The Velvet Underground's lost 1969 album

What are the opinions on these recordings?
Sure enough, not all 14 tracks would have made the cut and while some of the tracks indeed had classic potential, it has always amazed me that they only salvaged Rock And Roll, Ocean and I'm Sticking With You for Loaded and in the end only kept the first one. What happend?
Also, Doug Yule and Sterling Morrison has also mentioned that the songs were only work-tapes and not real recordings for an album. Do we believe in that?

It should be noted, that the ultimate presentation of these tracks, were on the 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the third album.

Tracks:

01 Foggy Notion (original 1969 mix)
02 One of These Days (2014 mix)
03 Lisa Says (2014 mix)
04 I'm Sticking With You (original 1969 mix)
05 Andy's Chest (original 1969 mix)
06 Coney's Island Steeplechase (2014 mix)
07 Ocean (original 1969 mix)
08 I Can't Stand It (2014 mix)
09 She's My Best Friend (original 1969 mix)
10 We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (2014 mix)
11 I'm Gonna Move Right In (original 1969 mix)
12 Ferryboat Bill (original 1969 mix)
13 Rock & Roll (original 1969 mix)
14 Ride Into the Sun (2014 mix)

 

Great stuff.

 

Indeed

 

I enjoy the Sundazed LP from their VU box:

 

Don't forget the fourth album was called Loaded because, Lou said, it was "loaded with hits."

Lou desperately wanted some mainstream success for the band. I'm sure he felt the tracks you listed didn't have that potential. "Foggy Notion" is incredibly catchy, but the lyrics would have kept it off the radio.

That said, I'm surprised "We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together" didn't show up on Loaded in place of one of the weaker tracks.

 

my understanding is the the record company was the one desperate for hits and lou named the recorded "loaded" as a sort of screw you to the suits per say.

 

Lisa Says is a masterpiece.

Real Good Time Together is from a brief period where Lou was trying to write a super commercial radio hit, or at least Lou's idea of a radio hit, according to Richie's book. I'll see if I can find the quote and report back.

 

I think they're nearly all great songs, on par with the rest of the catalogue. But by "ultimate presentation," do you mean "best"? I don't know, surely I'm biased, but I don't think the '80s VU album has been improved upon. -- including the sequence (I realize it contains, what, 2? songs from an earlier session).

 

I have no clue what the chances for success would have been with this material..I know I love listening to it!

 

It's as essential as everything else VU recorded. Light years beyond what everybody else was doing. Unbelievable that it was buried for so long.

 

This disc was the highlight of the 45th sets, I think. Though, the Matrix tracks held that position until the announcement of the 4CD set. This disc improves greatly upon those 80s mixes, imo. I've never tried to put together an album from it as I'd hate to leave anything off.

 

I Love VU.
A double.album including Another View would be neat. Those eighties albums are up there with Loaded.

 

Is this the running order? Because I would always put "I'm Sticking With You" at the end of any VU comp tapes or CDs I made.

 

These tracks were given to MGM to fulfill their contract in terms of masters delivered. They seemed wary of reusing the songs for Atlantic, recording a few but releasing only Rock and Roll. I don't know the specifics of the Velvets' MGM contract in terms of a re-recording clause. Of course, Lou recut songs for his debut on RCA and later that he'd cut for both MGM and Atlantic with the Velvets.

 

That was the big let down in the Sundazed box, they should have included ALL tracks from "VU" and "Another View" instead of limiting themselves to "1969".

I think it was actually beneficial that these tracks "vanished" for almost one decade and a half because this way they could kickstart a whole VU renaissance. Plus it was like a gift from God to finally have a treasure trove of "new" VU recordings.

 

Yes, agreed. That they're still finding , not only "new," but great, VU stuff is wonderful. For a band that was not considered very popular or successful at the time, there's so much out there. Every live performance of every song can be a revelation and we know there's still a bunch of unreleased live material floating around.

 

What does the "69" ( horrid title ) sound like in comparison with the eighties albums (VU/AV)?

 

You mean sonically or conceptually? I'll leave the sonics to the wave form people () and talk about the sequencing instead: "1969" has a nice flow and good sequence. But (and that is a big BUT) it leaves out so many essential tracks.

This is why I would have preferred it if they simply had included "VU" and "Another View" instead of trying to recreate an album that never was. Or at least added another disc collecting the 1967/8 stuff. The box feels incomplete without it. Even Nico's great debut album can't make up for it.

 

The running order I posted, is the one they use on the 4th disc of the 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the 3rd album.
It's actually using the same running order as the one they used on the highlights disc, "1969", on the Sundazed box, but with the missing tracks squeezed in between, here and there.

You never knew with Velvets, because sometimes they did indeed make some strange choices, but light tracks like Ferryboat Bill and Coney Island Steeplechase would very likely not have made the cut. Also, Ride Into The Sun and I'm Gonna Move Right In were obviously not finished. Rock And Roll, how great it may be in this version, was re-cut and perfected on Loaded.

Let's imagine that the Velvets had owed MGM one more album that the company had demanded released in the wake of Loaded and before Lou's debut album. Lou would go in and lay down a finished vocal track for Ride Into The Sun.
It could have looked like this:

Side 1:

I Can't Stand It
One Of These Days
She's My Best Friend
Ride Into The Sun
Ocean

Side 2:

We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together
Foggy Notion
Lisa Says
Andy's Chest
I'm Sticking With You

 

Just as it stands, with the recordings we currently have, that is a fantastic album and for me far far superior to Loaded (which only has two classics, two ok songs and a load of sub par material for me).

 

I'm sorry for a possibly dumb question, but what mixes does the '1969' LP use? The 'VU' and 'Another View'-mixes?

 

Basically agree. The 1985 LP "V.U." is far superior to "Loaded" in any version, expanded or otherwise.

 

For me, 'Loaded' is in many ways their best album. Not in terms of innovation or originality, but as a straight-forward rock 'n' roll album, it's hard to beat. It's also ome of those albums which has a certain 'warm' aura to these ears. To each their own, I guess. Side 1 is perfect from beginning to end. Side 2 has a throwaway ('Bill') and a subpar rock track ('Train'), but even those tracks has a certain feel to them. I agree though, that Maureen's drums are sorely missed all the way through the album.

The Sundazed '1969', used the 80's mixes. The bonus disc from last year, used a combination of original mixes (released and unreleased) and new superior 2014 mixes to those made in the 80's, which meant much less reverb.

 

I'm curious what a comprehensive list of all the potential tracks (and mixes) for both the "lost album" is plus all that wasn't included on Loaded would be or look like. I assume it would be everything included on V.U./Another View/Reloaded/The 3rd Album Box Set? Plus Satellite of Love from PSAS?

 

It is, no doubt, but the fact that Moe couldn't be a part of it will always be the asterisk that sets it a little lower than the others for me. They did a great job without her, worthy of their name, but I can't be objective, just can't call it their best without Moe. Hard to rank 'em anyway, for me, they never made a bad record.