the "gold" series is the latest wave of greatest hits anthologies coming out - i've already seen jackson five and a rick james "gold" collections (and i'd really love to get the RJ one)...

i heard some really good things about the velvet underground "gold" collection, so when i found it used at the wrecka stow last weekend, i picked it up and gave it a chance.

i'm loving it! it has almost all of the "velvet underground and nico" album on it...i think it's missing like one or two songs from that album - and there are a few live tracks, but not too many, and there are even a couple of solo nico tracks on the collection.

as someone who's not a HUGE lou reed/velvet underground fan but who likes them well enough all the same, this collection really hits the spot. all i had beforehand was a kind of anemic 10-song greatest hits thingie that i found for super duper cheep a long time ago. i can throw that out now.

anyone else have this? if not, and you're curious about VU, i highly recommend it.

How many discs/tracks?

GangstaFam said:

2 discs, 30 tracks:

Disc: 1

1. I'm Waiting for the Man
2. Femme Fatale
3. Venus in Furs
4. Run Run Run
5. All Tomorrow's Parties
6. Heroin
7. There She Goes Again
8. I'll Be Your Mirror
9. Sunday Morning
10. Chelsea Girls -
11. It Was a Pleasure Then -
12. White Light/White Heat
13. I Heard Her Call My Name
14. Sister Ray

Disc: 2

1. Temptation Inside Your Heart
2. Stephanie Says
3. Hey Mr. Rain [Version One]
4. Candy Says
5. What Goes On
6. Some Kinda Love
7. Pale Blue Eyes
8. Beginning to See the Light
9. Foggy Notion
10. I Can't Stand It
11. One of These Days
12. Lisa Says
13. New Age [Live]
14. Rock and Roll [Live]
15. Ocean [Live]
16. Sweet Jane [Live]

I'd heard there are no "loaded" tracks here - licensing issues, I'd imagine.

I ought to pick this up - I still don't have any of the VU albums on cd, so this would solve most of that problem in one swoop.

damosuzuki said:

it hits the spot for me - it covers all the obligatory territory and it gives just a little bit of other stuff for me to explore, should i be so inclined someday.

i have each and every velvet underground song that's available at least 5 times over so i doubt i'd have much use for this compilation.

but if u like any of their stuff then you simply have to get hold of their 4 studio albums, The Velvet Underground & Nico, White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground, and Loaded.

All 4 are absolutely essential, although the 3rd album in the list is the lesser of the 4 imo.

If u get Loaded then be sure to get the Fully Loaded Edition. Beautiful packaging and some interesting extras. If u like Sweet Jane then you'll love this album (my only objection being the horribly annoying Lonesome Cowboy Bill song)

Also, VU is a great album. I can't remember if it was recoreded before or after Loaded but it's not far off their other 4 official releases, in fact it's probably slightly better than The Velvet Underground,
[Edited 6/27/05 19:25pm]

i think i would be interested in getting more nico stuff, but i don't know if i'm too hip on getting more VU stuff...i have a really low tolerance for lou reed - i respect him a lot as a songwriter and i really enjoy him as a personality, but i can only listen to him for so long before i feel like my brains are starting to leak out of my ears.

i think i'm starting to really get into nico's voice, though. i saw the documentary about her a few years back - she was a fascinating woman.

Anxiety said:

lilgish said:

I guess I've got to be a crank again: I think nico pretty much ruins femme fatale and i'll be your mirror, though her vocals work well with all tomorrow's parties for me.

I also think she managed to ruin a couple of good solo albums. Take her version of these days for example. The music and arrangement are beautiful (much better than Jackson Browne's own version of the song), and it would have been brilliant with a real singer, but instead all that potential is thrown away because of her teutonic, tuneless warbling.

Same goes for the marble index - that album has some of the most adventurous, out-there music ever to be marketed to popular audiences, but there's that voice, that horrible voice intruding on everything.

Sorry for going on like that. I know there are people here who love her (no offense intended, lilgish and gangstafam), but I have no tolerance levels when it comes to that woman.

damosuzuki said:

sounds like she is to you as morrissey is to me.

damosuzuki said:

Oh, no worries. I'm not a big fan. I don't even have any of her albums. I've only heard the VU album and Chelsea Girls. I just think she's an amazing character and she's completely endearing to me. Plus, I love her quotes obviously.

damosuzuki said:

Anxiety

Heresy

lilgish said:

Sounds an awful lot like Morrissey.

hmm.Why did they include Chelsea Girls & It Was a Pleasure than from Nico's solo album?yes 3/4ths of The velvets were involved but when I hear those songs I don't associate them with the Velvet Underground.They could have added some outtakes like She's My best friend or Ride into the Sun.

GangstaFam said:

OK, but I've got to ask: did you see that movie (nico icon), and if so, didn't you find her to be a slightly horrible person? I watched it, and I walked away with a pretty sour taste in my mouth. I'm going to quote from Roger Ebert's review here, because he says it much more effectively than I could:

Nico was not, to put it mildly, an ideal mother.

She fed the infant on potato chips, and Ari eventually was rescued by Delon's mother, the only heroine in this film....

...Nico reappeared in her son's life years later, hooked him on heroin and, when he was in a coma in the hospital, tape recorded the sound of his life-support system and used it on her next album. Ari says his mother was a free spirit, a "gypsy." I say, if he ever kills anybody he's got a better defense than the Menendez boys.
[Edited 6/27/05 19:58pm]

PhilG said:

i haven't seen a lot of these comps deal with rarities, though it looks like there's some juicy stuff on the 'rick james: gold' set, and a few years back the "essential terence trent d'arby" was a virtual goldmine of cool stuff*...

...go figure about the nico stuff, though. i didn't get it either, but i'm not complaining. i like the songs.

















*thanks again to rio for finding me the two-disc set, wherever you are

damosuzuki said:

she wasn't an ideal mother, no. but she should not have been a mother to begin with. i think she loved her son as best she knew how, but i also think nico was not a soul who was capable of nurturing herself, let alone anyone else. she was fabulous and tragic and pathetic and sad. she was a perfect warhol factory personality. she was a perfect chanteuse figure. i can't really judge her morally, because it kinda seems beside the point where she's concerned.

PhilG said:

Yea they shoula put some Max's Kansas City Live on there. Listen, Nico has fringe appeal, that's why she's on there, but I question that move. If you like VU then there's a chance you will want to hear Lou, John and Nico solo stuff.

Anxiety said:

Well, that's fair enough - and I can certainly understand the obsession with her personna. She was a beautiful person who went out to destroy her looks, a person who seemed to have everything who apparently got no joy out of life, so yeah, she is definitely a tragic figure. point taken.