Covers for Sunday - The Velvet Underground edition

Before we begin there's a chance that you're not that familiar with The Velvet Underground. Maybe you've heard of them or you've heard Lou Reed's solo work or you have their first album or maybe even you're aware of them because I posted something by Mo Tucker last week. Maybe you don't know that this blog takes it's name from a Velvet Underground lyric. anyway. Back when this blog was new I did three posts about The Velvet Underground which I think serve a pretty decent introduction to them and to their music. So go and check them out:

The Velvet Underground part 1
The Velvet Underground part 2
The Velvet Underground part 3



I knew it'd be easier to do this than The Strokes' version from last week, but I wasn't really prepared for how many covers of The Velvet Underground I'd be able to find. I've been working on this through the week so it's only really now as I'm just about to post it that I realise just how many covers I've acumulated. There's got to be several somethings here for everyone, the covers range from heavy rock and metal to poppy, from huge bands to cult bands to bands that almost no-one has heard of. The influence of The Velvet Underground is immense, of course it goes far beyond just the covers but I think this is a really good snapshot of how they have and still do influence music.



So let's start with covers that I've featured before. There arn't many, which I find odd because they are my favourite band. anyway, there may only be four covers but each one of them is a slice of great music.

I'm Sticking with You - Mo Tucker and Jonathan Richman. On the original version Mo Tucker shares the vocals with Lou Reed. This time around she duets with Jonathan Richman, fan of The Velvet Underground, writer of a song called Velvet Underground (as well as Road Runner) and one of my favourite artists. You can hear his tribute song "Velvet Underground" here.

Temptation Inside Your Heart - The Morning Benders. A brilliant cover of a lesser known Velvet Underground song.

Candy Says - Anthony and the Johnsons. Anthony's voice is so haunting, it really suits this song.

Waiting For The Man - Belle and Sebastian. A nice, fun romp through the song, I have no idea who the vocalist is.



Now, onto the new covers. I've tried to get a good mix of songs, so it's not all the well known songs and there aren't dozens of covers of Sweet Jane. Of course some songs are covered more than others so there are a few versions of Venus In Furs, Femme Fatale & After Hours as well as Sweet Jane. But there's also covers of Foggy Notion and She's My Best Friend. All of Beck's Record Club covers are here as well at the end of the post.

As I've said there are lots of really well known musicians featured here, a quick list is The White Stripes, Joy Division, Of Montreal, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Alex Chilton and Y La Tengo, Edwyn Collins & Paul Quinn, Jeff Buckley, Teenage Fanclub, The Black Crowes, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, My Morning Jacket, Thom Yorke, The Decemberists, Nirvana, David Bowie, REM and Billy Corgan. There are plenty of lesser known bands as well, but I've listed those to give you an idea of the variety of music contained in the covers below. That's enough from me, enjoy the music:

After Hours (live) - The White Stripes. Vocals, somewhat nervous, from Meg White.

Femme Fatale (live) - Alex Chilton & Yo La Tengo. Alex Chilton covering The Velvets, it doesn't get much better than that.

Sister Ray - Joy Division. Although, maybe this is better.

All Tomorrow's Parties (live radio session) - Jeff Buckley

Candy Says - Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man

Sunday Morning - Clinker

Foggy Notion - Ted Kedylon. Covered on the ukulele, this is lovely.

Venus In Furs - John Cale. Normally I don't like doing this sort of thing. But I allowed myself to use this as a cover because John Cale didn't sing the original recording so it's different enough to qualify as a cover and because it's really, really good. So good in fact here's the video:



Venus In Furs - Krieg

She's My Best Friend - Of Montreal

Pale Blue Eyes - Edwyn Collins & Paul Quinn

We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together - Patti Smith

After Hours - Red Hot Chili Peppers

New Age - Ride

Sunday Morning - Strawberry Switchblade

Sister Ray - Suicide

Femme Fatale - Teenage Fanclub

What Goes On - The Attic Boys

Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - The Black Crowes

What Goes On - The Feelies

Rock and Roll - The Psychedelic Rake

Heroin - High Delta

Who Loves The Sun (live acoustic session) - Kasabian

Venus In Furs - DeVotchKa

What Goes On - Ted Leo

Foggy Notion - Psychic TV

Here She Comes Now - Nirvana

I'm Set Free - Thom Yorke and Beck

Waiting For The Man - David Bowie feat Lou Reed. I thought as I've got a cover with John Cale and one with Mo Tucker it'd be only fair to have one with Lour Reed as well. Nothing with Stirling Morrison though, sorry.

