Re: 3rd Album Deluxe - Bill Levenson drops a hint?
Posted: 24 Nov 2014 19:43
Well, I've been waiting a long time for this. The "early Yule era" -- roughly October 1968 through early 1970, before Moe left for maternity leave -- is my favorite VU period. The third album, 1969: Live With Lou Reed, and the Quine Tapes are my all-time favorites. Not that I don't love the Cale era just as much, but if I have to pick, I'm going to pick the Velvets in 1969, as they were playing what came to be known as indie rock and shoegazing well before anyone knew what those terms meant.
Anyway...since the "45th anniversary super deluxe" sets started in 2012, I've been waiting for this day. I've actually only bought it on iTunes at this point, as I'll save the physical copy for my wife to buy for me as an Xmas present. It's as great as I expected. It's hard to say if it's better than the VU&Nico 45th anniversary super deluxe, but it's certainly better than last year's WL/WH, as the only real surprise it offered up was the early "Beginning to See the Light."
The first three discs will be a revelation for anyone who hasn't been keeping up with re-buying this album over the past few years. The first disc seems to be based off of the remaster previously available at HQtracks. It's the best sounding Valentin mix on CD, to be sure. The Closet Mix on disc two is an improvement over the Peel Slowly and See version, but there's only so much you can do with a deliberately lo-fi mix. The third disc is the mono version previously available on vinyl via the Sundazed "MGM Albums" box set, that I ripped and posted here a couple years back. I know some people have questioned the need for this, as the album was not made available in mono back in 1969, but this is a really outstanding-sounding version of the album. I've come to prefer it since the Sundazed box set, and it's nice to not have to rely on the vinyl rip, even as good as mine and others' sounded.
Similarly, disc four offers little surprises for those who've already heard the "1969" album included in the Sundazed set. There's more songs than what was included there, the sound is more uniformly mixed than on previously available versions, from VU and Another View on up to Sundazed's 1969. If you're hearing these versions for the first time, you'll really be in to it.
Which leaves us with the Matrix soundboard recordings. Holy hell, are they wonderful! They are worth the price of admission alone. As we all knew, some of these are the same performances that appeared on 1969: LWLR and The Quine Tapes, but the upgrade in fidelity is marvelous. For someone like myself who loves this era of the VU, they are a godsend.
It does appear that part of The Quine Tapes are spliced in at 32:48 on Sister Ray, probably due to changing tapes as theorized above. Sweet Jane is the same performance as the one on 1969: LWLR, but has a few extra seconds at the beginning, including an audience member yelling "yeah!" which is totally awesome.
The version of Heroin is incredible. The original 1969: LWLR version was one of my favorites, a real display of the band's soft-to-hard dynamics. The extra version that was tacked on to the Volume 1 CD of 1969 was a hulking monster, showing some of the noise-rock of the Cale era. This new version is something to behold, with awesome tribal drumming from Moe and a VERY enthusiastic vocal from Lou. I think it's already my favorite of the three versions.
And I always wondered if the "why I am so shy" bridge on Lisa Says on 1969: LWLR was from a different performance than the rest of the song, due to the audio dropping out a couple of times. Now I know it was to cover up some flubbed notes. It's the little things like this that provide me with a lot to listen to and love, and just confirms why the VU are my favorite band...they are the band that keeps on giving. After the release of I'm Not a Young Man Anymore, we may have run out of previously-unheard songs, but the band never played the same song the same way twice, and even when we've heard some of these performances before, the new fidelity makes them sound brand new again.
Anyway...since the "45th anniversary super deluxe" sets started in 2012, I've been waiting for this day. I've actually only bought it on iTunes at this point, as I'll save the physical copy for my wife to buy for me as an Xmas present. It's as great as I expected. It's hard to say if it's better than the VU&Nico 45th anniversary super deluxe, but it's certainly better than last year's WL/WH, as the only real surprise it offered up was the early "Beginning to See the Light."
The first three discs will be a revelation for anyone who hasn't been keeping up with re-buying this album over the past few years. The first disc seems to be based off of the remaster previously available at HQtracks. It's the best sounding Valentin mix on CD, to be sure. The Closet Mix on disc two is an improvement over the Peel Slowly and See version, but there's only so much you can do with a deliberately lo-fi mix. The third disc is the mono version previously available on vinyl via the Sundazed "MGM Albums" box set, that I ripped and posted here a couple years back. I know some people have questioned the need for this, as the album was not made available in mono back in 1969, but this is a really outstanding-sounding version of the album. I've come to prefer it since the Sundazed box set, and it's nice to not have to rely on the vinyl rip, even as good as mine and others' sounded.
Similarly, disc four offers little surprises for those who've already heard the "1969" album included in the Sundazed set. There's more songs than what was included there, the sound is more uniformly mixed than on previously available versions, from VU and Another View on up to Sundazed's 1969. If you're hearing these versions for the first time, you'll really be in to it.
Which leaves us with the Matrix soundboard recordings. Holy hell, are they wonderful! They are worth the price of admission alone. As we all knew, some of these are the same performances that appeared on 1969: LWLR and The Quine Tapes, but the upgrade in fidelity is marvelous. For someone like myself who loves this era of the VU, they are a godsend.
It does appear that part of The Quine Tapes are spliced in at 32:48 on Sister Ray, probably due to changing tapes as theorized above. Sweet Jane is the same performance as the one on 1969: LWLR, but has a few extra seconds at the beginning, including an audience member yelling "yeah!" which is totally awesome.
The version of Heroin is incredible. The original 1969: LWLR version was one of my favorites, a real display of the band's soft-to-hard dynamics. The extra version that was tacked on to the Volume 1 CD of 1969 was a hulking monster, showing some of the noise-rock of the Cale era. This new version is something to behold, with awesome tribal drumming from Moe and a VERY enthusiastic vocal from Lou. I think it's already my favorite of the three versions.
And I always wondered if the "why I am so shy" bridge on Lisa Says on 1969: LWLR was from a different performance than the rest of the song, due to the audio dropping out a couple of times. Now I know it was to cover up some flubbed notes. It's the little things like this that provide me with a lot to listen to and love, and just confirms why the VU are my favorite band...they are the band that keeps on giving. After the release of I'm Not a Young Man Anymore, we may have run out of previously-unheard songs, but the band never played the same song the same way twice, and even when we've heard some of these performances before, the new fidelity makes them sound brand new again.