This is by far the best reissue of the year, perhaps of all time. Truly glorious packaging: a weighty coffee-table-sized book, magnificently illustrated and penned by Velvet Underground authority, Richie Unterberger (although there are more photographs than words). Obviously made for profit, but also a labor of love.
Disc One: An incredibly-clear remastering, better than any that have gone before, the equal of the long out-of-print MFSL version. Finishes with bonus tracks: the familiar single-voice All Tomorrow’s Parties and a previously unheard instrumental backing-track of the same. Also has alternate versions of European Son and Herion, and a great alternate mix of I’ll Be Your Mirror with Nico’s laughter at the end.
Disc Two: As with disc one, the best-sounding mono version yet with the two mono singles as bonuses. This is the way the album was originally recorded, so this is the definitive version. Thunderous.
Disc Three: Chelsea Girl, put here because on Nico’s firt solo album, she was backed by Reed, Cale, Morrison and Jackson Browne. They wrote the majority of the songs too. Kind of like a gentle version of VU&N, but unfortunately, originally ruined with spurious and later added bogus strings and a flute, which could not be removed here because they could not find the original master, but yet again, the best sounding version yet.
Disc Four: The Scepter Studio version. Never mind the bootlegs; here the sound improvement is very dramatic, now elevated to nearly the same sound quality as the official mono version. Please note there a couple of seconds of pop and click during Run Run Run. Maureen Tucker’s one of only two existing acetate records served as the main source for these. This is followed by Factory rehearsals, again, previously bootlegged, but now sounding almost as if they were professionally recorded. My only complaint is the Factory tapes are only half (the January 3, 1966 session) of what is on the bootlegs. The omissions would have fit on shortest disc, disc three, but I suppose they were trying to keep each one a themed whole.
Discs Five & Six: Once again, never mind the bootlegs. This is (albeit still in mono), the very best version ever committed to disc. They did a spectacular job of perfecting the sound. Think of the Melody Laughter edit from Peel Slowly And See. That’s what this sounds like, only now, it is the complete concert. Yea! At times, it sounds professionally recorded (even though sourced from an audience tape), but be aware there are a few short passages which are not entirely clean. The Black Angel’s Death Song suffers from some moderate distortion as does the middle section of the concert, which could not be repaired. Otherwise, sound-quality throughout is a point-blank miracle compared to all that has went before.
This set is absolutely essential for Velvet Underground collectors. Together for the first time is nearly every relevant Velvet Underground and Nico recording, and they ALL sound better than they ever have before. Yes! Buy it again! It will never be done better than this. Will there be a Super Deluxe 45th Anniversary edition of White Light / White Heat coming in December of 2013? One can only hope such will be the case.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
The Velvet Underground & Nico
{45th Anniversary Super Deluxe}
===============================
DISC 01
——-
ORIGINAL STEREO LP:
01 Sunday Morning
02 I’m Waiting For The Man
03 Femme Fatale
04 Venus In Furs
05 Run Run Run
06 All Tomorrow’s Parties
07 Heroin
08 There She Goes Again
09 I’ll Be Your Mirror
10 The Black Angel’s Death Song
11 European Son
ALTERNATE STEREO VERSIONS:
12 All Tomorrow’s Parties (Single Voice)
13 European Son (Undedited)
14 Heroin (Alternate Take)
15 All Tomorrow’s Parties (Instrumental)
16 I’ll Be Your Mirror (Stereo Mix)
DISC 02
——-
ORIGINAL MONO LP:
01 Sunday Morning
02 I’m Waiting For The Man
03 Femme Fatale
04 Venus In Furs
05 Run Run Run
06 All Tomorrow’s Parties
07 Heroin
08 There She Goes Again
09 I’ll Be Your Mirror
10 The Black Angel’s Death Song
11 European Son
MONO SINGLE VERSIONS:
12 All Tomorrow’s Parties
13 I’ll Be Your Mirror
14 Sunday Morning
15 Femme Fatale
DISC 03
——-
NICO – CHELSEA GIRL:
01 The Fairest Of The Seasons
02 These Days
03 Little Sister
04 Winter Song
05 It Was A Pleasure Then
06 Chelsea Girls
07 I’ll Keep It With Mine
08 Somewhere There’s A Feather
09 Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
10 Eulogy To Lenny Bruce
DISC 04
——-
SCEPTER STUDIO SESSIONS (Mono):
01 European Son
02 The Black Angel’s Death Song
03 All Tomorrow’s Parties
04 I’ll Be Your Mirror
05 Heroin (Alternate)
06 Femme Fatale
07 Venus In Furs (Alternate)
08 I’m Waiting For The Man (Alternate)
09 Run Run Run
THE FACTORY REHEARSALS:
10 Walk Alone
11 Crackin’ Up/Venus In Furs
12 Miss Joanie Lee
13 Heroin
14 There She Goes Again (with Nico)
15 There She Goes Again
DISC 05
——-
LIVE IN COLUMBUS PT. 1:
01 Melody Laughter
02 Femme Fatale
03 Venus In Furs
04 The Black Angel’s Death Song
05 All Tomorrow’s Parties
DISC 06
——-
LIVE IN COLUMBUS PT. 2:
01 I’m Waiting For The Man
02 Heroin
03 Run Run Run
04 The Nothing Song
=========================
Compilation Produced by Bill Levenson
Associate Producer: Sal Mercuri
Mastered by Kevin Reeves @ Sterling Sound, New York
Tape Transfers & Digital Assembly: Eliot Kissileff @ Sterling Sound