Velvets lose copywrite appeal over banana but release....

[The Dr]

...a six disc verion of the album!

The Velvet Underground's classic debut album, 'The Velvet Underground & Nico', is set to be re-released as a six-disc package on October 1.

The reissue celebrates the 1967 album's 45th anniversary. The six discs will include the original stereo and mono versions, as well as Nico's 'Chelsea Girl' and two live discs taken from a show at the Valleydale Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio.

At the start of the year, The Velvet Underground filed a lawsuit seeking to block its iconic Andy Warhol-designed banana – which featured on the artwork for 'The Velvet Underground And Nico’ – being used on covers for iPads and iPhones.

The defunct 1960s band, formed by Lou Reed and John Cale, announced it was taking action against the Andy Warhol Foundation over reports that they had agreed to license the banana design to a series of cases, sleeves and bags.

The tracklisting for the reissue of 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' is:

Disc One - 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' (Stereo Version)
Originally Issued As Verve V6-5008, March 1967
'Sunday Morning'
'I'm Waiting For The Man'
'Femme Fatale'
'Venus In Furs'
'Run Run Run'
'All Tomorrow's Parties'
'Heroin'
'There She Goes Again'
'I'll Be Your Mirror'
'The Black Angel's Death Song'
'European Son'
Alternate Versions:
'All Tomorrow’s Parties (Alternate Single Voice Version)'
'European Son (Alternate Version)'
'Heroin (Alternate Version)'
'All Tomorrow’s Parties (Alternate Instrumental Mix)'
'I'll Be Your Mirror (Alternate Mix)'

Disc Two - 'The Velvet Underground & Nico' (Mono Version)
Originally Issued As Verve V-5008, March 1967
'Sunday Morning'
'I'm Waiting For The Man'
'Femme Fatale'
'Venus In Furs'
'Run Run Run'
'All Tomorrow's Parties'
'Heroin'
'There She Goes Again'
'I'll Be Your Mirror'
'The Black Angel's Death Song'
'European Son'
The Singles:
'All Tomorrow's Parties'
'I’ll Be Your Mirror (Alternate Ending)'
'Sunday Morning (Alternate Mix)'
'Femme Fatale'

Disc Three - Nico: 'Chelsea Girl'
Originally Issued As Verve V6-5032, October 1967
'The Fairest Of The Seasons'
'These Days'
'Little Sister'
'Winter Song'
'It Was A Pleasure Then'
'Chelsea Girls'
'I'll Keep It With Mine'
'Somewhere There's A Feather'
'Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams'
'Eulogy To Lenny Bruce'

Disc Four - Scepter Studios Sessions
Acetate Cut On April 25, 1966
'European Son (Alternate Version)'
'The Black Angel's Death Song (Alternate Mix)'
'All Tomorrow's Parties (Alternate Version)'
'I'll Be Your Mirror (Alternate Version)'
'Heroin (Alternate Version)'
'Femme Fatale 2.36 (Alternate Mix)'
'Venus In Furs (Alternate Version)'
'Waiting For The Man (Alternate Version)'
'Run Run Run 4.23 (Alternate Mix)'
The Factory Rehearsals: January 1966 Rehearsal, Previously Unreleased.
'Walk Alone'
'Cracking Up / Venus In Furs'
'Miss Joanie Lee'
'Heroin'
'There She Goes Again (With Nico)'
'There She Goes Again'

Disc Five - Live At Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio
'Melody Laughter'
'Femme Fatale'
'Venus In Furs'
'The Black Angel's Death Song'
'All Tomorrow's Parties'

Disc Six- Live At Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio
'Waiting For The Man'
'Heroin'
'Run Run Run'
'The Nothing Song'



i'm salavating- just checking the price... £66- beyond me alas

[TheWarmth]

It's interesting that there is no conversation here about this massive release. Personally, it's not something I will buy (might be on my Christmas list), but I'd think that it would be in the wheelhouse of a lot of people on this forum.

Edit: Just found out that Sundazed is issuing a 5xLP set for $100, which looks excellent! Now this is something I'd like to have.

http://www.sundazed.com/shop/vu-deeper-nomenu.php

[angelsighs]

yeah it might go on my christmas list too. I just wish you could buy some of the discs on their own rather than buy the whole shebang (I don't need the original album again, or in mono).
there's very little live recordings of them in this era so I'm very interested in that. the acetate looks cool too.

although sometimes I might lean towards the noise of White Light/White Heat, I reckon on balance this album is the Velvets greatest and surely one of the best albums ever?

