The Velvet Underground "White Light/White Heat" 45th Anniversary Edition

We already have "Fully Loaded edition" + some outtakes from "Peel Slowly & See" + full Max's Kansas City set. I don't see a reason why they need to made super deluxe of "Loaded".

 

I love the fact that the four (core) VU albums are so distinctive and terrific that not only can fans credibly argue that any one of them may represent their BEST LP, but that I can easily imagine a fan of any of them being alienated by any or all of the others!

 

My hope is that the third album gets out in a deluxe version that does justice to what an amazing live band they were in this period. What's out there, legally, now just scratches the surface. The Yule era can be dealt with in a properly done third album set.
As for Loaded, the band was fragmenting at that point and I have no idea what unreleased session stuff is lurking in the vaults. The 2cd Deluxe version that's out there does a pretty good job of rounding up good, unreleased takes. As for live, who knows what's out there. And as you said, the rights are elsewhere.

 

Yeah, Loaded has been pretty much (by far!) the best represented of all the existing albums in terms of unreleased studio material. Though it's true that if a great show was added to the the Fully Loaded and Peel Slowly material, I'd whip out my wallet on release date. It's a little hard to define the point where a live Yule show properly is grouped with a 3rd album set or rather a speculative Loaded Super Deluxe. But since Loaded is controlled by a different label anyways, I guess it wouldn't have been likely to be part of this series either.

 

Do I remember from earlier posts that you actually saw the Velvet Underground live back in this period? If so, please post with your memories of those shows. I don't know how relevant those impressions would be to this set, but I doubt that anyone on this thread will complain!

 

Sadly, I didn't. I think jkauff is the one who saw them at La Cave.

 

I shall hassle him then!

 

The 2CD set is probably all that I will need as long as it has the mono mix, the singles and other tracks from that period.

 

Yep, just like the first album on CD.

 

But that's where it gets weird and complicated! The first Deluxe Edition bundled the stereo and mono mixes (plus bonuses) but the second DE was the stereo mix on disc one, and the Scepter Acetate + the Factory Rehearsals on disc 2. Two very different approaches. Is there another "deluxe edition" by another artist that has two fundamentally different iterations? Only the Elvis Costello Rhino/Universal 2CD sets of "My Aim is True" and "This Year's Model" immediately come to mind, but as they were on different labels (and didn't have the same deluxe packaging) they don't seem entirely analogous.

 

$100 seems like a shameless money grab for three CDs.

 

The first box was around $100.00 initially, right? And the mono vinyl was about $110.00. Yeah, that is a lot of cash for 3 cds.

 

Place your bets now. If a third album set comes next year, will it be bulked out with live tapes from the Matrix and/or The Boston Tea Party OR with fourth album (sic.) recordings, maybe in their original mixes rather than the familiar VU/Another View 80s mixes? Or both?

IIRC, there was a plan for a third album deluxe edition ten years ago, which would have featured fourth album stuff on disc two but it got scuppered by the same legal wrangling that killed the Bootleg Series after the Quine Tapes.

Or is it possible that there will be a separate fourth album set? Vintage mixes and live tapes? It would certainly be possible...

 

Unless something has turned up recently the only 1968 mixes that survive from those sessions are Stephanie Says and Temptation Inside Your Heart - both featured on the Gold collection. Possible they were mixed down as a possible single?

I'm really curious to hear a period mix of Hey, Mr. Rain. Hopefully Cale has an acetate in his archive? The original mix of Stephanie Says was a bit of a revelation. Very different compared to VU.

 

Boy I'd love to hear Sister Ray in 5.1........uhh yeah.

 

The session tapes for the 3rd album survive so there should be some meatier studio material. No unreleased songs though. I wouldn't mind listening to every take of What Goes On myself!

No vintage mixes for the 4th MGM album other than the few issued on VU and Another View. Whatever reels were used for the mid 70's boots seem to be long gone. Bit of a mystery.

Thanks for letting us know.

 

As far as we understand the state of the VU archives, that would seem to be the best candidate for the COMPLETE FUNHOUSE SESSIONS treatment. But as it stands, I suspect we shouldn't get our hopes much higher than "select highlights" from those sessions. So long as the Matrix Tapes are substantially represented, I don't anticipate too much complaining. Then again, if they do an "all studio" 3rd album set and it offers a bounty of studio outtakes, I guess I would probably be able to forgive a lack of Matrix material (which would, after all, be dependent on the co-operation of a third party who hasn't previously demonstrated if they are serious about cutting a reasonable deal).

I feel like that paragraph of mine might come across as a little schizophrenic. Basically, in my heart of hearts, I want a MAMMOTH 3rd album set that includes a treasure trove of outtakes AND live material (specifically, Matrix, but there is a score of other worthy material as well). But so long as they maximize the possibilities of whatever material they have access to, I'm sure it'll be a great collection.

 

There's a lot of chicken-counting going on here - c'mon folks, let's get an official confirmation of the WL/WH set before getting lost in reveries about what a 3rd album super deluxe set might contain!

 

The existence of the WL/WH set has been confirmed by a very credible source (can't say much more than that at this point). It's exact contents are still unclear.

 

For a band that released four albums while they were together for 5 years 40 years ago that nobody paid too much attention to at the time, I just checked my iTunes and saw I have about 450 songs by the VU - and that's just by the band called "Velvet Underground" (though I'm not counting the Yule version, even though I have all that stuff too, Final VU, etc.) and obviously not including Lou Reed, John Cale solo, live, boots, etc, which brings me up to about 2400 songs under the "Velvet Underground Tree Umbrella" total). Sure, that includes some duplicate live and/or studio versions of varied quality, stereo and mono versions of albums and songs, live boots, Chelsea Girl stuff, etc, but, still - MOST of it is really pretty great, if not amazing. I can't wait for more/new WL/WH era material to add to my collection. What an stunningly good band that was. I think we're so lucky there is the amount of stuff out there that there is. The idea that Cale or anyone is sitting on even MORE... There cannot be enough as far as I'm concerned.

 

It'd be fascinating to explore an alternate universe in which Lou Reed, John Cale, Nico (and everyone else) didn't have solo careers following the VU heyday. How much did their continued efforts (of which, only Reed ever really troubled the charts) keep the "brand" in fashion?

 

I just found out about the La Cave 1968 and End Of Cole Ave. recordings, that has been released on Keyhole Records. I have to buy these immediately.

 

Good to hear but as I said earlier having the entire mono mix will be a bit of a waste of time and money given that half of it is a fold-down. I'm a member of that forum so I'll respond directly to him there to clarify....

 

True, depending IF they have compelling alternate material to fill out the set. But if they don't, why not include the fold-down tracks? At least it would preserve a version of the album as it was originally available? I guess I'd be frustrated if I learned some fascinating studio outtakes were omitted to make room for a fold-down of "Sister Ray" but as it stands, I'd prefer to have the fold-downs than just unused space on the CD.

At some point, we should also discuss the endlessly confusing Swan Mix of "Sister Ray" and if it warrants inclusion on this set. I won't pretend to have any real insight on this matter (not that I won't chime in!).