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

Certainly a different vibe from "All You Need Is Love," "Let's All Go To San Francisco and Wear Flowers In Our Hair," and other material of the period.

 

I had it on and my sons wife and her mother came over to make dinner. They didn't like all the guitar feedback.

I put Badfinger Wish You Were Here on and they seemed to settle down. Hey they're making me dinner so I had to relent...until after I've eaten anyway.

 

I'm mainly want this for the mono mix of the album and the outtakes on discs 1 and 2 from the 3 CD set. Since the stereo version of this album has a narrow stereo separation to begin with, just how different is the mono mix from the stereo?

 

To be honest I'm disappointed with the mono disc. The only track which sounds noticeably different is Here She Comes Now. The rest could very easily be fold-downs, I don't know. The bonus tracks on the mono disc are pretty much a waste of time. The mono singles are identical to the album versions, repeated on the same disc, and the two versions of The Gift at the end are simply isolated left and right channels of the stereo mix.

 

This show has long been known to have a number of volume fluctuations.

Some people, including myself, were hoping that was a somehow a byproduct of the supposedly "inferior" tapes previously used (officially & booted).

But it's an inherent flaw in the original recording.

I don't know why they couldn't be bothered to throw this thing into an audio editor, smooth those out, and make it that much more listenable?

Thankfully, most of us can do it ourselves.

But, still...

 

Completely agree. I did that myself with the old boot.

 

They were too busy editing out all the pesky between song audio.

 

I don't mean to be picky about this set but I really don't want the live stuff from disc 3, but if Universal will release a rarities edition like the first album of this with the mono mix and the other outtakes from discs 1 and 2 that don't repeat the single mixes that are the same as the album mixes and remove the left/right channel tracks of The Gift to fit this all then I will buy it. I was wondering. If a person were to contact Universal and explain what they want, do you think they would sell you the discs you want with or without the book to get the material you want and adjust the price accordingly. I know I'm not the only one who wanted just the first 2 discs from the 3 CD set.

 

Also, I'd guess "The Gift" is just the two channels combined with more gain given to the vocals.

 

This set seems like almost total crap. I'm not getting it. Thanks for all the info.

 

Crap is stretching it a little bit, but I agree with your frustrations. I would almost bet money that this would sell better had Universal had the 2 CD set with the same first 2 discs as the 3 CD set. The live material should not have been put on the 2 CD set as disc 2. The live material should have been the wild card for the serious fan or collector and put on the 3 CD set only. I'm sure it's selling well anyways, but it is not tailored appropriately for certain fans like myself. Plus I don't really like the idea of buying already booted material where the fidelity is somewhat substandard. I have wanted a mono version of this album fold down or not for a long time. Just because an album is a fold down doesn't mean it's not worth a listen. I have fold downs of other albums and despite that the listening experience is not ruined. Hell, I have CD's that are fold downs and they are still worthy of a listen. A dedicated mono mix is not always a requirement unless the production between the two is different and there are extra or missing overdubs or other elements between the stereo and mono production wise.

 

I'd really love to know the idea behind editing out the between song sections of the live show. There wasn't even that much there and it included tuning and at least one song introduction, which are parts of the live experience. Not only can I think of no reason to do that, but now the boots have parts the official release is missing. When Lou speaks, when guitars make noise, that's part of the content.

 

Led Zeppelin's How The West Was Won edits out a lot of Robert Plant's between-song dialog that you can hear on the boots. Pretty common practice, but I'm with you, I don't really approve of it.

 

Out of curiosity, does anyone know the exact amount of audio (minutes) that was trimmed out of the concert recording? New CD vs. the boot?

 

Surely you have a mono button or can acquire the cables required to sum a two channel signal to mono.

And Cale era live stuff surely gives more insight into the band revealing than new mixes of stuff that's been out for 45 and 27 years respectively.

 

I think the vastly cheaper 2CD version is probably the best option here. There are no startling revelations in the mono mix or the mono bonuses - definitely not worth all the extra expense, unless you need the book also.

 

I don't get the criticism really. It seems very fair - all the essential material is on the very affordable 2-cd edition. Only a true fanatic would need the mono version and book. Likely the main cost in manufacturing is the book and packaging, that's why this set is not half the price of the 6-cd VU & Nico Super Deluxe Edition.

If this was one of the greedy elephant acts like Dylan or Young or Stones, the 2 bona fide unreleased cuts ("Beginning To See The Light" and the live "The Gift") would be put on a 45 exclusive to pre-orders of the Super Deluxe Edition.

 

I fully concur with Platterpus above.

It's already down to $57.65 + FREE shipping.

What I don't understand is that these deluxe sets, which are obviously made for the fanatics, don't include all of the things that us fanatics want. I mean...why edit out the between song banter when a very good-sounding bootleg of the same show (that wasn't chopped at all) is in wide circulation? It makes that disc superfluous. All of the extra talking would have fit onto the disc, anyway...so why cut it? It reminds me of the Easy Action release of "American Poet," which was actually a worse sounding recording than the bootleg "Sweet Jane" bootleg put out by "Oil Well."

I havent seen the WL/WH set yet, but if the book doesn't contain new photos and information than what can be gleaned from the VU forum, the multitude of Factory-era photography books, and Tumblr, I am not sure what its use is. Anyone have an opinion on the book?

FWIW, it has always been said that the ONLY way to listen to WL/WH was mono. I know it's all subjective, but that has been a longstanding opinion held by many.

 

It doesn't work that way.

 

Hey guys, I am listeneing to the mono disc from this set with the single mix bonus trax. Can someone in the know explain some sonic difference between the singles and the album versions? I think I hear a slight speed difference on 'Here She Comes Now'. . .but I can't pinpoint anything else. Anyone care to chime in?

 

Someone at the Velvet Forum should know off the top of their head.

 

Yeah, I know.

This post may answer your question. #554

 

My sense is that producers of commercial live discs feel like stage patter has a low-replay value: a witticism you hear once can be funny, a witticism you hear every time you play a disc--the exact same witticism, over and over again--not so funny anymore. I side with the consensus here, though, and would have preferred more between-song patter.

 

To me the single mix monos sound identical to the album monos, but slightly "crisper" - as if they're a generation up from the album master. Or maybe a tiny bit of EQ. I don't believe they are dedicated single mixes.

 

Between the What Goes On box, the unremastered CD, the 1996 remastered CD, I have almost 3 versions of the stereo mix of this album. I want the mono mix of the album. I don't care if most of it is folded down to mono. It still should be a good listening experience. It's such a driving album in stereo. It must plow in mono.