Beginning To See The Light: 6-CD Super Deluxe “Velvet Underground” Coming In November

For the third year in a row, a classic album by The Velvet Underground will receive the super deluxe treatment from Polydor and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).

On November 24, 2014, the label will release The Velvet Underground – 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, a 65-track, 6-CD hardcover book-style box set, following 2012’s release of The Velvet Underground and Nico and 2013’s White Light/White Heat.  The 1969 release of The Velvet Underground introduced Doug Yule to the band, replacing founding member John Cale, and also introduced a somewhat more accessible, melodic sensibility perhaps best described as in a “folk rock” vein.  Not that the group’s experimental tendencies were absent; “The Murder Mystery” employed both spoken-word and musique concrete, proving that Lou Reed (who wrote every track on the album), Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker were still at the vanguard.

The 45th Anniversary set presents two distinct stereo mixes of the original LP on the its first two discs, and a promotional mono mix on the third disc (along with two mono single sides).  The fourth disc features the Velvets’ 1969 session recordings which were to comprise a fourth album; ten of the fourteen tracks are heard in previously unissued mixes (four from 1969, six from 2014).  Tracks from this disc appeared in different form on Lou Reed’s 1972 solo album as well as his classic David Bowie-produced Transformer, as well as on The Velvet Underground’s Loaded album for Atlantic Records  The fifth and sixth discs are devoted to the band’s November 26 and 27, 1969 concerts at San Francisco club The Matrix, featuring new-to-CD mixes and performances.

David Fricke provides the new liner notes for this set.  The remastered “Val” Valentin stereo mix of The Velvet Underground (Disc One of the box set) will also be made available as a single-disc CD release, and as part of the two-CD Deluxe Edition with a 12-track audio bonus disc featuring highlights from Live At The Matrix.  Digital versions of both the single disc “Valentin mix” and the Super Deluxe set will also be available through UMe’s digital partners including MFiT and HD Audio formats.

After the jump, we present the press release for The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Edition as well as the complete track listing and pre-order links!

Release Round-Up: Week of March 25

Johnny Cash, Out Among the Stars (Columbia/Legacy)

This new album of newly-discovered mid-’80s outtakes is perhaps better than what was released at the time. Gorgeous and, at times, haunting, the way Johnny Cash albums should be.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: 40th Anniversary Edition (Mercury/Rocket/UMe)

Elton’s classic double album comes back to glorious life with several lavish editions, featuring new covers of songs from the set, B-sides, live material and more.

1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
4CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Merle Haggard, Okie from Muskogee: 45th Anniversary Special Edition (Capitol Nashville)

Haggard and The Stranger’s classic 1969 live album is remastered and paired with the next year’s follow-up The Fightin’ Side of Me, in its first-ever CD release. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Miles Davis, Miles at the Fillmore – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Columbia/Legacy)

Four discs of mostly-unheard jazz experimentation from one of Miles’ most challenging and enjoyable periods. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Rod Stewart, Live 1976-1998: Tonight’s the Night (Warner Bros./Rhino)

This long-rumored box, featuring 58 unheard recordings, now offers a fitting chronicle of Rod in concert. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

My Chemical Romance, May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 (Reprise)

New Jersey’s own late lamented My Chem, one of the best alt-rock bands of the past decade, release a career-spanning compilation with one unreleased song and several demos.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 
CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 
2LP/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Eric Carmen, The Essential Eric Carmen (Arista/Legacy)

A lovingly-assembled two-disc compilation honoring the talents of the singer/songwriter, from The Raspberries to today. Includes the gorgeous new track “Brand New Year.” (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Blue Nile, Peace At Last: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMC)

A surprise expansion of the Glasgow pop group’s 1996 album. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.)

Pantera, Far Beyond Driven: 20th Anniversary Edition (EastWest/Rhino)

The band’s hit 1994 album paired with a live bootleg disc of the band’s Monsters of Rock Festival 1994 performance. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Aztec Camera, High Land Hard Rain: Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition (Domino)

The Scottish rock band’s first album is expanded to just about completion, with single sides and unreleased tracks on a bonus disc.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Toto, Toto/ Hydra / Turn Back (Rock Candy)

Toto’s perfectly crafted AOR-pop blend is represented by their first three albums, newly remastered for CD by Rock Candy.

Toto: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Hydra: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.
Turn Back: Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Various Artists, A MusiCares Tribute to Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)

Last year’s multi-artist live tribute concert in honor of The Boss, capped with a mini-set by Springsteen and The E Street Band.

DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Micky Dolenz, Micky Dolenz Puts You to Sleep / Broadway Micky (Friday Music)

Two of Micky’s children’s albums for Kid Rhino from 1991 and 1994 reappear in print on one disc. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Blue Magic, Message from the Magic (FunkyTownGrooves)

The Philadelphia soul band’s fifth album from 1977 is remastered and released for the first time on CD. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ronnie Lane and Slim Chance, Ooh La La: An Island Harvest (Mercury)

A hits-and-rarities compilation from the late Small Faces/Faces bassist’s mid-’70s group. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Joni Mitchell, Woman of Heart and Mind + Painting with Words and Music / Lou Reed, Classic Albums: Transformer + Live at Montreux 2000 (Eagle Rock)

Eagle Rock brings four vintage programs back to video with these two Blu-ray releases, both part of the label’s new “SD Blu-ray” line.  As indicated, these programs are in upscaled standard definition video but have been upgraded to “uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD high resolution surround sound.”

Joni: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Lou: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Review: Bob Dylan, “The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration: Deluxe Edition”

Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, held on October 16, 1992 at New York’s Madison Square Garden to mark Dylan’s Columbia Records debut, could have been a valedictory.  The 51-year old honoree and participant was nearly at the halfway point of a self-imposed sabbatical from writing and recording original songs; it would last seven years, from 1990 to 1997.  He had not had an album reach the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 since 1983’s Infidels and hadn’t cracked the Top 5 since 1979’s Slow Train Coming.   When Good as I Been to You, a collection of traditional tunes and standards, arrived in stores just a couple of weeks after the concert, it was the artist’s first solo acoustic album since 1964.  Was the artist who once challenged convention with alarming regularity now succumbing to it, resting on his laurels while his famous friends saluted him?  One could have been forgiven for coming to that conclusion.  But the concert dubbed by participant Neil Young as “Bobfest” proved conclusively that the Bob Dylan songbook was as enshrined in the cultural consciousness as any of the classic songs Dylan had taken to recording of late.  His songs still had the power to shock, to entertain, to incisively observe upon the world and the human condition.  Columbia Records issued the concert as a 2-CD set and on VHS; now, both the audio and video components have received, shall we say, a 22nd anniversary update and upgrade from Legacy Recordings.  With Dylan more venerated than ever, on the heels of a remarkable “comeback” that began in 1997 and hasn’t abated since, the timing couldn’t be better.

It’s striking in equal measure to note how many of the artists featured on Concert Celebration are still going strong, like Dylan, and how many have moved onto the next world.  Of the former, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn and Tom Petty all now possess “living legend” status.   There’s an overwhelmingly bittersweet quality, however, savoring the performances by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, George Harrison, Richie Havens, Levon Helm and Rick Danko, Tommy Makem and Bobby, Liam and Paddy Clancy, Howie Epstein of The Heartbreakers and Donald “Duck” Dunn.

Underscoring the adaptable nature of Dylan’s singular songs, the genres of rock, folk, country and even R&B all earned a spot at the Garden that evening.  Naturally for any such concert retrospective, a number of artists reprised past triumphs with an older and wiser sensibility to mark their own shared history with Dylan: Stevie Wonder with his 1966 hit version of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Johnny and June Carter Cash with their 1965 Top 5 Country romp through “It Ain’t Me Babe” (enlivened by Mickey Raphael’s harmonica), Roger McGuinn and his 12-string Rickenbacker (plus Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!) with The Byrds’ chart-topping “Mr. Tambourine Man,” folk hero Richie Havens with “Just Like a Woman,” a staple of his repertoire since the 1960s.  The O’Jays liked Dylan’s “Emotionally Yours” so much that they named a 1991 album after the song and recorded it twice on that LP – once in an R&B Version and once in a Gospel Version.  The latter raised the rafters at the Garden, thanks to the chorus featuring, among others, Cissy Houston and the pre-fame Sheryl Crow.  Sans Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band invested “When I Paint My Masterpiece” with appropriate, ironic optimism.

Other headliners also had one foot in the past, honoring the original performances of the songs via their faithful renditions.  John Mellencamp even enlisted Al Kooper to revisit his famous organ part on a rip-roaring, concert-opening “Like a Rolling Stone.”  Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin and Mary-Chapin Carpenter revived the folk-rock spirit of The Byrds on “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”  Eddie Vedder, on vocals, and Mike McCready, on guitar, tackled the acoustic “Masters of War” (“Even Jesus would never forgive what you do”) and did full justice to its lacerating, unforgiving lyrics (“I’ll stand on your grave ‘til I’m sure that you’re dead”).

Click on the jump to keep reading!

Release Round-Up: Week of January 7

Peter Gabriel, Scratch My Back and I’ll Scratch Yours (Real World)

In 2010, Peter Gabriel released Scratch My Back, a new set of cover songs. The plan was to pair them up with covers of his own work by the artists he covered; some of them were released as B-sides but others never materialized. (Radiohead, David Bowie and Neil Young declined to contribute.) This version combines the original album with those covers (also separately released today), including cuts by Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, David Byrne, Brian Eno, Bon Iver and the late Lou Reed.