[solarflarez]

I love the Velvets, ........ but..... just cant get into WL/WH.... am i wrong/strange/mistaken? every other LP of theirs is superb, and their first is, yes, one of the greatest albums ever, top ten for me, gotta be, but i wont be shelling out for this , WAY to many expensive things/projects on the horizon

[jadams501]

At a certain point, re-issues become excessive and kind of insulting. I'm not the biggest VU fan in the world but I have all their albums, some live stuff, and the comps of unreleased material. This release just feels redundant to me -- how many times has it been remastered already? Similarly, the huge reissue of Michael Jackson's Bad has something like 7 or 8 new things that interest me out of an enormous box. It just foments further resentment of an already struggling industry.

SolarFlarez, give WL/WH some more time. It was the last of their albums that I got into, and there's definitely some good material on there.

[angelsighs]

I kind of know what you mean. some of it is just fan-bait, and stuff like stickers, postcards and god knows what else they put into these super-deluxe-mega boxes are silly.
but these things can also be done very nicely, and some bands are just worth it. if it's got more music in it I usually welcome it.

I'd also second giving WL/WH another chance- on any given day I might choose that as my favourite Velvets album, but if I think about it Nico just edges it for the variety is has (and the viola!!). it still sounds incredible to me.
for me the weak link in the catalogue is the s/t album. it's got a few songs I just don't care for, and I know people say it's meant to be the slow folky one, I think there are better slower songs on the other albums.

[TheWarmth]

I agree with pretty much everything said here regarding the VU & Nico box, but have you guys looked at the details on the Sundazed 5xLP box? I think that looks absolutely fabulous and totally worth the money.

[johnnyboy]

I won't be buying it, having laready got an original UK vinyl pressing, and the last deluxe edition 2cd remaster or whatever featuring the stereo and mono and Nico solo tracks. Anniversaries always bring out another box set don't they.

It is a fantastic seminal album. I love all their albums but WLWH is probably the least played, though it has I Heard Her Call My Name on it which is an incredible skull burst of a song, and Sister Ray is a filthy groove.

The s/t is way up there for me. Beautiful album. Loaded is classic rock n roll, more commercial but one of my most played for some reason.

Funnily enough I was about to post about VU&Nico. There's a vinyl only release of modern Bay Area bands covering the whole album, featuring Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Fresh and Onlys, White Fence. I'd be interested in hearing it.

http://pitchfork.com/news/47922-ty-sega ... ribute-lp/

[BzaInSpace]

Like Johnny, I don't think I need this on top of the existing deluxe version and the prized Peel Slowly And See box. Have they actually remastered the original album again? Neither confirms or denies this anywhere and to be honest I doubt the now standard 1995 remasters could be improved on. Worse still, if it has been remastered, presumably it would be in the ultra-compressed, 'ear-bud' friendly style that's laid waste to so many classics recently, such as Exile On Main Street and Nevermind ... not good.
Anyway, some interest in the acetate versions although the bootleg is already out there (in fact I think I sourced it via here some years ago) - wonder if they have managed to clean up the sound? The alt. take version of 'I'm Waiting For The Man' is great. The live show would be good as well, but like a few here I'd rather just buy the live album individually. Apparently the sound quality is pretty great.

(This is much like the forthcoming Nevermind The Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols deluxe/multiple CD set in that there is not enough in the way of 'essential' extras to justify the purchase anyway - surely most fans of the VU have this stuff already...)

The vinyl box set would be cool, just as an artifact itself, although the mono version of the S/T album has been created specially for this release from one of the original stereo mixes which is a bit weird... they should have just used Lou's 'Closet' mix, stereo and all. And while the "Unissued 4th LP", compiling some of the 1969 studio material, is a good idea it appears they are using the 80s mixes of this stuff, which is a pity. Don't get me wrong, 'I Can't Stand It' and 'Foggy Notion' are among my favourite VU songs, but I'd love to hear them remixed and without that dated 80s reverb, especially on the drums.

I love all the VU albums - for me they stand way above most other artists' work from that time, and they have an edge and a degree of madness that you don't find elsewhere. White Light/White Heat was easily the album that took the longest to get into, but probably reaps the most rewards - I think I've probably played that particular album of theirs the most over recent times. It's just amazing - 'The Gift' that keeps giving maybe.