Stephanie Says - Lady and Bird

Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies. You'll probably have heard this from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. This is one of my personal favourites in terms of Velvet Underground covers.

All Tomorrow's Parties - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Proving once again that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds can make anything sound sinister and brilliant at the same time.

All Tomorrow’s Parties - Calexico and Iron & Wine. Exactly as gorgeous as you'd think.

Stephanie Says - Emiliana Torrini

Sweet Jane - Low Sea

Pale Blue Eyes (live) - REM. There's about a minute of this before the actual song starts, but it's well worth the wait.

There She Goes Again - REM. This is from Dead Letter Office which is a b-sides and rarities REM compilation which I bought exactly one year before I bought The Velvet Underground & Nico]

Femme Fatale - Elisa. This isn't the greatest cover, but there's some really interesting steel drum sounds in it which make it worth listening to. I've included this as an example as just how much The Velvet Underground's influence different types of musicians.

Pale Blue Eyes - Hole

I'm Set Free - The Kills

I Heard Her Call My Name - The Dirtbombs

Oh! Sweet Nuthin' - My Morning Jacket

Sweet Jane and Beast Of Burden - The Kooks

I Can't Stand It - The Laureates

Venus In Furs - The Kills

Candy Says - Kathryn Williams

Lady Godiva's Operation - Fatima Mansions

I'm Sticking With You - The Decembrists

What Goes On - The Decembrists

I Found A Reason - Cat Power

Run Run Run - Capsula

Femme Fatale (live 31st August 2009) - Billy Corgan with Spirits In The Sky

Who Loves The Sun - Hafdis Huld

White Light, White Heat - David Bowie

White Light, White Heat (BBC Session version) - David Bowie

I promised you Beck's Record Club covers and here they are:

Sunday Morning
I'm Waiting for the Man
Femme Fatale
Venus in Furs
Run Run Run
All Tomorrow's Parties
Heroin
Heroin (alternative take) This feature vocals by Beck, both versions are great.
There She Goes Again
I'll Be Your Mirror
The Black Angel's Death Song
European Son

My Favourite Bands - The Velvet Underground part 3

This post was just going to be about The Velvet Underground's live recordings but I forgot to include the promised post break up releases. So they're in this post as well as the live recordings.

The first 3 Velvet Underground albums were released by Verve. However Verve wasn't making money and The Velvet Underground albums weren't big sellers. They were released from theircontract and signed with Atlantic where they released Loaded.

However, tracks had been recorded for a 4th album with Verve. The recordings were, of course, lost and eventually rediscovered. They were released over two albums, VU in 1985 and Another View in 1986.




Of these VU is by far the stronger. Of the 10 songs on the album 6 of them were released on Lou Reed's solo albums. This album is a great mix of ballads and heavier rock songs. Different from Loaded, this still has the same sort of balance, The Velvets were heading this way for their 4th album anyway.

Sample mp3s:

I Can't Stand It

Foggy Notion

Temptation Inside Your Heart

Buy the album here.




Another View is weaker in comparison and it's much more an album for completists. That's not to say it's in any way bad, but it's ok rather than great. Highlights are We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together and an early version of Rock And Roll.

Sample mp3s:

We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together

Coney Island Steeplechase


Buy the album here.

Now, onto the live albums.




1969: Velvet Underground Live. I consider this a double album, even though it's released on two seperate discs. When it was first released on vinyl it was a double album, and that's good enough for me.