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Complete Columbia Singles / Bettye Swann, The Complete Atlantic Recordings / Samuel Jonathan Johnson, My Music /Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 10 – Winterland Arena December 29, 1977 (Real Gone Music)

Real Gone’s first batch of 2014 features a double-disc singles anthology from Blood, Sweat & Tears with original single mixes (and the first eight tracks in mono), obscure ’70s soul from Bettye Swann and Samuel Jonathan Johnson and a vintage Dead set from 1977.

BS&T: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Bettye: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Samuel Jonathan Johnson: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Grateful Dead: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

In Memoriam: Lou Reed (1942-2013)

Tough, uncompromising and honest – the music of singer, songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed might have been the very quintessence of New York rock and roll.  Since first making a splash with 1967’s The Velvet Underground and Nico, Reed, who has died unexpectedly at the age of 71, doggedly pursued his own personal muse.  Even as he synthesized numerous influences like doo-wop, jazz, R&B and Tin Pan Alley pop into his own ultimately influential rock style, he always stayed true to his roots as a bold, frank and uncompromisingly original artist.

During his creative odyssey, he could always be counted on to take a left turn – whether with the glam revelry of Transformer, the divisive noise of Metal Machine Music, the gothic theatre of The Raven or the harsh poetry of the Metallica collaboration Songs for Lulu.  From those heady days with his cohorts in The Velvet Underground right up to the present, Lou Reed always found art and soul in the darkness.  The last time I saw Mr. Reed perform live, in 2010, he was holding court in a dim New York room, adding his thunderous guitar to a singular, droning rendition of Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s “One for My Baby.”  Mercer’s lyrics are fitting way to remember this experimental, avant-garde and altogether earthy art-rock pioneer: “You’d never know it, but buddy, I’m a kind of poet/And I got a lot of things to say/And when I’m gloomy, you simply gotta listen to me/Until it’s talked away…”  Like the great songwriters and musicians before him, Lou Reed’s stark art will endure for the length of that long, long road.  Rest in peace, Mr. Reed.

There It Comes Now: Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat” Box Set Arrives In December

UPDATED 10/4: “No one listened to it.  But there it is, forever – the quintessence of articulate punk.  And no one goes near it.”  So commented the rather articulate Lou Reed in a statement for Rolling Stone regarding Universal’s upcoming 45th anniversary 3-CD box set of The Velvet Underground’s sophomore effort, White Light/White Heat.  Due on December 3, the new set follows last year’s 6-CD super deluxe edition of the band’s debut Velvet Underground & Nico from Universal as well as the 5-LP box The Verve/MGM Albums from Sundazed.  In addition, a 2-CD “highlights” version will be available as part of the label’s Deluxe Edition series.

The 1967 debut of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker and Nico was a rather outré release for the jazz-oriented Verve label – though let’s not forget, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were also Verve artists at the time!  The band’s name didn’t even appear on the famous “banana” album cover – just the signature of the group’s nominal producer, Andy Warhol.  “So Far Underground, You Get the Bends!” infamously proclaimed an ad in the Village Voice, but truth is, even the underground cognoscenti didn’t embrace the band immediately.  The critics weren’t much more kind, with Jazz magazine proclaiming the VU’s debut “rather tedious despite their ventures into electric viola, et. al.,” adding that “their forte is the loud whine.”

For all that, though, the dark and uncompromising The Velvet Underground & Nico anticipated the sounds of the future. Punk, glam, noise and even goth were anticipated, though the band still made at least casual nods at pop, rhythm-and-blues, jazz and garage rock. Primarily written by Reed with contributions from bandmates Cale and Maureen Tucker, the Velvets dealt with drugs, sex and violence in a frank and bold way, while Nico’s deep, odd, gothic vocals added mightily to the feeling of paranoia and unease that permeated the record. This was the sound of the harsh underbelly of New York City.

The group, sans Nico, recorded 1968’s White Light/White Heat with Tom Wilson in the producer’s chair.  The original album bore the credit “Edited and remixed under the supervision of Tom Wilson,” and he also received a producer credit for the track “Sunday Morning.”  With Wilson officially at the helm, Reed, Cale and company aimed for an even harsher sound.  Considering the relative lack of success of The Velvet Underground & Nico, the pursuit of rawness on White Light was the opposite of conventional wisdom.  (For the record, VU&N peaked at No. 171 in Billboard and No. 102 in Cash Box.  It was difficult to find for much of 1967 thanks to a legal battle over the image of onetime Warhol associate Eric Emerson in the gatefold artwork, which might have hurt its chances further.  Still, the album sold over 58,000 copies by February 14, 1969, according to an MGM royalty statement, so Lou Reed’s famous statement to Brian Eno that it sold “30,000 copies in the first five years” wasn’t quite true.)

