The Velvet Forum

Cale is on record (as in, in print) as saying something like they still had great songs
Ike Here Come The Waves that they hadnt recorded het when he left. And Sterling said that THE definitive What Goes On was with Cale on organ. They played a lot of third album and VU songs at the La Cave gig just a week after his absence.

Part of why I am so interested in '68 era Cale shows is because both Reed and Morrison were much better guitarists by this point. As much as I love early VU Cale is the pnly one among them whose techncial ability is more than rudimentary, not to say they all werent inventive as hell.

I love Lou's solos on WGO and I Cant Stand It from that Oct '68 La Cave gig. And the April version of Heroin beats the pants off of the studio versions, even though the sound quality is obviously less good. Cales vioa sounds like a jet taking off, and the guitar playing and drumming are IMO better than on the banana album. And Lou begins the song with "I know just..." instead of "I don.t know..."

peppergomez wrote:Cale is on record (as in, in print) as saying something like they still had great songs
Ike Here Come The Waves that they hadnt recorded het when he left. And Sterling said that THE definitive What Goes On was with Cale on organ. They played a lot of third album and VU songs at the La Cave gig just a week after his absence.

Part of why I am so interested in '68 era Cale shows is because both Reed and Morrison were much better guitarists by this point. As much as I love early VU Cale is the pnly one among them whose techncial ability is more than rudimentary, not to say they all werent inventive as hell.

I love Lou's solos on WGO and I Cant Stand It from that Oct '68 La Cave gig. And the April version of Heroin beats the pants off of the studio versions, even though the sound quality is obviously less good. Cales vioa sounds like a jet taking off, and the guitar playing and drumming are IMO better than on the banana album. And Lou begins the song with "I know just..." instead of "I don.t know..."

Well put. And I'd love to hear What Goes On on with Cale.

Has anyone ever investigated the WGO tape entry for the September 27-28, 1968 gig? How did they come list a tape as existing for that gig? Was it misdated or did someone actually have the tape?

Funny i have been thinking recently on new songs the band had from Sept 67 to Sept 68 and I came to this list:

What Goes On, Pale Blue Eyes, Foggy Notion, Jesus, Beginning To See The Light, Move Right In, Mr. Rain, Ride Into The Sun, Ocean, I Can´t Stand It, Stepanie Says, Temptation Inside Your Heart, Story of My Life, Sweet Rock & Roll and Countess From Hong Kong too!

We could include Guess I´m Folling In Love, and we have a terrific 3rd Double Album with Cale on the line-up recorded at TT&G November 1968. Cover with the same Factory coach picture but Cale seated instead of Yule and Sterling smilling & staring at John!

"Beginning To See The Light" as album title and picking #85 Cashbox entry by June 1969 ... a good competitor for Beatles White Album

IMO , Holly grail of Live 1968 recordinmgs is the Soundboard July 5-6, 1968 San Diego Hippodrome ... Ignacio Julia Feed Back book:
Sterling: We also did a four track tape when we played with Quicksilver. We did the show and then went to a party, and Lou and I and John Cipollina were sitting on this couch. I'm sitting there and I heard Quicksilver - that had played first - and it was fabulous. So then I hear us tuning up and I said to Lou: Well I think I'm getting out of here! I didn't want us sounding terrible compared to Quicksilver, and I figured we had to sound terrible compared to them, because I'd just heard how great they had sounded. Cipollina is a real good guitar player. After tuning, we started with "Waiting for the Man" and it didn't sound so bad, so I stuck around. Then came "Sweet Rock and Roll," which was never recorded and never played again. We wanted that tape, it sounded so great, so there was no point in recording it. I think we did it a time or two after that, but it was nothing compared to this first one. I remember the chords and some words: "Sweet rock 'n' roll is good to your soul...". We used that as a preamble to "Sister Ray," it kind of just goes along and then hits the chords, which were very heavy. It was good. It was heavy, serious. Cale played keyboard on "Sweet Rock and Roll," and that was really what carried it. Good keyboards.

We are almost half a century after all those magical events and no tape surfaced.

dial4 wrote:We are almost half a century after all those magical events and no tape surfaced.

True, but up until a few years ago you would have said that about the Gymnasium...

Kill Mick wrote:

dial4 wrote:We are almost half a century after all those magical events and no tape surfaced.

True, but up until a few years ago you would have said that about the Gymnasium...

And wasn't the acetate a bit of a surprise?

Yeah, somewhere out there there just HAVE to ge recordings of VU live in '68 with Cale, other than SSR and Heroin from April. Theyrp were gigging a lot in support of WL/WH, and on both coasts. Heck, WGO lists several tapes of Boston Tea Party shows during that era, including two nights that were Cales last shows.

I just wish they would see the light if day. In my humble opinion VU were the most extraordinary rock band on the planet ar that point, based on their improved playing ability, the fantastic songs Lou was writing, and still retaining Cales avant garde virtuosic input. Can you imagine how fantastic itd be to hear WL/WH or Mr Rain during summer of '68? seems a damn shame that there is no public live evidence from this era. I hope that changes.

The Gymnasium tape is known since the seventies : the true finds are the 1966 acetates + the studio tape, the Warhol museum recordings (not released properly on the banana 6 cd reissue : a real shame) and the WLWH outtake. For the rest, some tapes might exist perhaps in the hands of Cale or some amateur recordings but after all those years...

dial4 wrote:The Gymnasium tape is known since the seventies : the true finds are the 1966 acetates + the studio tape, the Warhol museum recordings (not released properly on the banana 6 cd reissue : a real shame) and the WLWH outtake. For the rest, some tapes might exist perhaps in the hands of Cale or some amateur recordings but after all those years...

My point was the Gym tape was known about but hadn't surfaced - the same could be said for the Hippodrome tape. The Gym tape did eventually surface, we live in hope that the Hippodrome will as well...

And what of the Boston Teah Party Sept '68 tapes that WGO lists? It even lists the sound quality (B) swhidh implies that somebody has heard them.


Havent heard of the Hippodrome tapes....whats the story with them?