The Velvet Forum

I am Rosie Lee. You do not know me. This is my final demand and I will disappear for eternity. The technology of sound is my domain. Wang Chung is the object of my disapproval. I do not like prog rock!

Genesis is horrible and Yes is NO! Benny Hill is hero to my nation. He hated prog rock as well. His old companion made me laugh with all his antics.

I love this board and it is fun. Ferges is very good. Many good topics are here. Hooray for Belarus 100m winner! My band, The Fluffernutter Devices will disband. Our second single, Olympic Mettle, did very poorly in Albania. Was fun while it lasted!

It is important to have peace this is why i do not like negative comments in my threads. Stuart Heinrich is greatest peacemaker! I award him Olympic Medal of guitar playing. It is made of tin, but I work hard on its creation.

I have brought many new ideas and concepts to my community near Staines.

Here ends my manifesto and here is final demand. I require 350 responses:

Answer my poll!! Yes, there are many other bands which can be on poll. This has some favourites of mine. I want ZERO NEGATIVE COMMENTS about any group. You may say why a group does not produce sound frequencies which you enjoy but I want no "THAT GROUP SUCKS" comments.

I hold the key to your aural pleasure and will unlock your mind. Taste the whip of Rosie Lee!

do not try to create fake accounts (like last time) to increse the number of voters. each ip is logged!

How 'bout posting some recs for all the artists, for those who are unfamiliar with the nominees?

The Modern Lovers (Jonathan Richman)
There's only one studio Lp for the original line-up, the one where the VU influence really comes through, though there have been numerous reissues (the Rhino CD was pretty definitive, IMO, but I think it's OOP). A classic.

But, I'd also add the "Precision Order" live CD issued by Rounder, supervised by Ernie Brooks himself. The CD mastering needs a bit more bass and the top end toned down a bit, and the source is obviously a bit rough, but it's one of a few live documents we have of the original line-up, and it's probably the best one.

Sonic Youth
"Sister," their last indie-label Lp, and "Daydream Nation"

Jesus and Mary Chain
I only know "Psychocandy." Any other suggestions?

Patti Smith
"Horses," "Easter," the early live shows on such boots as "I Never Talked To Bob Dylan" and "Teenage Perversion" (correct title?)

Television
"Marquee Moon," "Adventure," "Live at the Waldorf"

The Strokes
The first. Jury's still out on the second album, but man, there are at least three or four KILLER singles here, IMO.

The first Modern Lovers album is the high point of post-VU music for me. Of course it's produced by John Cale, but the beauty and noise is from the band, not just the producer. Astounding stuff. They have the closest link with the VU, through Jonathan (their biggest fan?), Cale, the Boston Tea Party scene and the solo Richman gem 'Velvet Underground'! I love Sonic Youth, Television, Patti Smith but the connection is less clear there I think.

I am Rosie Lee and I am angry. I provide tracks for fun and enjoyment. I ask only for some fun trivia and polls and people lie and cheat to get them sooner.

I will talk privately to ferges before I decide if I give final track out. If Ferges tells me there were many mystery accounts and multiple accounts from same IP addresses then I will think very hard if i want to give out final track. The acts of few will punish the whole group.

Am I not kind? Have I not given you wonderful sonic delights?

Ferges my friend, I have never broken a promise to you. Please keep group honest. If the "official" count is incorrect please tell me.

I am Rosie Lee. You do not know me. You cheaters are the buggers in the short sleeves. Right, Ferges?

remember, we are here for fun....

I do not like prog rock!

Genesis is horrible



Umm, excuse me dear....but

'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' is a MASTERPEICE of ROCK!

yes I would agree the sonic/sound quality is close to horrible and the re-issiue CD was no better than my old LP from the 70s but never the less 'Lamb' RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

replacement wrote:How 'bout posting some recs for all the artists, for those who are unfamiliar with the nominees?

The Modern Lovers (Jonathan Richman)

In interviews Richman says he took the "Road Runner" guitar line from "Sister Ray". Cool points for getting Sister Ray on the radio (can't remember if it was the Lovers or a cover version, but "regular" rock radio played "Road Runner" to us in the NYC suburbs).

Modern Lovers albums after the (early 70s) first aren't VU-like. Where Lou kept it behind shades, Jonathan is often ready for guileless child-like emotive bellyflops. Musically Richman (post-"Road Runner") sounds like a comic folksinger with an improbably solid rock undercurrent.

Jonathan's risk-taking career amazes some, irritates others. A friend of mine could not be conviced that the guitarist in Something About Mary (recommended only for Richman's 6 minutes of screen time) (anyway it wasn't my idea to go) was the same human who wrote "Road Runner" -- thought I was confused, or putting her on.

replacement wrote:Sonic Youth
"Sister," their last indie-label Lp, and "Daydream Nation"

I'm not as enthused about those albums as other people are. My favorites are "Evol" and "Murray Street", but they have more experimental albums, especially the non-Geffen side projects. SY's avant-guard connections and continued interest in experimenting while still persuing a career in pop-rock and keeping it going all these years get them my VU legacy vote.