White Light/White Heat possibly (definitely) deserves it's own thread, but it's actually quite hard to quantify what's so good about it - the production, from a technical point of view, is absolutely awful... yet somehow this actually works to its advantage. It's most definitely lo-fi, Mo Tucker's drums are all but inaudible on the noisier tracks, there is very little bass on the album, or else it's buried under everything else, Lou (and Cale's) voices appear to have been recorded miles away from the actual music itself, and just seem to be bolted on top... and yet. There's something wild and bizarre and addictive to it all after a while. I love the dichotomy between all out sonic assault and gentle ballads which were never more pronounced by them than on here ('Here She Comes Now' - 'I Heard Her Call My Name') and of course, there is 'Sister Ray'. For a long time I couldn't understand the praise for this tune, what I'd initially written off as dull and repetitive (well I was right about repetitive) became this mad journey - it all clicked into place on a long train journey, and I vividly recall that awesome moment near the end where everything drops out to just the basic rhythm section and guitar playing... wow. John Cale's insistence on playing the electric organ louder than everything else - thus resulting in Lou and Sterling trying to play louder again as well - results in a sloppy, over-amplified mess, and the timing and phrasing is mostly gone as they can't hear each other... but it actually works beautifully, and that to me is genius.

[The Dr]

I vividly recall that awesome moment near the end where everything drops out to just the basic rhythm section and guitar playing... wow. John Cale's insistence on playing the electric organ louder than everything else - thus resulting in Lou and Sterling trying to play louder again as well - results in a sloppy, over-amplified mess, and the timing and phrasing is mostly gone as they can't hear each other... but it actually works beautifully, and that to me is genius.

mo said that she was tired and lost (as she couldn't hear the others) so stopped playing expecting them to say 'ok, this is what we'll do, take two' but they just carried on oblivious or either indifferent. reading selby jnr after listening to sister ray made me think 'hey, why did sleby try to rip off lou reed? he can't touch him!' it was only after i realised selby came first

[angelsighs]

WLWH is noisy as fuck in places, but it's noise that I find so enjoyable and thrilling. it's very analogue sounding too which I like.
I Heard Her Call My Name is insane- that overdriven, dirty guitar solo is like it's from another planet. apparently it was Lou's attempt at emulating free-jazz saxophone. then you've got Here She Comes Now which is so minimal and hushed. they did the two extremes so well.

Loaded has some goofy songs but also some of their very greatest. apart from the obvious (e.g opening three tunes) I love the stab at doo wop in I Found A Reason, and the ballads like New Age or Sweet Nuthin..

as I said, I don't really rate the s/t album. can't stand the Murder Mystery and it lasts an age! plus the songs just don't seem that compelling for me, apart from maybe Candy Says or Pale Blue Eyes. maybe I should give it another try.

I've gotta say, I'm probably just the right person for this new boxset- I'm a huge fan, but just have never got round to getting hold of the acetate, or Nico's album or whatever. it's just the price that's putting me off.

[sunray]

WLWH for me all the way! I remember the first time i heard it and proceeded to listen to it twice more immediately after. Still blows me away now. Probably Loaded after that. Those two are certainly the ones I listen to most along with The Quine Tapes, any release that can take up 90 minutes with 3 different versions of Sister Ray has to be good!

Wouldn't be interested in this box set though. If they released the live stuff seperately I'd certainly buy those.

[johnnyboy]

There's a 9/10 review in this months Uncut, spread over 3 pages (inc the pics). Says that stereo gave them depth but the mono mix is where the violence is

The mag looks pretty good this month. Byrds on the cover and an article about Notorious Byrds Bros inside plus a 20 Greatest Byrds tracks list featuring talking heads like Bobby Gillespie (who chose "Why?").
Siouxee & Banshees Kiss In The Dreamhouse era article, LCD Soundsystem.

Anyways, back to the Velvets........Sister Ray, what a song, what lyrics! Hearing that aged around 17 was amazing. "Too busy sucking on my ding dong......don't you know you'll stain the carpet......" just the kind of words you want blasting out your bedroom in the family home or blasting out of Walkman headphones walking to the local train station.

Good to see Here She Comes Now mentioned a couple of times. Lovely little song.

Quite possibly the coolest band ever.

[bbbhenko]

WLWH is their best album, in my opinion. gotta love that noise and madness! 'i heard her call my name' is possibly the best rock song ever

[The Dr]

http://thequietus.com/articles/07147-jo ... nderground

when Andy came back from his doctor's appointment. "He called me over and showed me: this is the album cover." The magazines in the waiting room at the surgery had been full of ads for pharmaceuticals companies. The one that had caught Andy's eye featured an image of a banana which the reader could pull down to reveal a list of all the vitamins found in a banana. "He said what do you think of this as an album cover? I thought it was amazing."

