The Velvet Forum

I remember Bill Levenson saying something like the bonus material on the (apparently canceled or postponed) 3rd album Deluxe Edition was "meatier" than the stuff on the Banana DE. Anyone have any idea what the bonus material would have been? I'm assuming the live stuff would be used for the scrapped official Bootleg Series and it would of been demo/outtake material. Anyone want to speculate on what other material might have been recorded during the sessions for the 3rd LP?

Chris M wrote:Anyone want to speculate on what other material might have been recorded during the sessions for the 3rd LP?

Well, the stuff that always crops up are the mono single versions for "What Goes On" (edited) and its B-side "Jesus", and the alternate take of "Beginning to See the Light" which Sterling mentioned in an interview somewhere. Other than that, I wouldn't know (yeah, the two takes of "Some Kinda Love"). I just keep hoping there's some really unreleased material: outtakes, songs we never heard about before etc.

It would be a real shame if all they managed was the abovementioned and the two mixes of the album (Valentin and Reed), or, worse, including "VU"/"Another View" material.

Speaking of 'Bootleg Series Vol. 2', here's my friend's interpretation:

"They're not gonna do another bootleg series for The Velvets because only a few copies were purchased and then all the fans just burned each other copies from there. Dylan, on the other hand..."

So basically he's saying it's because it didn't sell well...

I remember Bill Levenson saying something like the bonus material on the (apparently canceled or postponed) 3rd album Deluxe Edition was "meatier" than the stuff on the Banana DE.

A couple of years before that story came out, Levenson told me (via email) that they'd thoroughly searched the archives for previously unreleased material, but had turned up nothing at all. Not even stuff that was believed to have been recorded - such as the first (pre-Atlantic) version of Sad Song. Maybe the situation has changed since then, but I can't help thinking that we'd have heard about it by now if anything new had surfaced...

Candy Velvet wrote:...So basically he's saying it's because it didn't sell well...

He's wrong. Somebody 'in the know' (was it Sal?) confirmed some time ago that sales were good enough to warrant further releases. The problem is purely some kind of legal matter. It'll probably eventually come to light that it's to do with publishing and/or song writing credits.

I heard that Jimmy Page's car got broken into and somebody stole a whole bunch of amazing soundboard Led Zeppelin recordings once...I wish a similar thing would happen with The VU

Does anyone have Levenson's email address? If so let's ask him if the 3rd LP outtakes/multitracks still exist.

I wonder if "Sweet Bonnie Brown" and "Over You" are from the third album period, and if there are studio recordings. I guess if they were strapped for material they could also go with the alternate mixes on Ultimate Mono And Acetates ("found in Sterling's closet after his death") Some of those were quite nice, though hardly as exciting as a new song or two.

arjan wrote:or, worse, including "VU"/"Another View" material.

I don't know, hopefully not. I remember around the time the story of a deluxe 3rd album starting gathering steam, there was also talk of preparations being made for a deluxe "lost album" package as well. I remember being excited by both prospects.

Candy Velvet wrote:I heard that Jimmy Page's car got broken into and somebody stole a whole bunch of amazing soundboard Led Zeppelin recordings once...

They say the source of some Springsteen River outtakes and rough mixes was a break in of his car while it was in the shop being repaired. (Cassette dubs, not studio reels.)

PhantomRaspberryBlower wrote:

I remember Bill Levenson saying something like the bonus material on the (apparently canceled or postponed) 3rd album Deluxe Edition was "meatier" than the stuff on the Banana DE.

A couple of years before that story came out, Levenson told me (via email) that they'd thoroughly searched the archives for previously unreleased material, but had turned up nothing at all. Not even stuff that was believed to have been recorded - such as the first (pre-Atlantic) version of Sad Song. Maybe the situation has changed since then, but I can't help thinking that we'd have heard about it by now if anything new had surfaced...

Candy Velvet wrote:...So basically he's saying it's because it didn't sell well...

He's wrong. Somebody 'in the know' (was it Sal?) confirmed some time ago that sales were good enough to warrant further releases. The problem is purely some kind of legal matter. It'll probably eventually come to light that it's to do with publishing and/or song writing credits.

The Quine Tapes sold very well. In fact, they charted on SoundScan for advance orders and stayed there for a respectable while. The issue is as boring as ever - legal hassles between the band's reps and Universal. The hold up has nothing to do with individual band members.

As far as Deluxe 3rd album goes, multi-tracks exist, there are no unknown songs, but there is a version of "Beginning to See the Light" recorded in May 1968 which includes John Cale. ( I recently looked at the proposed track list and it would be pretty nice). Alas.

Sal

sal mercuri wrote:a version of "Beginning to See the Light" recorded in May 1968 which includes John Cale.

*dies*

So... does the existence of the multitrack takes imply that there are alternate takes of the songs, and the potential for alternate mixes? Woah.

sal mercuri wrote:

PhantomRaspberryBlower wrote: A couple of years before that story came out, Levenson told me (via email) that they'd thoroughly searched the archives for previously unreleased material, but had turned up nothing at all. Not even stuff that was believed to have been recorded - such as the first (pre-Atlantic) version of Sad Song. Maybe the situation has changed since then, but I can't help thinking that we'd have heard about it by now if anything new had surfaced...
He's wrong. Somebody 'in the know' (was it Sal?) confirmed some time ago that sales were good enough to warrant further releases. The problem is purely some kind of legal matter. It'll probably eventually come to light that it's to do with publishing and/or song writing credits.

The Quine Tapes sold very well. In fact, they charted on SoundScan for advance orders and stayed there for a respectable while. The issue is as boring as ever - legal hassles between the band's reps and Universal. The hold up has nothing to do with individual band members.

As far as Deluxe 3rd album goes, multi-tracks exist, there are no unknown songs, but there is a version of "Beginning to See the Light" recorded in May 1968 which includes John Cale. ( I recently looked at the proposed track list and it would be pretty nice). Alas.

Sal

Wow. Just wow. Is there anything else about the tracklist you can reveal? Any crumbs you can throw us would be greatly appreciated