Her Life Was Saved By Rock & Roll

I've been listening to The Velvet Underground a lot recently, partly due to my 2025 dive into the Lou Reed solo back catalogue and partly due to them being one of the cornerstones of my record collection since the late 1980s. In 2017 the record company Verve released an album called The Velvet Underground 1969. This is not the self titled third Velvet Underground nor the much loved Live 1969 album but a twenty song, four sides of vinyl album pulling together the group's recordings from 1969, some of which made up the self titled third album, some of which came out on Loaded a year later, some of which didn't come out until the VU album in the mid- 80s, some of which were reworked and re- recorded as Lou Reed solo songs and some of which are/were unreleased off cuts and extras. 

1968- 1969 was a tumultuous time for the group. Reed wanted John Cale sacked after White Light/ White Heat. Lou wanted to be more recognition and success, Cale wanted to be more experimental. Lou's songs at the tail end of '68 were heading in a poppier direction, songs like Stephanie Says and Beginning To See The Light. John had a viola drone song, Hey Mr. Rain. Lou told Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker that if Cale wasn't sacked he would dissolve the Velvets and though neither was happy with it they went along with Lou. Doug Yule was invited in as bassist and the group recorded The Velvet Underground, a gentle, after hours, chilled out affair with some of Lou's best songs- What Goes On, Jesus, Pale Blue Eyes, Some Kinda Love, Candy Says, Beginning To See The Light... It's an almost perfect album, brought down only slightly by The Murder Mystery which has two vocals running simultaneously in the two stereo channels and is messy. It's then redeemed by the Mo Tucker sung After Hours. 

The so called 'lost VU album' released in 2017 is filled with great VU songs that highlight what a superb band they were. There are some Cale moments which remind you why the first two VU albums are so good, the viola droning away on Hey Mr. Rain and some organ playing too. There is some stunningly primitive but brilliant Mo Tucker drumming and Doug Yule's playing shows why he was a key part of the Velvets in the 1968- 1970 period. Mainly, running all the way through from start to end, there is the magical guitar interplay of Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison. It's difficult sometimes to know where one starts and the other takes over, who is rhythm and who is lead or if they're both playing different rhythm parts. 

Foggy Notion, I Can't Stand It, Temptation Inside Your Heart, Stephanie Says, Beginning To See The Light, Ocean- all are present, all from different sources and all ending up on a variety of releases and all among the best songs of the period by anyone. There is also this, the full length version of Rock & Roll, the song which came out on Loaded in 1970 in slightly shorter form (4. 47 rather than the 5.15 on 1969), a song with the best choppy guitar riffs and rhythm playing, sheer joyousness in the singing and in the lyrics, the story of Jenny (but really Lou) whose life was saved by rock & roll.

Rock & Roll  (Original 1969 Mix)

Thee is also this song, Lou's tribute to Coney Island, the seaside resort at the end of the line in Brooklyn. In 1976 Lou would write and record an entire solo album about Coney Island, a love letter to his partner Rachel and to 'a Coney Island of the mind'. In 1969 Lou's first run at it is a two and half minute song, ragged guitars and the 'nice/ ice' rhyme he'd come back to in the 70s. There's a line about his childhood and parents- 'like a sister and brother/ who cling to each other/ when they realise their parents are mad'-  and then the guitars chop away as Lou and Doug croon the days of the week

Coney Island Steeplechase (2014 Mix)

Coney Island Steeplechase originally saw the light of day in 1986 on Another VU, a follow up to 1985's VU- two collections of unreleased Velvets songs that kick started the whole rediscovery of the group and played a huge part in creating the sound of the UK's indie scene. The Another VU version has very muffled, compressed vocals. The 2014 mix is much clearer and rattles along beautifully. Lou's songwriting at this point was at its VU peak and the 'lost 19769 album' is  wonderful collection of songs, an alternate view of the group that year- I wouldn't give up the third album in favour of it but 1969 is a welcome companion piece (even though the vinyl pressing is annoyingly much too quiet).