I'd recommend "The Walls Have Ears" (my first SY alb) if it could still be got. Their live performances continue to rock in pleasant, wistful fashion when they perform as "Sonic Youth". Their free/avant guest/side sessions are less congenial.

replacement wrote:Jesus and Mary Chain
I only know "Psychocandy." Any other suggestions?

"Psychocandy" is definitive, and "Barbed Wire Kisses", tho less streamlined, has more of the good stuff. However, they are British. You know what that means -- the undertow of fey Britpop repels them inexorably from the True Void they seek.

replacement wrote:Patti Smith
"Horses," "Easter," the early live shows on such boots as "I Never Talked To Bob Dylan" and "Teenage Perversion" (correct title?)

Patti's first four are fun to compare to VU's first four:

• "Horses" (amateur band with meta-apocalyptic lyrics, but I'm stretching it somewhat; also similar cos Cale was in the room fighting with the lead singer)
• "Radio Ethiopia" (noise, chaos, caterwaul)
• "Easter" (turning extroverted, when VU turned introverted)
• "Wave" (artist's sentimental side expressed in radio-friendly form)

Patti has always irritated as many as she has entranced. Her post-70s albums are more personal and appeal to a narrower interest. They are not too Velvets-like. Really only her first album "Horses" sounds noticably like the Velvets.

Her most famous live bootleg is called "Teenage Perversity & Ships In The Night", and was reissued as "Canine Teardrops". The cover of "Pale Blue Eyes" must be heard. "Paris 78" is also a hottie but not Velvets-like. Even the worst-sounding 70s Patti boot where she talks is worth a listen; her raps are usually the best part.

I'd recommend her Best Of if it included "Hey Joe". What an oversight.

replacement wrote:Television
"Marquee Moon," "Adventure," "Live at the Waldorf"

The "Arrow" bootleg is my fave, particularly for the live "Little Johnny Jewel", and the covers of Dylan, Stones & Roky Erickson; the good parts of "Arrow" are included (6 out of 7 tracks, unfortunately resequenced and interspersed with another concert) on "The Blow Up".

I'm told their live shows are still very good. They are currently touring with Ms. Patti Smith.

replacement wrote:The Strokes
The first. Jury's still out on the second album, but man, there are at least three or four KILLER singles here, IMO.

I never liked The Strokes, but the little girls seem to understand.

Their singles do make pleasing background music at my local coffee shop. Sounds like the VU, but not as much as those first few Dream Syndicate EPs.

lots of people, by the time this thread closes, will have wrote:I do not like prog rock!

I like Can, Miles Davis's 70s live double albums, Eno's "801 Live" album, Soft Machine, a lot of King Crimson and the first two Pearls Before Swine, so I can be said to like progressive rock. And I recommend albums by those bands to VU-fans (who aren't just in it for the New York stuff). What I don't like about prog rock is explaining to people how it doesn't follow that I should also like Yes, National Health and every Canterbury hanger-on. However, I can't slag the entire genre just cos the drug-punk I listen to all day is considered a more authentic expression of the rock raison d'etre.

Rosie Lee UK wrote: Benny Hill is hero to my nation. He hated prog rock as well. His old companion made me laugh with all his antics.

Benny Hill was right about other things -- his albums were models of the British comic song form with which Americans have no familiarity -- but I'll never approve of the elderly abuse depicted on is TV show, and the gratuitous displays of women's foundation garments left me warped for life.

Rosie Lee UK wrote:Wang Chung is the object of my disapproval.

I insist that everybody Wang Chung tonight.

Es.

replacement wrote:Jesus and Mary Chain
I only know "Psychocandy." Any other suggestions?

While Psychocandy is undeniably their greatest album (if you ask me, it's the greatest album ever made anyway!) I can honestly recommend everything they ever put out, but especially Barbed Wire Kisses, Honey's Dead, Stoned & Dethroned and (the more essential than it may sound like) Complete John Peel Sessions.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN RULES!

edgarde wrote:

replacement wrote:Jesus and Mary Chain
I only know "Psychocandy." Any other suggestions?

"Psychocandy" is definitive, and "Barbed Wire Kisses", tho less streamlined, has more of the good stuff. However, they are British. You know what that means -- the undertow of fey Britpop repels them inexorably from the True Void they seek.

Hey, hey, hey... Watch it with the negative remarks... The notion that Britishness ever stopped a band from being truly great does sound pretty ridiculous to me though, no offense. Many if not most of the truly classic bands from the '60s onwards were British...