'Heroin' - Toronto 69 - new VU live track

bleach · Post by **bleach** » 26 Jun 2004 18:56

Go to Oliviers VU site cos he's put up a new VU live track 'Heroin' (not heard before anywhere!) from the Toronto Pop Festival 1969.

The morning of the Toronto Pop Festival - June 1969, featured an unusual and eclectic bill of performances: By: S.R.C. (from Detroit) Rotary Connection, Eric Anderson , the Velvet Underground, and the Band.

The "Velvets" came on stage looking austere and detached, they were unfamiliar, unsettling and exciting.

In contrast to that day's pleasant musical offerings, the hard-edged urban sound of the "Velvets" seemed stark and at times brutal-with frenetic guitars driven by the slow steady beat of Maureen Tucker playing an oddly inverted bass drum.

My friend Alex had brought a new cassette recorder and had loaded up with C-60?s to record both days of music, as the first cords of "Heroin" came through I prompted him to turn the recorder on.

Years later I borrowed the tapes from him and had eventually lost track of then in storage with boxes of my college books. More than 3 decades later I found the tapes again and with audio restoration software managed to bring the track to life.

I'm impressed by the emotion Lou put in the reading of the song. The distracted audience chatter is annoying but is overcome by a truly evocative performance. The lyric strength and musical originality unmatched today.

Not a bad summer afternoon.

- W.Z.
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EXCLUSIVE!

The Velvet Underground - Heroin

live at Toronto Pop Festival
Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
June 21, 1969

PLAY LOUD!

Recording: Alex Andronache
Restoration: William Zabusky
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ractrader · Post by **ractrader** » 26 Jun 2004 20:03

Don't like real audio, it sound awful most of the time. Does anybody have this song in a better format?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 26 Jun 2004 20:08

Have managed to copy it onto a wav file.

Actually, the quality is quite good for a .ram file.

I'll upload it to jimjims in the next few mins

Post by **ferges** » 26 Jun 2004 22:07

i'm curious if other tracks exist.

cuckoo · Post by **cuckoo** » 27 Jun 2004 10:37

I can't get this to play. iTunes doesn't want to know! Is there a particular player I need to download?

Post by **ferges** » 27 Jun 2004 13:24

i converted this file to wav using nero plugin and then with frontah to mp3.
download it from here if you have trouble with ram file. link will work for 7 days or for 25 downloads.

lostblues · Post by **lostblues** » 27 Jun 2004 14:12

thanks, Ferges!

voodoochild · Post by **voodoochild** » 27 Jun 2004 17:21

Thanks Ferges...It's so nice to hear a new unbootlegged track...and especially heroin

deckarep · Post by **deckarep** » 28 Jun 2004 01:14

Thanks Ferges, much appreciated

btw, have you heard anything from Rosie Lee?

Arne

VU · Post by VU » 28 Jun 2004 15:14

Very good track!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!