The album is made up of gigs recorded over clubs sound systems at two seperate venues, one in Dallas and one in San Francisco. What's immediatley notable is the sheer energy that comes through on the songs, out and out aggresion in some places. As always it's easy to view the Velvet Underground as Lou Reed's band before he went solo but the full band is on form here. Reed and Morrison complement each other perfectly, Mo Tucker's drumming is sublime and even the much maligned Doug Yule shows his ability. Basically the band out and out rocks.

Highlights of the album are What Goes On, New Age, (with an almost completley different set of lyrics than the version on Loaded) and Heroin from Volume 1 and Ocean, Pale Blue Eyes, Heroin (again) and I Can't Stand It from Volume 2.

As always below are some sample tracks but bear in mind that, as with any live album, it's best to hear it in full.

Lisa Says (Volume One)

New Age (Volume One)

Heroin (Volume Two)

Over You (Volume Two)

I Can't Stand It (Volume Two)

Buy Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here.




Bootleg Series, Vol. 1: The Quine Tapes

Despite what the title of this album suggests there is no volume 2. This was released in 2001, so I think it's fair to say there won't be a volume 2 now.

It's a 3 disc set and the recordings on it come from gigs The Velvets did in two clubs in San Francisco during November and December 1969 as well as one track from a gig in St. Louis. The recordings were made with the bands consent by Robert Quine. Quine would later tour with Reed and play guitar on his album The Blue Mask.

During 1969 The Velvets toured extensively, the normally quoted figue is 70+ gigs, and this album is a comprehensive look at just how well the band was playing at that time. From the sametime span as the above 1969: Velvet Underground Live this album is more of the same and I think a more essential purchase. If you're only going to buy one live Velvets album get this one. As well as all the tracks you'd expect the album contains songs from the first album that were played live less often.

Here's 3 sample mp3s, one from each disc:

Some Kinda Love (This track contains the lyric 'Between Thought and Expression')

Venus In Furs

Rock And Roll

Buy the album here.

Which brings us to the last live album and the end of my posts on The Velvet Underground.




Live At Max's Kansas City is reputed to be the last ever concert The Velvets ever played. The audio quality is acceptable for a bootleg but not great, there's a lot of audience chatter, Mo Tucker is pregnant and Billy Yule fills in on drums and really it's an album best bought by fans. It's by no means for completists only though. Listening to the album it seems obvious how weary Lou Reed has become with it all. His introduction to and vocals on Sunday Morning are the best example of that.

Buy the album here.

The album contains both sets they did. White Light/White Heat is from the first set, Sunday Morning and Lonesome Cowboy Bill from the second set. Lonesome Cowboy Bill was actually played in both sets. The mp3 below is, as mentioned, from the second set. It was the last song played at their last gig so it seemed an appropriate place to finish. I hope you've enjoyed these posts and most importantly the music.

White Light/White Heat

Sunday Morning

Lonesome Cowboy Bill.

My Favourite Bands - The Velvet Underground, part 2

The Velvet's 3rd album is the self-titled The Velvet Underground.


By spunkyandtheslut at 2009-08-08

By this point John Cale has left the band to be replaced by Doug Yale. This means there's no more electric viola but instead the band has the 'standard' rock line-up of drums, bass, two guitars and vocals.

Gone is most of the feedback from the first two albums, this sounds in many ways markedly different, (although the penultimate song, The Murder Mystery, wouldn't seem out of place on either of the two previous albums). That's not to say that it's a generic rock and roll album. The distortion and feedback have been scaled back and replaced with an involvement in the songs that wasn't present in the first two albums. The Velvet Underground & Nico and White Light/White Heat were chronicles of different scenes and people. The Velvet Underground comes across much more as a chronicle of Lou Reed's experiences.

Here are some sample mp3s...

Candy Says

Some Kinda Love

After Hours (sung by Mo Tucker)

...and you can buy the album here.

The 4th Velvet Underground album is Loaded.




