelsea Girl (3:12)

14. Pale Blue Eyes (5:59)

15. I'll Be Your Mirror (2:37)

16. The End (8:06)

17. "Bootlegging The Bootleggers”*

Sources:

1 : listed as "unreleased track, shortlisted as the intro to the 1993 concerts but later rejected” 

2, 3 : Max's Kansas City, Summer 1970 

4 : Valleydale Ballroom, November 4,1966 

5 : Hilltop Festival, August 2, 1969 

6 : Gymnasium, April 1967 

7 : End Of Cole Ave, October 18, 1969 

8, 15 : Bataclan, January 29, 1972 

9 : The Matrix, late November - early December 1969 (pirated from official 1969 Live) 

10 : Ludlow street loft demo, early 1967 

11 : radio ad for third LP 

12 : demo, late 1969 

13. Nico & Joe Bidewell, BBC TV program on Chelsea Hotel, 1981 

14. End Of Cole Ave, October 19, 1969

16 : Nico, live 

17 : not a VU-related track.