Chris M wrote:FWIW the Doors worked out a deal with Peter Abrhams (sp?) for the masters of the Doors sets he recorded. Same guy that taped the VU there. Of course, if the situation that put all VU archival releases on hold years ago is still in effect it doesn't matter.
This is what was posted on a forum back in 2002 (by the same guy who negotiated the Doors deal), it seems Peter Abram decided not to proceed. In light of the Doors deal I would hope its a good time for this to be revisited:
Hi
Glad I found this thread. I represent Peter Abram and The Matrix Recording Co. You'll be happy to know that we are currently in negotiation to have Mr. Abram's tapes released in the "Bootleg" series. Mr. Abram recorded, with the band's permission, several hours of the Velvet Underground at the Matrix in 1969 from a board feed onto 15ips 4 track reel to reel. During the taping of these shows, Lou Reed requested copies of some of the tapes. An assistant to Mr. Abram dubbed some of the performances down to a 2 track reel to reel tape, with the agreement that these tapes would not be used for commercial purposes without the involvement of Mr. Abram. The band was currently unsigned, and Mr. Abram used his own equipment and tape to record the band, which was booked for several nights in his club. Some years later, the "Live '69" album appeared on the market. Suspecting the worst, Mr. Abram purchased a copy and found that though the first couple of tracks were from Texas, the remainder of the album was from his Matrix tapes. He took legal action, and settled out of court for a five figure sum. When the "Live '69" album was released on CD, no attempt was made to contact Mr. Abram to obtain the original tapes, or to enquire as to what other material he may have in his possession. For at least two of the tracks on the "Quine" box, while Mr. Quine was recording the band onto a cassette tape using a plastic microphone, Mr. Abram was in a booth behind him recording the show onto 4 track reel to reel.
Sincerely,
James Healey