[The Dr]

just read the mojo review- the live tapes have 30 min jams and bo diddley cover and and i think i gotta take the plunge. hey i only have bought the first album 5 times already (cassette, cd, peel, presents)

[angelsighs]

yeah, been reading the reviews and actually kinda want this now :S
great way to get the whole era in one foul swoop. plus apparently all the notes and packaging is really detailed

[TheWarmth]

I picked up the VU - Verve/MGM 5xLP Sundazed box over the weekend at Permanent. Unfortunately, it didn't come with a download code. I emailed Sundazed and got this explanation: We do not have digital rights. We licensed this from Universal Music and only have rights to the vinyl box set. They maintain all digital rights. I wonder if Universal is even going to release this set digitally. Either way, I have a lot of vinyl transferring ahead of me. Sigh. The packaging of the albums is nice and there are a couple of posters included as well as a peelable banana that you can affix to the peeled banana on the front of the first album if you'd like. The outer box could have been heftier and, I have to say, it feels a little cheap considering the price tag. I haven't had time to dig into this, but hope to do so tonight. I'll report back.

[BzaInSpace]

That sucks about the lack of a download code - are they even using the same (re)masters as the Universal ...& Nico box? Be interested to hear if there has been any fresh remastering for the vinyl set, and if they are still using the 1986 mixes (with 1986 digital reverb) on the 1969 studio stuff...

[TheWarmth]

"Sourced from the original Verve/MGM analog reels and mastered by Bob Irwin, this collection is an essential purchase for the discerning vinyl devotee".

I transferred side A of the first album last night and it sounds great to my ears. Looking forward to the rest!

Here's some interesting information:

Tim Warren (owner of Crypt Records): So, Bob: do those (first album) master-tapes really exist????

Bob Irwin: They absolutely exist. Two sets of reels, I believe. Here's the deal: first of all, there are several, several anomalies on the tapes themselves - noisy punches, noisy board moves, etc., etc.. Definitely (lovingly) lo-fi. That's before you take into account substandard later pressings of the album or CD issues - god only knows WHAT they were made from. And - unlike the comparatively beautiful WL/WH tape boxes and reels, there's nothing really sexy about the first album's boxes or ledgers... Which is why we (and I suspect others) never really pictured them or posted them. But - rest assured - there is tape, and we as faithfully as [possible recreated the sound of the first pressings of the album. Here's another interesting bit: if you compare the A-side of an original mono pressing to the B-side, there is a mucho NOTICEABLE difference in the sonic characteristics. This can only really be attributed to one thing, as far as I can imagine - the A-side was cut by one engineer (with a particular vision for the sound) and the B-side was cut by either ANOTHER engineer, or a lacquer-cutter/engineer that thought differently at that moment. More work was put into the A-side, for sure. The B-side (brighter) was for all intent and purposes a flat cut from the mono tape. All early pressings sound this way. Later pressings (there are later mono pressings) are comparatively harsh on BOTH sides, showing that less thought and work was put into the cuttings themselves.

Tim Warren: thankee for the lowdown, Bob! can't wait to hear 5008 & WLWH from the hands of THEE master!

Bob Irwin: Thanks, pal. I should also add that - after unbelievable deliberation (honestly - you wouldn't believe it), I decided to go with the sound of the absolute earliest pressing I could find, and let the A-side and B-side sort of live different lives, a/p the original. It was probably what the band approved (IF they were even given the opportunity to approve anything), and I decided not to second-guess that. Ours sounds as close to an original as possible - there will ALWAYS be minute, super-tweaky-headed differences in sound, if only by virtue of the playback equip, the cutter equip, etc... This is as close as can possibly be!

[James T]

I just bought the standard 1 LP reissue of this. Has a download code with it but just the album of course, but still remastered. Not got back to hear it yet though...

[TheWarmth]

I just bought the standard 1 LP reissue of this. Has a download code with it but just the album of course, but still remastered. Not got back to hear it yet though...

Is your copy mono or stereo? Just curious.

[James T]

stereo, just giving it a listen now!

[johnnyboy]

Has anyone tested out the stereo/mono versions of this anniversary reissue? I wasn't going to get the boxset but am interested in the double cd versions, or the single 'rarities' mono disc. I've got the deluxe 2 cd disc from some years back so need to know if these new remasters are a vast improvement. Some reviews I've read suggest that the new mono is kinda brutal, in a very good way, and the stereo is nice and spacious.