Now you'll here/read a lot about what a commercial album this is and how far it deviates from the other albums. And it many ways it does have a more accesible sound. There's no denying it sounds different to the previous albums. I just don't think different should be taken as a negative, bands evolve after all, and if this is really what commercial music sounded like, well, I'd be a very happy boy. I don't intend to do a huge review of this album. It just ends up like I'm defending it from accusations of selling out and really I don't care. If it's a sell out, if it's an attempted commercial record, a sop to the record company I don't care. Neither should you. It's an excellent album and it stands on its own merits.

It's worth mentioning that Mo Tucker was pregnant during the Loaded recording sessions so most of the drumming is done by bassist Doug Yule and his brother Billy. Doug Yule also sings lead vocals on four of the songs on Loaded.

Loaded is also available as a 2-disc set known as the Fully Loadd edition. As well as the full album it contains all the songs again from alternative takes or demos and 12 other demos and outakes, including a few songs that would turn up on Lou Reed's solo albums.

Here are the mp3s from the album:

Sweet Jane

Rock and Roll

New Age

and here are some of the tracks included on the Fully Loaded Edition:

Lonesome Cowboy Bill

I Love You

Oh! Sweet Nuthin'

I'm Sticking With You (This one is sung by Mo Tucker)

Ocean (Possibly/probably with John Cale on the organ)

Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall

Satellite Of Love

and you can buy the Fully Loaded edition here.

Part 3 will be the last of the favourite band posts on The Velvet Underground and will cover their live recordings. Until then, enjoy these tracks.

My Favourite Bands - The Velvet Underground, part 1

The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground are easily my favourite band. So much so that I can't cover them in one post so I'll split it up into three. This one will cover there first two albums.

The next post will cover the last two studio albums and some studio recordings released after they broke up. The third post will cover some of the live albums that are available. There's going to be a ton of mp3s through these posts, I hope you like them.

I can still remember the first time I heard the Velvet Underground. It was an advert for Dunlop Tyres, and the song playing was Venus in Furs. Here's the commercial:



the song was totally different from anything I'd heard before. Maybe I'd led a sheltered life, but I'd never heard an electric viola before. I'd never heard anything that sounded even remotley like it.

I lived in a small town without a record store but eventually I managed to find and buy a best of Lou Reed & Velvet Underground compilation on cassette (remember those?) from the local Woolworths (remember those?)



and it all grew from there.





Their first album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, is talked about as the most influential album of all time. Probably it is, but that shouldn't overshadow what an awesome album it is. It's easy for people to talk about how influential the album is, but in a way that just makes it in to a museum artifact. It makes listeners focus on that. And that's not a bad thing. But it shouldn't be the only people know about this album. Despite being influential and experimental when it was released it still sounds fresh today. It's an album about the freaks and weirdos of the world, the marganilised parts of society, it stands on it's own merits as a great album and it should be remembered more for that than for it's undoubted influence on other bands.


Sample some of the songs below and find out for yourself.

Venus In Furs (the song in the video above)

Run Run Run

Heroin

I'll Be Your Mirror (sung by Nico)

On this album the band were:

Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker. Nico sang lead vocals on 3 of the tracks on the album.

You can buy the album here

As a bonus here's an alternative take of Venus In Furs from an earlier recording session at Scepter Studios in New York.




The second album White Light/White Heat has a different sound. All avant garde/expiremental rock dripping with feedback. Containing 6 tracks from the sub-3 minute White Light/White Heat to the 17+ minute Sister Ray it's a glorious album. I think it's often overlooked. The first album is experimental and edgy but stilll, everything on it is recognisably a song. So I suppose this is considered the 'difficult' album. On White Light/White Heat the band were Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker.

Buy the album here and enjoy the songs below:

Lady Godiva's Operation

Here She Comes Now

I Heard Her Call My Name

that seems a pretty good place to draw this post to a close. After this album John Cale left/was thrown out of the band. From here on The Velvet Underground would have the standard vocals, two guitars, a bass and some drums, even if they still didn't sound like a 'standard' band. But more about that in the next post. For now, enjoy the music.