Velvet Underground/Lou Reed

[GulDukat]

I searched the forums and couldn't seem to find a thread on the great Lou Reed and VU.

His death is a major loss and it hasn't really sunken in yet.

I will never tire of listening to the Velvet Underground. Those four albums and the compilations like VU and Another VU are albums one can go back to again and again and they always sound fresh. I love the semi-bootleg CD set The Quine Tapes--it's one of my favorite live albums. The three different, epic versions of "Sister Ray" amaze me each time I hear them.

His solo work is pretty amazing too, with Transformer, Street Hassle and The Blue Room being my favorites.

[thevoid99]

I'm working on a tribute to Reed right now which I'll post in my music blog later today. Bowie recently called him a master as it's obvious he's among those affected by this loss.

[Jinsai]

"The news I feared the most, pales in comparison to the lump in my throat and the hollow in my stomach. Two kids have a chance meeting and 47 years later we fight and love the same way -- losing either one is incomprehensible. No replacement value, no digital or virtual fill...broken now, for all time. Unlike so many with similar stories - we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse. The laughs we shared just a few weeks ago, will forever remind me of all that was good between us."

- John Cale, 27th Oct, 2013

[Gardenia Spectre]

I will always remember May 1979 going to see Lou at the El Mocambo (holds about 350) a two story bar in Toronto. We were being kept on the ground floor, as a sort of holding pen, waiting to be let upstairs where Lou would perform. When the doors opened we all raced up the stairs to get good seats. As we were rushing upstairs, my friend Julia was tugging on my sleeve trying to get my attention but I sloughed her off as I needed to be able to get a good spot to see Lou. What she was trying to tell me was that Lou was calmly playing pinball on the ground floor, watching the crowd rush past him to be able to find a good vantage point upstairs. Indeed, read something online about that show and how when he was on a radio show the next day they broadcast a taping of the show and he kept talking over the songs about a pinball game.

[Gardenia Spectre]

Also there are many lovely tributes but here are two of my favorites - one by Dean Wareham of Luna (who I once helped train to be a radio dj)
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/28/dean...ond_influence/
and another by Will Sheff of Okkervil River.
http://gawker.com/a-reason-to-keep-singing-1453294641

[thevoid99]

I finished a tribute earlier today about Lou along w/ a few clips and such to represent his great work: http://thevoidgoround.blogspot.com/2...d-tribute.html

[frankie teardrop]

i'm going to reply to this post from the 'what are you listening to' thread in here, since it makes more sense. paging @rhet .

i've never really actively sat down and listened to velvet underground/lou reed before..one of those artists that you know you should listen to but sort of never get around to..but with the news of his death, it made me curious as to what everyone is on about (like a lot of other people i'm sure) . so far gotten through the self titled Velvet Underground album, VU, White Light/White Heat, Transformer, and Berlin. I like it a lot more than I expected and certainly a lot more than the time I sat down to try and 'get' the rolling stones. Any fans have recommendations of where to go from here?

might as well finish the velvets discography with velvet underground and nico and loaded. IGNORE squeeze completely, as it's VU in name only as it only features doug yule and no other original member whatsoever.

nico has another one of those voices that you either love or hate (kind of like lou) but she & that album are brilliant. her solo material is wonderful as well (if you like her voice, try desertshore and the end). as for lou solo, coney island baby and songs for drella are great. new york has a few gems, and i really like ecstasy as well... if you like really esoteric industrial (not ebm, nothing danceable or electronic), think tangerine dream by way of neubauten, then you may also dig metal machine music.

[rhet]

i probably should have put my original post in here anyway so thanks! i just sort of cherry picked the albums that sounded vaguely familiar/interesting initially so its nice to have a bit of guidance. i don't really care for nico's voice though for some strange reason i almost never like female vocalists anyway but i'll definitely check out the rest. loving it more and more the longer i listen and can definitely tell these albums have been hugely influential on later artists.

[xmd 5a]

White Light / White Heat is one of those albums that blows my mind in a different way after every listen, and "Venus in Furs" is an all-time favourite song of mine. I still need to delve deeper into Lou's solo work.

Nico's discography is wholly phenomenal. Even the somewhat-maligned 80s material does it for me in a big way.

[thevoid99]

For me, one of the best greatest hits albums is Different Times which is just essentially a best of collection of Reed's work from 1971-1976. It's just filled with a lot of good stuff and I think it's a good starting point for anyone that is interested in his work.

[GulDukat]

Anyone heard the Squeeze album? Its status as a VU album is dubious, as it really is more of a Doug Yule solo album. Still, I like it, despite its terrible reputation. It's a sort of Loaded-lite; it's not great, but it has some good songs. I also have a box-set titled A Final View, which is a 4 disc collection of live songs from the post-Reed years--maybe it's not essential, but it's very enjoyable and worth checking out if you are interested in the history of the band. Their best live material is still The Quine Tapes, IMO.

