I was in the record shop in town on Saturday looking at the 45th anniversary boxed set of the third velvet Underground album (my favourite of theirs, a record I can come back to umpteen times). I didn't buy it. I haven't bought it. Yet. But I came home and played VU while cooking tea, the 1985 album that rounded up some unreleased songs (some found in a bin at the record company). The opening song is I Can't Stand It, which is unsurpassed, an absolute template, a song beyond compare. The rhythm guitars are tinny and choppy, Sterling Morrison's guitar solo is unhinged and Lou's drawled delivery is superb- as are the nonsense of the lyrics with those thirteen dead cats, a purple dog wearing spats, the mop assault and Shirley or Shelley (who won't come back).
I Can't Stand It
The boxed set has cleaned up the songs. The 80s version of I Can't Stand It is the one we're all familiar with but the 2014 mix might just be even better.
Meanwhile I am still reeling from reading in a review that it was Doug Yule who sang Candy Says, not Lou Reed. Should I have known this?
I'm getting it for Christmas from L, from that very music emporium (had to order it myself). Looking forward to hearing the different mixes. It's my favourite Velvets album too.
ReplyDeleteOh and maybe but in the big scheme of things does it matter? Fact is it's a lovely song.
I didn't know that either. Even when I listened again I couldn't tell.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got my last phone I lost all the stuff I'd transferred from my own CDs ...the only VU song left was Can't Stand It...stone cold.
ReplyDeletePush me to the wall and White Light is my favorite...I have a deranged need racket...but every song on this album is a champion.
My favourite too. I always think of it as the album that invented Indie
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