The Velvet Forum

you know I've had that MMS lp for at least 10 years and I cant ever remember listening to the SR on it! No-one has ever suggested it wasn't as described - I'll dig it out tonight and give it a listen....

To Tarbaby2:

No, it's an audience tape. It sounds like VU to me, not solo Lou, though I haven't heard "Live In Italy" in many years to compare.

To Lurid_UK:

Looking forward to your conclusions.

sorry it'll need to be tomorrow - didn't get a chance last night. I used to be in intermittent contact with the guy who's credited as "Eli" on the back cover of MMS. If the version of SR on the LP was otherwise not available, I think he would have told me about it....(and sent me the rest of the show!)
PS Are you the D Sulpy who's written on the Beatles?

Well, I don't have everything there is to have (... yet!), so it could be the SR on MMS is something you'll all listen to and go "oh, THAT!"... I just know I haven't found it in the ones I have.

And, yes, I'm Doug Sulpy, author of several books on those other '60's icons.

P.S. - Thanks for the PM, Simon. I should have figured that out. It worked perfectly.

After starting this thread I did my own research and came up with a list of all the known versions of Sister Ray that I could find (only VU & Lou - no covers). I've listed the date, time, venue, and CD/LP it can be found on:

1967
April 26 & 27 ? Searchin? (~15.00 & ~20.00) ? Boston Tea Party ? Last Shows w. Nico ? Not Recorded?
Sept. ? Searchin? (17.25) ? Twisted Stars (Disc 4, cut #1 ? ?Swan? mix)

1968
April 30 ? Sweet Sister Ray (39.40) ? La Cave ? Sweet Sister Ray / Twisted Stars / Sweet Sister Ray?s Murder Mystery
Oct. 2 ? Sister Ray (10.30) ? La Cave ? Problems In Urban Living
Dec. 1 ? Sister Ray (18.33) ? Music Hall, Cleveland, Ohio
Dec. 12 ? Sister Ray (24.47) ? Boston Tea Party ? Legendaly Guitar Amp Tape(?) / Boston Tea Party / Sweet Sister Ray

1969
Jan. 10 ? Sister Ray (21.57) ? Boston Tea Party ? Searchin? For My Mainline / A Walk With The Velvet Underground vol. 2
Jan. 28/29 ? Sister Ray-Murder Mystery-Sister Ray (28.14) ? La Cave ? Sweet Sister Ray?s Murder Mystery / Ostrich-Hilltop Festival
March 13 ? Sister Ray-Murder Mystery (22.05) ? Boston Tea Party ? Ultra Rare Trax vol. 3
March 15 ? Heroin-Sister Ray [Guitar Amp version] (34.25) ? Boston Tea Party ? Legendaly Guitar Amp Tape / Sweet Sister Ray / Wild Side Of The Street
May 11 ? Sister Ray-Foggy Notion (28.43) ? Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri ? Quine Tapes
Summer ? Sister Ray (~45.00) ? Electric Factory, Philadelphia ? Not Recorded?
July 11 ? Sister Ray-Murder Mystery (20.37) ? Boston Tea Party ? Sweet Sister Ray
October ? Sister Ray ? Music Hall, Cleveland, Ohio ? Not Recorded?
Oct. 18 ? Sister Ray (17.47) ? End Cole Ave. ? End Cole Ave.
Oct. 19 ? Sister Ray (14.03 faded) ? End Cole Ave. ? A True Rock ?n Roller
Oct 23-25 ? Sister Ray (~45.00) ? Vulcan Gas Co., Austin, Texas ? Recorded, but tapes are lost
Nov. 7 ? Sister Ray (24.03) ? Family Dog, San Francisco ? Quine Tapes
Dec. 1-3 ? Sister Ray (38.00) ? The Matrix, San Francisco ? Quine Tapes

1970
Jan. 3 ? Sister Ray (8.55) ? 2nd Fret, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania(?) ? Searchin? For My Mainline / Flowers Of Evil
Jan. 15-21 ? Sister Ray(?) ? Quiet Knight(?) ? Chicago, Illinois(?) ? Not Recorded?