[onthewall2983]

"I’d been thinking about Lou Reed after meeting Jean Michel Jarre last Saturday. He is a friend of Lou and Laurie Anderson. My heart goes out to Laurie whom I met briefly when Lou played with me at Rachel Fuller’s ATTIC JAM at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Lou seemed to have fun that night, and it was wonderful and easy for me to perform with this clear-sighted musician who I had expected to be so difficult."

From Pete Townshend's Facebook account.

[jmtd]

I was only familiar with TVU&N which is such a unique album. Picked up transformer after hearing the sad news. Of course I knew the big tracks off it but still enjoying them in context. Next for me is probably WH/WL.

[botley]

Following the 'Super Deluxe' reissues of the first three Velvet Underground albums, Loaded is up next in October. This one will include a 5.1 surround remix of the entire album (which I'm pretty excited to hear) as well as a new mix from the session tapes of "I'm Sticking with You" — one of my favourite VU songs! — and much besides.



I put my pre-order in... and then they announced a four-disc full release of the long-rumoured Matrix tapes, which provided the original source for much of the legendary Live 1969 double LP, as well as the exquisite-sounding live stuff that emerged on last year's Deluxe reissues of the self-titled Velvet Underground album (hi there, 37-minute "Sister Ray"!) — sorry, King Crimson THRAK Box, you've been bumped off to my list of purchases for next year!

[botley]

OH MY GOD the Complete Matrix Tapes CD box is for real

[Your Name Here]

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[GulDukat]

I thought I would share this with you guys, I won an auction on eBay for a signed Lou Reed "Between Thought And Expression" box set, I never had the box set because I have most of the music thats on it anyway. It's just a little cool item that I didn't pay a lot for. I remember when Lou passed away it was right before I went to see NIN @ the Joint in Vegas I remember hanging around the Hard Rock Casino waiting for show time and for some reason I went across the street to the CVS store I can't remember why I went over there but I was standing in line waiting to pay for my items and I looked down at Rolling Stone magazine with Lou Reed staring back at me. I bent down and grabbed a copy, went back to my car threw the magazine in and then went in to see NIN. I still have that Lou Reed commemorative Rolling Stone. I miss him like I miss Bowie at least we still have Iggy and I dig his new album.

I was trying to find the video where Lou Reed talks about Bowie's backing vocals on Satellite Of Love I couldn't find it but I found this.....

That's a nice box set with a good overview of Lou's career.

[Your Name Here]

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[GulDukat]

@ RhettButler It is a cool box set, I want to start picking up more the recent Velvet Underground box sets that have been released.

Those are a bit much for me. I don't need four different versions of "Sweet Jane," etc. One very rare set I have in A Final VU, which collects four, post Reed concerts. Not essential, but cool.

[Your Name Here]

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[botley]

I'd come to a Box Sets Addicts Anonymous meeting.

[GulDukat]

Like I stated in my profile, I'm like a comic book collector (or geek), except I'm a music collector (or music geek) the Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, The White Light/White Heat Super Deluxe Edition and The Velvet Underground Matrix Tapes, I just have to have them. The geek inside me just feels the burning yearning desire to possess these, I can't explain it, its a sickness. Is there a rehab for box set collecting because maybe its time for and intervention.

The Quine tapes set is awesome, a three disc semi-official bootleg. I'd recommend that.

[Your Name Here]

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[botley]

The Quine tapes set is awesome, a three disc semi-official bootleg. I'd recommend that.

Nah. It's been supplanted by the much better sounding Matrix Tapes set. Mostly the same performances only straight from the live sound console to 4-track tape and newly remixed (partly heard on the 45th Anniversary self-titled set). Terrific release, possibly my favourite thing in the discography.

[GulDukat]

Nah. It's been supplanted by the much better sounding Matrix Tapes set. Mostly the same performances only straight from the live sound console to 4-track tape and newly remixed (partly heard on the 45th Anniversary self-titled set). Terrific release, possibly my favourite thing in the discography.

Just ordered it.

[botley]

Spending some quality time with The RCA & Arista Albums Collection, a truly monolithic 17-CD box of Lou's studio albums and select live recordings from 1972 through 1986. The hype is that remastering these albums with Vlado Meller was the last creative project Lou undertook before his untimely death. A fitting epitaph.

[thevoid99]

OH!!! Metal Machine Music is included! I love that album.

[Maximilian]

OH!!! Metal Machine Music is included! I love that album.

That has GOT to be sarcasm.

[botley]

I love MMM too. It's one of only two of these albums I actually owned on CD (along with Berlin) prior to getting this box. It's a great palate cleanser between listening to other works, or as an accompaniment piece to contemplation or study, although I usually find it too long to be consumed in one sitting. Lou remastered it first before the other albums (with a different mastering engineer, Scott Hull) and released it separately on Blu-ray some years ago; they even restored the Quadrophonic mix for that project. I'm glad it's represented here.

[thevoid99]

That has GOT to be sarcasm.

It's not. I have the CD. I love it.