Album Of The Week (4/9/24) - The Velvet Underground : The Complete Matrix Tapes
Album of the week! The Velvet Underground- Complete Matrix Tapes.
The Velvets are one of the few bands who left behind a flawless legacy; every note they recorded is vital and worthwhile. Each of their 4 albums (and the two LPs worth of outtakes, yes I’m ignoring the VU in name only ‘Squeeze’) all have their own personality and strengths. There’s been a whole lot of times that I’ve proclaimed them as my favorite band of them all, but get jarred into reality quickly when I remember that there is no best/ favorite/ whatever in art. Let’s just say the VU resides at the top echelon.
As great as their studio albums are, the Velvets were also an outstanding live band. Of course there’s a whole other dynamic at play here- the firing of undisputed genius John Cale after the release of their 2nd LP. These live recordings from the autumn of ‘69 show why it may have been necessary for his firing in order for Lou Reed to truly become LOU REED.
While the first album shows Lou’s absolute one of a kind lyrical brilliance, the focus also shone brightly on several other elements of the band; namely John Cale’s musical dominance, the downright surreal presence of Nico, and the looming presence of Andy Warhol. White Light/ White Heat saw Cale dominating again, pushing the limits of rock n roll to a point that was so beautifully extreme that there was really nowhere else to go with volume and chaos. The great sounding recording with Cale from the Gymnasium, 1967, shows a band that had the power to completely blow the roof off. There really wasn’t anyone else operating at such an extreme.
With the direction Lou’s songwriting took in the period just past White Light, his lyrics began taking on a softer, introspective sort of brilliance. While we have evidence that John Cale could easily work in that mode (the absolute genius beauty of ‘Stephanie Days’), it’s clear that Lou needed a different approach, especially when it came to live performances. Post-Cale, the band hit the road hard with his replacement, Doug Yule. As we hear on the Matrix recordings, this is a band that could still blow the roof off, but also bring it down to a whisper for Lou to deliver his lyrics effectively.
How about those lyrics here? One of the most miraculous things I’ve ever heard is how- in the two different versions of ‘Sweet Jane’ here- Lou offers up two different sets of lyrics, recorded just a few nights apart. Both are different than what ended up on Loaded, and every version has the kinda words that any songwriter would see as a career highlight.
The Matrix was a small club in San Francisco, and judging by the applause, not many people were in attendance. This didn’t stop the band from delivering other worldly performances, nor did it stop the visionary Peter Abrams from recording their sets in stunning sound quality. The sound is so glorious, it feels like being in the room. Several of these recordings were released as Live 1969 back in 1974, but that record was made from pretty lo-fi reference acetates. It didn’t stop us fanatics from being blown away by what we heard though- especially the unreal ‘What Goes On’ and ‘Ocean’. Here, we get ANOTHER supersonic version of ‘What Goes On’ and so much more.
Lou’s banter throughout is friendly and funny (“we’re your local Velvet Underground’), and every moment here is a gift. Absolutely seminal, and I’ve listened to this more in the last decade than just about anything else.
This release quietly snuck out nearly ten years ago, and went out of print pretty quickly (thankfully, it’s available for all on streaming).