'Velvet Underground 1966' boot CD

[feelingfresh]

I agree with iaredatsun slight surprise that the 1966 LP isn't held in higher esteem. Maybe it had a relatively large run so everyone who wanted one was able to buy? In my mind its one of the best VU boot LPs ever produced - well ahead of its time, great music, thick cardboard sleeve and beautiful under stated design - tracking prices over the last 20 years I have noticed this LP having quite a range of prices (and that's nothing to do with condition) i've seen some sell very cheap and at the high end above $100. I would say an average of around ?40/$65 was my guess, maybe that's a little low though?? Maybe the prices are cheaper in the US than UK/Europe, although more difficult to say in these global Ebay days..

But the songs are cut off...

[lurid]

I'm not sure that the "value" of these old vinyl artefacts has very much to do with their content. I paid ?30 for my "mint in shrink" copy about 10 years ago but I didn't really buy it to listen to it!

I agree with iaredatsun slight surprise that the 1966 LP isn't held in higher esteem. Maybe it had a relatively large run so everyone who wanted one was able to buy? In my mind its one of the best VU boot LPs ever produced - well ahead of its time, great music, thick cardboard sleeve and beautiful under stated design - tracking prices over the last 20 years I have noticed this LP having quite a range of prices (and that's nothing to do with condition) i've seen some sell very cheap and at the high end above $100. I would say an average of around ?40/$65 was my guess, maybe that's a little low though?? Maybe the prices are cheaper in the US than UK/Europe, although more difficult to say in these global Ebay days..

But the songs are cut off...

[iaredatsun]

But the songs are cut off...

It was of no consequence to me. Those fades, those edits still don't matter to me one iota. Along with the later Down For You Is Up LP, '1966' was an enigmatic window into an (at the time) lost era, so why does it need to be complete? It's a beautiful bootleg and one of the best. The other was the thrilling Foggy Notion EP which we played to death and I still own.

Top three.

1966
Foggy Notion
Down For You Is Up

[Mark]

So what did anyone think of the speed corrected 1966?

[Kill Mick]

So what did anyone think of the speed corrected 1966?

Still working my way through it Mark, I'm doing a minute by minute comparison of 'Melody Laughter' to try to come up with a definitive list of the differences between the 2 versions (the lengths would indicate there is more than just the one 15 second cut). I'll let you know what I find, thanks for doing it and posting it, much appreciated.

[iaredatsun]

So what did anyone think of the speed corrected 1966?

I started listening to disk 2 on my hifi. About 9:30 to 10:00 into Nothing Song I started hearing some processing artefacts. I switched to the 45th version for comparison and it sounded fine at that same point. Don't know yet whether the same sounds I was hearing are on the uncorrected version.

[Mark]

Can you describe what the sounds are? I've just listened to that section on the corrected and uncorrected version and all I can make out (admittedly through my crappy laptop speakers) is what sounds like a little tape crumple.

[iaredatsun]

Can you describe what the sounds are? I've just listened to that section on the corrected and uncorrected version and all I can make out (admittedly through my crappy laptop speakers) is what sounds like a little tape crumple.

Mark. I don't know. I don't have the vocabulary to describe it. At 9.30 to 10 something like a pulse emerging where rhythm had been folded back over on itself. Listening again just now I could hear something unnatural in Nico's voice way before that point, too. A kind of amplification of a rhythm inside the voice like a warbling. A bit unpleasant to my ears. Maybe it's something there in the original that has got doubled up digitally. Maybe I'm hallucinating, but sorry - I can't listen to it. Maybe other's experience will be different,

[Kill Mick]

I now estimate that there is about 1 min 30 seconds edited out of the 45th Anniversary version of Melody Laughter compared to the 1966 one. Basically the different lengths - 30:01 (1966) compared to 28:27 (45th) - are definitely due to edits, not speed variance. As well as the 15 seconds or so in the last couple of minutes, as described earlier, there is about another 1 min 15 seconds between the 11:00 and 18:40 mark on 1966 that isn't on 45th, e.g. the same point on 45th is at about 17:25 rather than 18:40. The next 10 mins or so correspond on both versions. Because I'm doing this by ear and there are very few clear reference points between 11:00 and 18:40/17:25 (and frankly listening to it repeatedly is doing my fuckin' head in!) I've not been able to pin down exactly where the edit takes place, or if it's just one edit or more, but it's there.

[Mark]

In other news - I've asked Doug whether he could provide a photo of the tape and whether he'd be amenable to doing a fresh transfer if we all chipped in the $$$. He says he'll get back to me soon...