The Velvet Forum

I recently took a second trip to the NYPL to photograph documents and listen to audio. Both visits I was mainly interested in completely unreleased songs and excluding any live performances, I heard all of them. Though they list many tapes, there is a smaller selection that is actually available to listen. Roughly 500. The conclusion I formed is that Lou never gave up on a good idea since most of the unknown titles are different/early versions of released material. Here’s a few observations-

LOU REED AND JOHN CALE (DEMO) 1965
3. Put Your Money Down-
(Ok, not super important)

WORK ON A NEW SONG ONDINE
1. Piano Ballad
2. Delay effect with sounds and piano
3. piano ballad
4. piano ballad
(the banter was interesting, the music was interesting, but not important)

3rd ALBUM ALTERNATE VERSIONS
(Sounds the same to me. Some Kinda Love is closet take)

EVERYBODY KNOWS/SESNICK
1. Cale And Reed fixing piano
2. Everybody Knows
3. Ride Sally Ride
4. Piano Idea
5. Piano Idea
(banter was interesting. RSR was different except chorus)

LOU REED UNRELEASED AND STUFF
1. You Better Set Off That Dance (1977)
2. Such A Pretty Face (1977) (Wait Early Version)
3. You Keep Me Hanging On (1978)
4. Suffering Needlessly (Complete The Story Now) (1975)
5. You Can Dance (1975)
6. Street Hassle (Different Lyrics) (1977)
7. Satellite Of Love (Short Version)
8. Charley’s Girl (single Version)
9. Wild Child (Original Studio Mix For UK 45)
10.Walk And Talk It (Original Studio Mix for UK 45)
(All taken from bootlegs, especially Banging On My Drums)

LOU REED OUTS
3. Tell It To Your Heart
4. Oh How She Lay
(These were good. Tell It To Your Heart all different lyrics except chorus. They should release these)

SALLY CAN’T DANCE
1. Ride Sally Ride
2. LA Bars
3. Good Taste
4. Sally Can’t Dance
5. Kill Your Sons
6. Ennui
7. Animal Language
8. Baby Face
(All very similar to released version. NY Stars is much better than LA Bars. The lyrics in LA Bars do not fit and feels like it was written later, though it was first (?). Ride Sally Ride isn’t sung by Lou. It has a guide vocal.)

1. Sally Can’t Dance
2. Ride Sally Ride
3. Ride Sally Ride
4. Snakes
(Snakes is Animal Language)

LETTERS TO THE VATICAN
(Lou vocals)

Songs [Home Recordings with Bettye Kronstad]
Unreleased Song 1, Take 1
Unreleased Song 1, Take 2
Unreleased Song 2, Take 1
Unreleased Song 2, Take 2
Interesting songs, good quality. Would be a fun release.

LOU REED [ACOUSTIC DEMO] SEPTEMBER 8th 1974
1. Some Kinda Love
2. Candy Says
3. Pale Blue Eyes
4. I Love You
6. Downtown Dirt
These were great! An absolute listen if you visit. Though acoustic, there is double tracked vocals on SKL. Perfect quality. Please release these!

LOU REED-NEW SONGS [ACOUSTIC DEMO] SEPTEMBER 10th 1974
I’m Sticking With You
I Couldn’t Resist It
Nowhere At All
I Couldn’t Resist It is brand new. Interesting, but not mandatory.

S. HAP w/ MIKE RATHKE [4 TRACK DEMO] December 4th 1987
20. Out Of Control
Mostly instrumental with Lou repeating “Out Of Control”

REED/CALE ORIGINAL [SONGS FOR DRELLA REHEARSAL TAPE] 1988
1.Society’s Boy
4. Isn’t It Boring
SB is a re-use Drella song. Sorry, I can’t remember which. Isn’t it Boring is unreleased with two versions with Cale providing piano on one and viola on the second.

NEW SONGS 1998
6. Lookout Mountain
7. Hey Henry
8. Only One Left Standing
9. Ms Teflon

NEW SONGS TAPE II
Lookout Mountain
Miss Teflon

NEW SONGS TAPE II
3. Cuba
4. Lookout Mountain
These are pre-Ecstasy. Most of them are early versions of songs that were released. Lookout Mountain is similar in chorus to Modern Dance, but different enough to be an original.

LOU REED- ROUGH MIXES
2. Christmas Song
3. I’ll Stand Up For You
Christmas Song is an alternate version of Xmas In February. I’ll Stand Up For You is brand new.
I may have gotten some of this wrong, so please message me with updates. Thanks!

Thanks for this.

I've been to the library a number of times and have listened to a lot of (but not all of) what you've listened too.

3rd ALBUM ALTERNATE VERSIONS
(Sounds the same to me. Some Kinda Love is closet take)

Which tape was this? I've never seen 3rd Album Alt Takes available for listening. (Though some were there during the Lou exhibition that closed recently)

LOU REED [ACOUSTIC DEMO] SEPTEMBER 8th 1974
1. Some Kinda Love
2. Candy Says
3. Pale Blue Eyes
4. I Love You
6. Downtown Dirt
These were great! An absolute listen if you visit. Though acoustic, there is double tracked vocals on SKL. Perfect quality. Please release these!

I agree!

LOU REED-NEW SONGS [ACOUSTIC DEMO] SEPTEMBER 10th 1974
I’m Sticking With You
I Couldn’t Resist It
Nowhere At All
I Couldn’t Resist It is brand new. Interesting, but not mandatory.

I really, really liked I Couldn't Resist It.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the version of I Wanna Be Black on this tape. The lyrics were significantly harsher than the released version, as I recall.

LETTERS TO THE VATICAN
(Lou vocals)

You probably know this, but Ruben Blades released this song on his album Nothing But The Truth.

Hi hkmartin!

We should compare notes.

Regarding the 3rd album mixes, it was played in the special Listening area they had for a while on the basement floor. I'd post a picture of the list of music they had if I knew how to post a picture.

I thought more about I Couldn't Resist It after I wrote that and I started to like it more. Being about 'first experiences' at that point in Lou's life was a compelling narrative. I did also hear IWBB, but it I chose not to comment on it. They should never release it.

I was aware of Vatican being on Ruben Blades album and I was always interested to hear Lou's version. It was fast!

There was still a lot of audio missing, including stuff they used within the exhibit. In any case, absolutely fantastic. Did you look at any of the files?

Thanks!!

lupinspike wrote: ↑06 Jun 2023 08:22

Regarding the 3rd album mixes, it was played in the special Listening area they had for a while on the basement floor.

Yeah, when I was there they were playing Electric Rock Symphony in the listening room. I did get to hear some of the 3rd album remixes in the exhibit itself. The mixes I heard were clearly different from the released versions (both Closet and Valentin mixes), but they were the same takes.

I did also hear IWBB, but it I chose not to comment on it. They should never release it.

Agree. This is one they should leave locked in the vaults. Shame because, as I recall, the rest of tape is quite good and good sound quality.

There was still a lot of audio missing, including stuff they used within the exhibit. In any case, absolutely fantastic. Did you look at any of the files?

No, I've been to the library a few times, but I've only ever listened to the audio. I've heard the archivists say, several times, that all the audio in the archives is available to the public at the library, but it's just not the case, and I'm not sure why. What's available is great, but I wish everything was available.

We should compare notes.

I've been to the library a few times. The most detailed notes I have were from my first visit back in 2019, but I focused a bit on the "copyright tape," which, as we all know, has since been released. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=145696&hilit=a+day+of+listening