A few months ago, I was listening to mp3's on shuffle, going about my business, when I was jarred by an instrumental that I hadn't really heard. I mean, it was on my computer, so I had downloaded at some point. But I must not have listened to much of it, because I would have noticed it. It was raunchy, repetitive and kind of distorted (so, my kinda music). The playing was good, but it was basic enough that it didn't come off like hot shots. But the thing was, the mix; the mix was godhead-o-phonic. When I went to my computer to see who I'd been listening too, and saw that it was the Velvet Underground, I felt like Poseur of the Day.
Could it be, that my (new) favorite Velvet Underground song was an instrumental? And singled out, without a clue who it was? I should have recognized it, but it was from an outtakes album that I never got around to getting. And, sans vocal, it didn't sound like them. (Listen to it. The mix seems a little louder than most of their stuff.) And I like that there are breaks; the song has spots for verse, chorus and back again. And that it sounds like the Sonics doing the Velvets, (Gawd, would I like to hear Gary Roslie yelp over that!) A few months after putting it in the "save for later" pile, I figured I better put in up, before the link is dead. Do yourself a favor, get it now.
Ever wonder why all the photos you see of the Velvet Underground are in black and white?
This of course, gave me the excuse to post the backlog of Velvets/Lou Reed mp3s and links that I had. So here's the rundown: The first is the aforementioned instrumental version, followed by the live "gymnasium bootleg" version, with vocals. That's followed by the live gymnasium recording of "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore" (the only known recording of that song). "Pale Blue Eyes" is on here because it reminds me of my brother. "The Gift" is on here because it reminds me of a long lost friend, Doug Diaz, who transcribed the whole damn thing and turned it in as his own short story back when he was in high school. Then there's nine songs (at Beware of the Blog) from the "Ultra-Rare Acetate," unreleased studio recordings that were found in a stack of old records and sold for some ungodly sum a while back. Next is a Lou Reed interview from 1974, just because I find funny; it's right out of the Warhol interview hand book (you know: short, inconclusive answers). Then there's one of very few videos that's labeled as the Velvet Underground and Nico on YouTube (though it seems like it's just Lou Reed and Nico) doing an acoustic "Femme Fatal". I followed that with Nico, from the mid-80's doing "All Tomorrows Parties". I included that because it was about the time I saw her live in Amsterdam (and, you know what? The bitch didn't even look at me). After that is the Primitives, a demo-only pre-Velvets group of Reed and Cale's, who were working as songwriters for Pickwick at the time. Somehow "Do the Ostrich" got released and became a minor regional hit, forcing them to throw together a group to promote it. (A complete pre-Velvets discography can be found here.) I had to include "Perfect Day" not only because it's beautiful, it's also a go-to tear-jerker for anyone DJing a wedding. The promo for the BBC using the song is pretty tight too. (Don't turn it off when Bowie flashes on your screen. You'll be rewarded with snippets of Burning Spear, Shane McGown, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, and Tom Jones as compensation.) Then there's the mildly amusing "Sister Ray" mash-up with the VU dubbed over a video of a Lawrence Welk band. Next is an interview with Reed at Kung Fu magazine, about the "Tai Chi of Rock n' Roll," which I haven't read, but still induced a nice smirk when I saw his poses (here's the cover). Last on the list is yet another mash-up by Go Home Productions, this time mashing Christina Aguilera and the Velvets.
So, I've pretty much depleted my stock of oddball Velvets/Reed links. Now a challenge: Five, count'em five, American dollars to anyone who sends me an mp3 of their own (or someone else's) vocals over the instrumental version of "Guess I'm Falling In Love". The only criteria is that it can't be Reed's vocals. You can make up lyrics, do a mash-up or whatever. If there's more than one sent, I'll post them all and let people vote on them. If you drop Gary Roslie's vocals over it, you'll be an instant winner of ten American dollars. Just throwin' it out there...
One more thing, just remember folks, per Reed, his reissued Metal Machine Music is "the perfect holiday gift for your loved one."
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