Cale was quoted as describing White Light/White Heat as “consciously anti-beauty,” although most would argue that the Velvets found a certain kind of beauty in the darkness.  Recorded over mere days in summer 1967 and issued on January 30, 1968, White Light’s six songs are infused with the countercultural, avant-garde spirit.  “I Heard Her Call My Name” made prominent use of screeching feedback, while sex was frankly referred to in “Lady Godiva’s Operation” and the 17+-minute jam “Sister Ray.”  The title track referred to drugs, and even the most “commercial” song on the LP, “Here She Comes Now,” employed a double entendre in its title.  Reportedly Tom Wilson left the studio during the recording of “Sister Ray,” unable to tolerate the “noise.”

Though White Light/White Heat sounds like the work of one band on the same page, tensions between Reed and Cale were splintering the band, and Cale was eased out prior to 1969’s more folk-rock-leaning The Velvet Underground.  Prior to the release of 1970’s Loaded – the VU’s most pop/rock-flavored album yet – Lou Reed departed the ranks, and it was over in all but name.

What will you find on Universal’s deluxe reissue of White Light/White Heat?  Hit the jump!

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, “‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah”

The story behind The Idelsohn Society for Music Preservation’s fascinating new 2-CD set ‘Twas the Night Before Hanukkah is a simple one.  The label, dedicated to telling Jewish history through music, set out to chronicle the music of Hanukkah before discovering that the most famous Christmas songs – “White Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “The Christmas Song,” just to name three – were all written by members of the Jewish faith!  So the Hanukkah compilation doubled in size, and gained the cheeky subtitle The Musical Battle Between Christmas and the Festival of Lights.  Those celebrating either holiday will find plenty of cheer and a bit of food for thought on these two discs.  One is dedicated to Hanukkah and another to Christmas, with plenty of cross-pollination between the two.  This set makes a worthy companion to the Idelsohn Society’s previous Black Sabbath, a look at another relationship in song: in that case, between African-Americans and Jews.

Disc One, or Happy Hanukkah, takes in songs referring to the holiday (Gerald Marks’ “Hanukah,” Woody Guthrie’s “Hanukkah Dance,” The Klezmatics’ “Hanukah Tree”) and songs central to it (Cantor David Putterman’s “Rock of Ages”).  Other songs here celebrate aspects of Jewish culture that make them seasonally appropriate, like Debbie Friedman’s “The Latke Song” or a number of odes to the dreidel.  In the latter category comes Ella Jenkins’ rendition of the 1920 folk standard known to children everywhere, “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” plus “Grandma’s Dreidel” from comedian (and father of Joel Grey) Mickey Katz and “Dreidel,” from folk-rock troubadour Don McLean in which the singer compares turbulent modern life to the spinning of the dreidel.  There are more light-hearted tracks here, too, including the collection’s title song, Stanley Adams and Sid Wayne’s “’Twas The Night Before Chanukah.”  (You’ll note the multiple spellings of the holiday; it’s noted in the booklet that there are at least sixteen acceptable ways to spell the holiday that only has five letters in its original Hebrew!)  Perhaps ironically, Mickey Katz’s contribution is one of his more “straight” recordings, with Katz earnestly singing and playing clarinet.  As collections of Hanukkah songs are far and few between, this disc makes an entertaining and valuable release in its own right. Alas, Tom Lehrer’s “(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica” didn’t make the cut!  Neither did Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song,” as the compilers explained in the notes that it was too “well-trodden.”  Ah, well, maybe next time!  There’s always the recording of Sandler’s song by Neil Diamond, one of the most famous Jewish purveyors of holiday music to be absent from these proceedings!

Hit the jump for much more, including the complete track listing and order link!

First Name Basis: Ozzy, Willie, Janis, Iggy Among Legacy’s Offerings For Record Store Day

Here at Second Disc HQ, we’re eagerly anticipating April 21, or Record Store Day, the industry-wide celebration of all things vinyl (and a few CDs, too!).  Record Store Day, now in its fifth year, gives shoppers the chance to interact with big crowds of fellow music enthusiasts in the brick-and-mortar retail environment cherished by so many of us.  Legacy Recordings has announced its impressive line-up of limited edition releases that will line the shelves of your favorite independent music store on that Saturday, including titles from the 2012 Record Store Day Ambassador, Iggy Pop, and the 2011 Ambassador, Ozzy Osbourne!  Joining those two rock heroes on the Legacy slate are familiar faces such as Paul Simon, Willie Nelson and Lou Reed, and gone-but-not-forgotten legends like Miles Davis and Janis Joplin!

Hit the jump for the full list of Legacy’s diverse offerings, and don’t forget to visit our full (and ongoing) round-up of the reissue-related Record Store Day limited editions for 2012!