VU at the Matrix: pre-Loaded...

With everything still closed, this week we take in the Velvet Undergound from San Fransisco's storied Matrix club, recorded on the venue's in-house 4-track machine in late November, 1969.

I had thought to run one of these shows earlier, but which one? The band had been touring its third, eponymous, album and was in the midst of a residency at the club. They were playing two sets a night, and The Complete Matrix Tapes captures their shows from November 26th and 27th.

The question is, which set?

I sat down with the four of them on a long, cross-country drive this week and, honestly, you can't go wrong. We have four versions each of "Heroin", "Some Kinda Love" and "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together"; three apiece of "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "There She Goes Again"; and doubles of several others. Which is the best copy of each? With "Heroin", it's hard to tell...maybe the shortest one? Overall the quality is consistent, but tempos, duration and dynamics vary. There are a couple of clunkers, but not together on any one set.

Thirteen of the songs were released on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live, first issued as a double album and later as two separate CDs. Six of the tracks on 1969 come from the fourth set, so let's not use that one....though the remixes on the Matrix Tapes are worth a listen.

The third set rocks the most from the start and contains a 37:00 version of "Sister Ray". Yup, right at the end of side 3, right where the drum solo would be on a double live album. That's more than twice as long as the original. At the local Record Riot, circa 1982, I bought White Light/White Heat on 8-track tape, for $0.99. "Sister Ray" was spread over tracks 3 and 4:...rumble rumble...fade out...click...fade in...rumble rumble. My mom threw it away after I moved out.

Sorry, I know the song spawned "Roadrunner", but that just sounds like 37 minutes of "Honey, what are we listening to?" Let's save that set for another time as well.

That leaves us with set one or set two. Set one has a couple of fun song intros from Lou. He's funny. He doesn't sound bitter. That is probably because Loaded hasn't been released yet to unanimous disinterest. Set one has "Sweet Jane", usually a good thing. "I'm Waiting for the Man" is a slinky, stonesy tune, without the junkie twitch of the original and "There She Goes Again" rips.

Set two doesn't have the humor, but it has a roaring version of "White Light/White Heat" that is not only better than the original version, but is better than the version from set four, which was 1) used on 1969 and 2) was also better than the original.

Hell, I can't decide. I'll leave it up to you. Given the subject matter or some of the Velvets' material, it's probably better that way.

Set one features the heaviest doses of material from their first and third albums. The version of "Over You" is livelier than the one from the evening's later set.
The night's second set features the as-yet-unreleased "I Can't Stand It" and "Sweet Bonnie Brown".
The first set from November 27 starts with "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together", foreshadowing Exile on Main Street's "Rocks Off". It also contains "Ocean" which wouldn't be released until Lou's first solo album.
Lastly, set two of night two features the heaviest dose from Loaded, with 3 songs.
So, enjoy....and check out 1969:The Velvet Underground Live....but watch out for that "jelly on your shoulder."

Concluding Postscript: Setlist.fm gives a running order for one of these shows (the early one? the late one? - it's unclear) which seems to indicate the Matrix Tapes are an incomplete representation of the shows. It has many of the same songs listed, but in varying orders. A close look shows that the contributor used one of the bonus discs from a reissue of the third album. The list for the 27th is incomplete and includes a track recorded by Robert Quine indicating that the tapes may not have captured everything. Maybe the liner notes clarify the matter. Maybe one of you can. Being a Velvets fan, and not a fanatic, I've not laid out the green for the actual boxed set....but perhaps at some future Record Riot, I will.

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