The Velvet Forum

In another threat on this site, I confirmed that the only surviving copy of the Velvets’ legendary “Upbeat” appearances is an off-the-air tape of their Spring, 1968 show courtesy of Tony Conrad. I have absolutely no idea what happened to Conrad’s VU stuff after he died, although I heard a rumor that it was all given to Cale. Any help with this?

Are you sure that recording wasn't audio-only?

I'm sure that I read an interview with Conrad where he stated he had given the tape to Cale. There is also this first hand account. [url]viewtopic.php?t=33/url]

I also remember reading that Cale had handed all his VU tapes to the record company.

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 03:52 Are you sure that recording wasn't audio-only?

I think this is likely to be audio only. Never read any mention of Conrad owning or using video in those days and video portapacks must have quite rare and expensive from what I understand.

Elvis Plebsley wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 10:08 I also remember reading that Cale had handed all his VU tapes to the record company.

Was this before the fire....??

MrStephen wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 11:09

Elvis Plebsley wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 10:08 I also remember reading that Cale had handed all his VU tapes to the record company.

Was this before the fire....??

VU seems to have survived the fire, since the NYT didn’t mention it among the losses. There are (for those who are interested) crap digital transfers of a lot of what was lost. Not ideal but better than nothing.

P.S. Wasn’t it Lou who gave his tapes to UMG? His archive seems to be split up between there and the NYPL.

iaredatsun wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 10:27

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 03:52 Are you sure that recording wasn't audio-only?

I think this is likely to be audio only. Never read any mention of Conrad owning or using video in those days and video portapacks must have quite rare and expensive from what I understand.

I don’t know. Conrad didn’t do any video per se until the seventies, but that doesn’t discount him from using one of those primitive proto-VCRs to record things off of his TV. If he did, then it probably wasn’t documented since it wasn’t really a part of his art. It was just something that he did for his spare time. Yeah, his tape is most likely audio-only, but we have no way of knowing for sure. Either way, it’s the only copy we have left, so it better be good...

Sheila Klein wrote: ↑27 Jun 2019 03:52 Are you sure that recording wasn't audio-only?

No. Nobody is.

We’re gonna need a source to confirm these claims if we want to get somewhere with this tape. We’re can’t just work on memories or assumptions. I’m sure we’ll find something.