The Velvet Forum

As we know the VU* performed the soundtrack to Warhol's ’66 film Hedy, a camp reimagining of the circumstances behind 1930s starlet Hedy Lamar's recent arrest for petty shoplifting. Unfortunately, the film's dialogue overlays so much of the music that it's hard to fully enjoy what they were playing. There seems to be magic to it, highlighted by curliques of glorious feedback, but the magic isn't given space to do its work.

After many years of frustrating listens, it occurred to me recently to try shearing Hedy of its chatter, and see if what remains can be satisfying in any way.

Indeed it can! The result fills barely 2:30, but is near-seamless and finally enjoyable. Assuming the master recording never materializes, this seems as close as we'll ever get to hearing what they were up to when they made their Hedy music. It makes a great companion to the "Chic Mystique" and "A Symphony Of Sound" files I recently posted; as with those, e-m me at pm [at] philxmilstein [dot] com to request the link.

*Actually just Lou on guitar (mostly feedback) and John adding bits of bass, but at that stage they were stamping the group name on any music that emerged from their camp.

how long is the film?

Nice. Thanks for doing this and sharing it Phil. These few minutes are worth it. I saw the film some time ago and would not have thought of extracting any audio from it.

Can I ask where did this audio come from? Is it the Falling Spikes CD?

@gazatthehop.

From what I know the film is listed at 70 minutes in Stephen Koch's book. I don't remember it feeling that long.

Hey Phil, I sent you an email requesting those links, thanks.

iaredatsun wrote: ↑

16 Oct 2018 12:02

Nice. Thanks for doing this and sharing it Phil. These few minutes are worth it. I saw the film some time ago and would not have thought of extracting any audio from it.

From what I know the film is listed at 70 minutes in Stephen Koch's book. I don't remember it feeling that long.

70 minutes is about right. I received the entire audio from Lurid years ago. From that I made two edits, one which attempted to capture every scrap of music despite the dialogue and one which sought to reduce the amount of dialogue to a minimum, while preserving the major musical passages. I still listen to the latter version from time to time. I recently did something similar with the Mary Woronov, Gerard Malanga Marie Menchen (?) reel from Chelsea Girls. I make no great claims of my editing skills in any of these.

Elvis Plebsley wrote: ↑

17 Oct 2018 22:47

iaredatsun wrote: ↑

16 Oct 2018 12:02

Nice. Thanks for doing this and sharing it Phil. These few minutes are worth it. I saw the film some time ago and would not have thought of extracting any audio from it.

From what I know the film is listed at 70 minutes in Stephen Koch's book. I don't remember it feeling that long.

70 minutes is about right. I received the entire audio from Lurid years ago. From that I made two edits, one which attempted to capture every scrap of music despite the dialogue and one which sought to reduce the amount of dialogue to a minimum, while preserving the major musical passages. I still listen to the latter version from time to time. I recently did something similar with the Mary Woronov, Gerard Malanga Marie Menchen (?) reel from Chelsea Girls. I make no great claims of my editing skills in any of these.

What was the source of the audio? An audience recording?

Be interesting to hear your edits, if you cared to share them

iaredatsun wrote: ↑

18 Oct 2018 12:50

What was the source of the audio? An audience recording?

Be interesting to hear your edits, if you cared to share them

I'm not sure where the audio came from, but I think it's better than the Falling Spikes bootleg extracts. I'm happy to share the edits, but it won't be before the weekend.

I got the 70m min "complete" recording back in the mid-1980s but I can't remember where from. Possibly Bob Collington ("bobbldr") or maybe Jeremy Reed or Chris Carter. Have to say I've not listened to it in years....

Elvis Plebsley wrote: ↑

18 Oct 2018 23:59

iaredatsun wrote: ↑

18 Oct 2018 12:50

What was the source of the audio? An audience recording?

Be interesting to hear your edits, if you cared to share them

I'm not sure where the audio came from, but I think it's better than the Falling Spikes bootleg extracts. I'm happy to share the edits, but it won't be before the weekend.

Thank-you. Much appreciated.

Wow that is magic! Thank you very much!