![]() ![]() The final VU album to feature Reed, it was the band's most straight-ahead rock record. The same lineup released Loaded the following year. Perhaps consequently, the stylistic balance shifted in the opposite direction, moving more towards understated melodic tunes. Conflicts between Reed and Cale resulted in Cale's subsequent departure, and he was replaced by Doug Yule on the group's third, self-titled album. Nico was gone by 1968's White Light/White Heat, which emphasized the edgy, aggressive side of the band's sound and eschewed the ballads. Reed's lyrics about fetishistic sex and drug culture didn't exactly make the band a household name, but The Velvet Underground quickly became known to critics and fans as a band at the leading edge of '60s rock. Christa Paffgen) was a German model who Warhol convinced the band to bring aboard as their deep-voiced, heavily accented chanteuse, lending even more idiosyncrasy to their sound. Artist/filmmaker Andy Warhol became their manager in 1965, getting them a deal with Verve Records and producing their seminal 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. With a sound simultaneously sophisticated and primal that encompassed everything from free-form freak-outs to delicate ballads, they became a regular presence at New York City clubs. All these influences came together by the time that band evolved into The Velvet Underground, which played its first gig in 1965, with Sterling Morrison on lead guitar and Maureen Tucker on drums. Reed's background was in rock 'n' roll and poetry (he studied with Delmore Schwartz) while Cale came from the classical and avant-garde worlds, having worked with groundbreaking minimalist composer La Monte Young. ![]() The roots of the band lay in an embryonic outfit called The Primitives that began playing in 1964 and included singer/songwriter/guitarist Lou Reed and violist/bassist/keyboardist John Cale. They had an enormous affect on subsequent generations of rockers but were strictly a cult band during their time as a working unit in the 1960s and early '70s. those originals in nice condition are pricey.Probably no other rock band has had as huge a gap between its commercial impact and its artistic influence as The Velvet Underground. Too bad we don't have an all-analog repressing of the Closet Mix, too. I was wrong about the '80s pressings being digitally pressed/sourced, they are all-analog. That's how the first CD issue of the 3rd album ended up being part Valentin mix and part Closet mix. The CDs were an afterthought.Īlso the Sterling NY transfers that we made for the CDs were sent to Germany for CD manufacture, and it is there that they made a mess of the VU 3rd CD.Īfter reviewing the transfers that we sent them someone replaced some tracks with sources from the German vault, thinking they sounded better. The vinyl LPs came out before we prepared CD masters. A digital step would've been too cumbersome then! "The 1984/85 vinyl reissues - analog cuts for sure. Levenson via PM in order to clarify and confirm, and here was his response: I REALLY hope we see these Velvet Underground remasters/reissues/reboxings continue, with a decent reissue of the third album mixes on vinyl!Ĭlick to expand.My error - I contacted Mr. I feel like there's a significant lack of information on the best pressing of this LP because of the difficult task of obtaining copies. UK original pressings - were these sourced from a tape copy of the Valentin mix sent overseas, or the first generation master reel? I generally don't like buying UK copies of music recorded in the US because of the tape-dupe factor, but seeing as it's the only way to get an all-analog Valentin.The '85 black-label was mastered from the then-new digital transfers, correct? And the Sundazed mono copy (from the box) is sourced from a high-resolution digital transfer? It's also my understanding that all repressings after the 1960s releases are digitally mastered, and no stereo repressings have been made that were not made from a CD source. ![]()
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