The Velvet Forum

Months ago we all heard about Norton Records releasing the "Professor Tapes" of Boston VU concerts. Then we heard that a reel was discovered in the Warhol collection. Any news about these being released to the public?

If there’s anything worth hearing on Warhol’s master tape, I predict a five year wait.

urchinn wrote: ↑30 Apr 2023 17:01 Months ago we all heard about Norton Records releasing the "Professor Tapes" of Boston VU concerts. Then we heard that a reel was discovered in the Warhol collection. Any news about these being released to the public?

I recently contacted Norton regarding this matter, but no answer yet.

A little more on the Warhol Museum's Scepter Studio Sessions exhibition:

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/arts-enter ... e-23822360

most of the same blurb is also on the Warhol museum website:
https://www.warhol.org/exhibition/the-v ... -sessions/
will the tape ever be released, I wonder? maybe it will be leaked and bootlegged. I'm not sure I would buy it again...

This may be considered a ridiculous comment by audiophiles but I actually like how the tracks sound on say the 'Unripened' CD. The crackles and little jumps from the acetate transfer give it a feeling of real authenticity that don't I think a pristine version would. For example I prefer listening to Unripened than the 2012 mixes on the Super Deluxe Edition.

Kill Mick wrote: ↑10 May 2023 08:13 This may be considered a ridiculous comment by audiophiles but I actually like how the tracks sound on say the 'Unripened' CD. The crackles and little jumps from the acetate transfer give it a feeling of real authenticity that don't I think a pristine version would. For example I prefer listening to Unripened than the 2012 mixes on the Super Deluxe Edition.

I don't have the 'Unripened' album (in any of its variations), but I have a CD-R from the same source, and it's still my favourite version of the acetate, except for (I think) a couple of skips.

I am interested in the potential Boston tapes release, even if only to get the suggested contextual information about their recording. I doubt that there will be any new music on them and quality is unlikely to be significantly better than what we already have.

I'm much less interested in the Dolph acetate tapes - I have various versions of them on CD and vinyl and rarely play them. IMHO the "released" versions of Heroin, WFTM etc are far superior.

I agree. I think the finished album (VU & Nico) is superior in every way to the acetate, with the latter being more interesting as a historical document than a record. One way of looking at it is that the acetate is the debut album before Tom Wilson got involved, and IMO he deserves a huge credit for his contributions. I think he got it right in every way (except thinking that Nico should sing Sunday Morning). It's a shame we never got to hear his perspective on recording the VU. I know the band complained about him being more focused on his knob than turning the studio knobs when recording the second album, but still, he allowed it to happen, and I don't think many other well-known producers would (even today). I'm still interested to hear the acetate in better quality though (I have the Unpeeled LP for what it's worth), as I do have problems with the fidelity so maybe I would enjoy a better quality version more.

As for the Boston tapes Norton did actually say that they had some unreleased stuff but I'll believe when I see it. If they suceed I'm hoping their example will be they way forward, ie smaller labels negotiating with Universal (and tape owners?) to release the rest of the scrapped Bootleg series and other rarities. I think they will be more inclined to release stuff that only appeals to a small group of fanatics and also do a better job (not spreading the unreleased stuff out on super ultra deluxe rip off box-sets on cd only)

MartinVU wrote: ↑15 May 2023 10:31
As for the Boston tapes Norton did actually say that they had some unreleased stuff but I'll believe when I see it. If they suceed I'm hoping their example will be they way forward, ie smaller labels negotiating with Universal (and tape owners?) to release the rest of the scrapped Bootleg series and other rarities. I think they will be more inclined to release stuff that only appeals to a small group of fanatics and also do a better job (not spreading the unreleased stuff out on super ultra deluxe rip off box-sets on cd only)

Absolutely! I would like to see them return to ESP-Disk (which still exists) so that their career can come full circle.