The Velvet Underground Deluxe Edition

The Velvets Super Deluxe version CD is a collection of 6 CDs to celebrate the 45th Anniversay of the 1967 album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. When Lou Reed and John Cale came together to create this experimental and improvisational style of performing and recording, they were unaware they were about to make such a pioneering impact on music. What started out
as beat style poetry amidst a gentle rhythm, of dronings, humms, ostrich style guitaring and experimental loops, began to etch out the foundations for the future Velvet Underground.

This groundbreaking relevant and timeless album, originally received with skepticism and disapproval is now regarded as one of the most important albums of all time, influencing bands including: David Bowie, Can, Stooges, Roxy Music, The Strokes, R.E.M. The Velvet Underground were the beginning of a counter cultural movement that went on to open up the boundaries and redefine avant guarde with this experimental, leftfield, expressionist, art music.

The first track credited to them, Loop, was released as part of a multimedia art magazine designed by Andy Warhol, Aspen, which was made in the image of a FAB laundry detergent packet. All this was a representation of 60s counter culture, defiant, non-conventional, alternative. The dynamic energy of these songs paint droning textures of darkness and light, with this range and style they encompass a versatile expression, they often take turns into the darker corners of the psyche, with, ‘Venus in Furs’, ‘All Tomorrows Parties’ and ‘Heroin’ or they delve into brighter more esoteric experiences with, ‘Sunday Morning’.

At the time of release, the album sold barely 10,000 copies, but was an underground phenomenon, and as Brian Eno put it, ‘I think everyone who bought it formed a band.’ In the Sceptor sessions, you can hear the experimental developments coming through in ‘European Son’, with a thunderous drum roll and breaking glass, ‘The Black Angel Song’, carries disgruntled angels, with hissing and skillfully disjointed violas. The Sceptor sessions, recorded by Norman Dophe, are a testament to John Cale’s creative insight and the ingenuity of the Velvet Underground. Lou Reed has also acknowledged Andy Warhol’s influence, as he gave them the artistic space and freedom of self-determination, to invent and discover their own sound.

In the Factory Rehearsal recordings, Jan 3rd, 1967, you can also hear tracks, ‘Walk Alone’, and ‘Miss Joanie Lee’, a previously unreleased track. An 11 minute tumbling, rolling sound, of guitars and percussion, a studio improvisation, really reminiscent of Can, raw and alive.

The Factory Rehearsals include a version of; ‘There She Goes Again,’ you can hear Nico exclaiming, “I have to Learn that”. It is an acoustic version, with Nico singing vocals. The Factory Rehearsals give a glimpse of being there in the studio, this kind of living performance, as the sound is developed in its early stages for the album. These recordings capture the energy and importance of a moment, with a faint hiss in the background.

The Super Deluxe edition also includes both stereo and mono versions of the album, with a few alternative mixes. Nico’s solo album, that was released just 6 months later, ‘Chelsea Girl’, The original Scepter Studio acetates, (originally cut April 25th 1966) that went on to form some of the original recordings for the final album, previously unreleased recordings from The Factory Studios, an 88 page booklet with an essay by biographer Richie Unterberger and a live recording from Valleydale Ballroom in 1966.

[Rating:4.5]

Full CD tracklisting below:

DISC ONE
 
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO V6-
5008 (Stereo Version – Newly Remastered)
Originally issued as Verve V6-5008, March 1967.
 
  1. SUNDAY MORNING  2.55
  2. I’M WAITING FOR THE MAN  4.39
  3. FEMME FATALE  2.38
  4. VENUS IN FURS  5.12
  5. RUN RUN RUN  4.22
  6. ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES  5.59
  7. HEROIN  7.13
  8. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN  2.41
  9. I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR  2.14
10. THE BLACK ANGEL’S DEATH SONG  3.12
11. EUROPEAN SON  7.47
 

ALTERNATE VERSIONS:
12 . ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES  (alternate single voice
version)  5.57
13. EUROPEAN SON  (alternate
version)  9.06  Unreleased Version
14. HEROIN  (alternate version)  6.17  Unreleased
Version
15. ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES  (alternate instrumental
mix)  5.51  Unreleased Version
16. I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR  (alternate
mix)  2.20  Unreleased Version
 
 
DISC TWO

 

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO V-
5008 (Mono Version – Newly Remastered)
Originally issued as Verve V-5008, March 1967.
 
  1.SUNDAY MORNING  2.55
  2. I’M WAITING FOR THE MAN  4.46
  3. FEMME FATALE  2.38
  4. VENUS IN FURS  5.13
  5.. RUN RUN RUN  4.24
  6. ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES  5.59
  7. HEROIN  7.14
  8. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN  2.41
  9. I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR  2.14
10. THE BLACK ANGEL’S DEATH SONG  3.12
11. EUROPEAN SON  7.57
 

THE SINGLES:
12. ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES  2.51
13. I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR (alternate ending)  2.18
      Mono single, issued as Verve VK-10427, July 1966.
14. SUNDAY MORNING  (alternate mix) 3.13  Unreleased
Version
15. FEMME FATALE  2.40
       Mono single, Verve VK-10466, released December
1966.
DISC THREE
 
NICO: CHELSEA GIRL (Newly Remastered)
Originally issued as Verve V6-5032, October 1967.
 
 
  1. THE FAIREST OF THE SEASONS  4.10

  2. THESE DAYS  3.34
  3. LITTLE SISTER  4.27
  4. WINTER SONG  3.20
  5. IT WAS A PLEASURE THEN  8.06
  6. CHELSEA GIRLS  7.27
  7. I’LL KEEP IT WITH MINE  3.21
  8. SOMEWHERE THERE’S A FEATHER  2.20
  9. WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS  5.10
10. EULOGY TO LENNY BRUCE  3.46
 
 
DISC FOUR
 
SCEPTER STUDIOS SESSIONS (Previously
Release As A Bootleg):
Acetate cut on April 25, 1966
          
  1. EUROPEAN SON (alternate version)  9.02*
  2. THE BLACK ANGEL’S DEATH SONG (alternate
mix)  3.16*
  3. ALL TOMORROW’S PARTIES (alternate
version)  5.53*
  4. I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR (alternate version)  2.11**
  5. HEROIN (alternate version)  6.16*
  6. FEMME FATALE (alternate mix)  2.36**
  7. VENUS IN FURS (alternate version)  4.29**
  8. WAITING FOR THE MAN (alternate version)  4.10**
  9. RUN RUN RUN (alternate mix)  4.23**
 
            * from tape /  ** from acetate
 
           THE FACTORY REHEARSALS:
January 3, 1966 rehearsal, previously unreleased.

          
10. WALK ALONE  3.27 Bootleg Release Only
11. CRACKIN’ UP / VENUS IN FURS  3.52 Bootleg
Release Only
12. MISS JOANIE LEE  11.49 Bootleg Release Only
13. HEROIN 6.14 Bootleg Release Only
14. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN (WITH NICO)  2.09
Bootleg Release Only
15. THERE SHE GOES AGAIN 2.56 Bootleg Release
Only

DISC FIVE
 
LIVE AT VALLEYDALE
BALLROOM, COLUMBUS, OHIO, NOVEMBER 4, 1966:
(Newly Remastered)
 
  1. MELODY LAUGHTER  28.26 Bootleg Release Only
  2. FEMME FATALE  2.37 Bootleg Release Only
  3. VENUS IN FURS