The Velvet Forum

The MGM labels. A discography. Volume 2 1961-1982 (First published in USA 1998)
This set is a discographical listing of all recordings made or issued by MGM and its subsidiaries (Cub, Lion, Verve and Metro).
Most of the set is devoted to record sessions listing with available details on personnel and recording dates, as well as master and issue numbers for each track.
This is the information contained in the book about the Velvet Underground recordings:

NYC, June 16, 1966
100667 All Tomorrow´s Parties
100668 I´ll Be Your Mirror

NYC, July 15, 1966
100901 Venus In Furs
100902 Heroin
100903 Femme Fatale
100904 There She Goes Again
100905 Run Run Run
100906 I´m Waiting For the Man
100907 The Black Angel´s Death Song
100908 European Son

NYC, November ?, 1966
101592 Sunday Morning

NYC, September 25, 1967
103536 The Gift
103537 Here She Comes Now
103538
103539 Sister Ray
103540 Lady Godiva´s Operation
103541 White Light, White Heat

No Information: ? (Note from Alfredo: Not necessary VU)
103542
103543
103544

NYC, September 21, 1967
103545 I Heard Her Call My Name
103546 Here She Comes Now


LA, November 5, 1968
L 918 Jesus

LA, November 6, 1968
L 919 I´m Beginning To See The Light

LA, November 7, 1968
L 920 Afterhours (If You Close The Door)

LA, November 12, 1968
L 921 I´m Set Free

LA, November 13, 1968
L 922 That´s The Story Of My Life

LA, November 19, 1968
L 923 The Murder Mystery

LA, November 20, 1968
L 924 Pale Blue Eyes
L 958 Candy Says
L 959 Some Kinda Love

LA, December 20, 1968
L 962 What Goes On
Note: An edited version of this recording is listed on New York master 106163
NYC April 14, 1969 ? Edited Versions of L 962/L918 ? MGM K14057
106163 (L 962) What Goes On
106164 (L 918) Jesus

The Record Plant, NYC, May 12, 1969
106400 Sad Song
106401 Foggy Notion
106402 Stickin´ With You


The Record Plant, NYC, May 13, 1969
106403 Sandy Sex
106404 Can´t Stand It Anymore
106405 Andy´s Chest
The Record Plant, NYC, May 14, 1969
106406 Steve´s Tune
106407 War-ho
106408 Ferryboat Bill
106409 Steeplechase

+++

There are some missing recordings in the book , don?t ask me why (Guess I am Falling In Love, Sthepanie Says and Temptation, Ocean and many more) but give a few interesting things to comment and discuss, don´t you think so?

Wow... fascinating stuff. Can't believe it's all remained uncovered since that book was published in '98!

Dates-wise, I guess some of it relates to when the tapes arrived in the vaults rather than when they were actually recorded - certainly in the case of the first album, and indeed WL/WH which sure wasn't done in a day! The 3rd album dates, on the other hand, do fit with the story that it was done in spurts between tour dates. (And also the mention in Unterberger that the first track attempted was Jesus with Vic Briggs in the producer's chair).

The 1969 sessions, of course, are the most interesting. Some of the unreleased tracks have something in common with the stuff in MGM's vault mentioned here, eg Sandy/Sally Sex. Sad Song being done in the same session as Foggy Notion is a real eye-opener though. Where the hell is that tape?! And what are "Steve's Tune" and "War-Ho"?

Alfredo - is there any explanation in the book of where they got their information from?

Bill L also told me they looked and looked for the 'lost' 4th LP version of Sad Song but it never turned up. They have paperwork that shows it was def recorded but no tape.

Mark wrote:Alfredo - is there any explanation in the book of where they got their information from?

Hi Mark

In the Acknowledgments page, one of the authors (Michel Ruppli) says " I am also greatly indebted to the Polygram people who allowed Ed and me to obtain useful information in the Polygram New Jersey files : Coleman Brice, Pattie hirico, Fernando Dos Santos, Bill Levenson ...."

Alfredo

There is need of some more research in the vaults...

This is very interesting, but there are clearly gaps - eg the other take of Some Kinda Love? Also, are the VU&N recordings the original NYC ones, or incorporating the Hollywood ones?

I found similar material a while back on a jazz-oriented Verve discography put together (I think) by some japanese people.

http://www.jazzdisco.org/verve-records/

Some of the session dates differ slightly between the 2 sources, and the jazzdisco site obviously doesn't cover the MGM sessions in any detail. But interesting to compare them.

ie here's what jazzdisco has to say about the 1st VU 45:

VK 10427 Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow's Parties b/w I'll Be Your Mirror
John Cale (p, el-vla, el-b) Lou Reed (lead g, vo) Sterling Morrison (g, el-b) Maureen Tucker (per) Nico (vo)
NYC, June 16, 1966
100667 All Tomorrow's Parties
100668 I'll Be Your Mirror

and here's the detail on the WL/WH 45:

VK 10560 Velvet Underground - White Light, White Heat b/w Here She Comes Now
John Cale (org, p, vln, b, vo) Maureen Tucker (d, vo) and others
NYC, September 25, 1967
103541 White Light, White Heat
103546 Here She Comes Now

Interesting to see Moe being credited with vocals on WL/WH.....

Mark wrote:Alfredo - is there any explanation in the book of where they got their information from?

I've always wondered what happen to the raw tape used for 'Noise' on the East Village Other album. I was surprised to learn that it was recorded at a proper recording studio, RLA Sound Studios in NYC on August 6, 1966. Same studio Sun Ra recorded in during the era. Maybe they recorded something else in addition to the 'Noise' track?

There seem to be two versions of Here She Comes Now. I presume this isn't simply mix difference as IHHCMN is only listed once. And a tantalising unnamed '103538' in the middle of a run of WLWH tracks.

I noticed that in one of those links vinyl bob says of the archive ? 'They said they were going to move it all to the UK though'. I wonder if that happened?