1971
Nov. 5 ? Sister Ray / Never Going Back To Georgia (13:08) ? School Of African & Oriental Studies, London, England ? Final V.U. 1971-1973
Nov. 19 ? Sister Ray (15:02) ? Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands ? Final V.U. 1971-1973 / Live In Amsterdam

1972
Oct. 14 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Leicester University, United Kingdom
Nov. 1 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Mile End, London, England ? Some Kinda Love ? Sister Ray listed not included
Dec. 6 ? Sister Ray (8:57) ? St David's University, Lampeter, Wales ? Final V.U. 1971-1973
Dec. 22 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Music Hall, Cleveland, Ohio
Dec. 31 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Main Point, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1973
Jan. 27 ? Sister Ray (9.03) ? Lou Reed & the Tots ? Alice Tully Hall, New York ? Phantom Of Rock
Jan. 29 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Humpin? Hannah?s, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sept. 1 ? Sister Ray ? Tanglewood Festival, Lenox, Massachusetts ? Rock And Roll Mammal

1974
May 14 ? Sister Ray (8.03) ? Lou Reed ? Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden ? Waiting For Lou / What Ever Happened To Dick & Steve / Live Stockholm 1974 / Stiff On This Legend

1976
Oct. 29 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Orpheum Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts (encore)

1977
March 26 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Olympen Theatre, Lund, Sweden
April 6 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Jaap Edenhall, Amsterdam, Holland
April 20 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Vienna, Austria

1978
April 22 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Passaic Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey (encore)

1979
April 1 ? Sister Ray/Twist & Shout/Magic Touch/Sweet ? Lou Reed ? Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany
April 10 ? Rock And Roll/You Keep Me Hangin' On/Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Hammersmith Odeon, London, England
Oct. 18 ? Sister Ray/Kicks ? Lou Reed ? Hammersmith Odeon, London, England

1980
June 19 ? Sister Ray/Leave Me Alone ? Lou Reed ? Plaza de las Arenas, Barcelona, Spain

1983
Feb. 25 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Bottom Line, New York, New York (late show encore)
Feb. 26 ? Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Bottom Line, New York, New York, (early show encore)
Sept. 6 ? Sister Ray/Some Kinda Love (15.30) ? Lou Reed ? Stadio Ruffino, Turin, Italy ? Live In Italy
Sept. 7 ? Some Kinda Love/Sister Ray ? Lou Reed ? Arena, Verona, Italy

I listened to MMS tonight - I dont have the tape to hand, but I'm sure that version of SR is from the "guitar amp" tape 15/03/69. It's been cleaned up a bit for the LP but that's where it's from. Lou's guitar is just crazy crazy loud, but he pretty well stops playing when he's singing. You can hear Sterling noodling away in the background and Doug trying hard to be heard on organ. There's no real "start" to it since the band just runs straight into the SR riff as "Heroin" winds down... A shorter segment from this track was pressed up as a flexi and included with original copies of the spanish "Feedback" book on the VU.
Re the list of "SRs" - I'm sure there are more Lou solo renditions than that. One of the best is a version Lou played at the Bottom Line in May 78 - it's slowed down to a walking pace where Lou basically "talks" the lyrics, extemporising as he goes. Unfortunately, the extant tape is so poor it's hard to make out much of what he says!!!

Problem solved!

It is, indeed, the "guitar amp" tape. What was confusing me is that "Metal Machine Sound" ends with the song petering out, and some fills on the toms and applause.... which I presumed was the end of the performance. This, of course, is very different to the end of the performance as heard on the guiar amp tape.. the solution is that MMS only uses half of the guitar amp performance, and ends half-way through, where the song DOES pause for a moment...

Glad this is cleared up and no one needs "Metal Machine Sound" for anything.

the 1993 incarnation of the VU rehearsed Sister Ray at a studio in Acton North London, prior to the tour although it didn't make the setlist. I recall it was mentioned (in a music magazine I forget which) as being one and a half minutes long

I am approaching Nirvana (no - not Cobain's band) - through the wonderful help of some great people here in the forum as well as easytree. I have managed to get hold of copies of every known recorded version of Sister Ray except for the March 13, 1969 show and those from Final V.U.

Thanks again to all who have helped.

Now, if I could just find a copy of that last track...

Does anybody have a complete tape of the Dec. 12 1968 show? It's my favourite version of Sister Ray and I'd love to have the rest of the show.