The Velvet Forum

This is just a geeky thing I did for myself, but I'm posting it here in case anyone else is interested.

I was delighted by some aspects of the '1969 Sessions' disc on the 3rd album deluxe set - (nearly) all of the original 1969 mixes of those tracks at long last, and hugely more sympathetic mixes of stuff like I Can't Stand It and Lisa Says to wipe out the memory of the anachronistic '80s mixes on VU and Another View.

What I didn't much like was the attempt to sequence the whole thing into a 'proper' album. For me, that's an attempt to make them into something they're not. This is a collection of stuff, recorded in stops and starts over many months, ranging from proper songs to tossed-off studio jams, some of it finished, some of it not, some of it amongst their best stuff, some of it very much not. For me, it's an archive collection that can stand on its own merits, but shouldn't be made into some mythical lost record that stands shoulder to shoulder with 3rd and Loaded.

So IMO the better way to approach it is as a chronological series of sessions. There were two blocks of recording, boiling down to two Spotify playlists:

Record Plant, May-June 1969
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0sXa1 ... 0_A9dvScNA
Foggy Notion
Coney Island Steeplechase
Andy's Chest
I'm Sticking with You
She's My Best Friend
I Can't Stand It
Ocean
Ferryboat Bill
Rock and Roll

MGM Studios, September-October 1969
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2TPly ... kFdjhAIZuw
Ride into the Sun
One of These Days
Move Right In
We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together
Lisa Says

Ideally I'd add the late 1969 acetate, but with those versions of Ride and Reall Good Time Together unreleased, we're left with:

unknown studio, October or November 1969
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6H0rL ... 8Vsh_P2z_Q
Countess from Hong Kong
I Found a Reason

All thoughts welcome...

what's the late 1969 acetate

I love this. This is such a logical and, I agree, more enjoyable way to think about this material. Thanks for making the playlists. I’m following.

Those 2014 remixes are really a beautiful thing. Who knew that a version of “I Can’t Stand It” COULD exist without that crazy 80s snare sound! And you didn’t even mention how they completely resurrected the vocals on Coney Island steeplechase.

cubguy23 wrote: ↑10 Apr 2020 02:20 what's the late 1969 acetate

4 songs - Countess from Hong Kong, I Found a Reason, Ride into the Sun, Real Good Time Together. They're on various bootlegs, including The First Night.

No concrete info on where and when they were recorded, but I reckon it's after they left MGM (as they'd probably have made it onto Another View/VU otherwise) and before the version of Ride Into The Sun on the Quine Tapes (as that has the bridge section that's on all subsequent versions of the song). Hence Oct/Nov 1969.

fletchercjohnson wrote: ↑10 Apr 2020 02:52 I love this. This is such a logical and, I agree, more enjoyable way to think about this material. Thanks for making the playlists. I’m following.

Those 2014 remixes are really a beautiful thing. Who knew that a version of “I Can’t Stand It” COULD exist without that crazy 80s snare sound! And you didn’t even mention how they completely resurrected the vocals on Coney Island steeplechase.

Cool, thanks!

Agree that they did amazing things with the 2014 remixes. Nitpicking now, but for me, there are still bits that could've been even better - I Can't Stand It doesn't quite lean in on the chorus like the live versions do, and Coney Island could bring out the interplay between the guitars a bit more. Maybe I'll have a play around with the stereo channels someday.