The Velvet Forum

I've just heard this for the first time... it's absolutely hilarious. Replacing Cale's timeless viola drone with a clunky bar band? Billy Yule would be proud!

American Poet is the single best concert that the Tots ever performed on. The band is extremely tight and the bassist is outstanding. Clunky?! Well, yes, on almost every other Tots-era bootleg they are all over the place, but I just cant say the same for American Poet. Personally, I think the American Poet version of Berlin is the BEST available.

By the way, I prefer the sound-mix of the bootleg titled "Sweet Jane" to American Poet. SJ has a clearer, more in-yer-face sound than AP.

And again, I think Billy Yule was a very competent drummer. Not outstanding by any stretch, but very competent, no frills drumming.

American Poet is GREAT! I love that album and am so happy it was released... Lou and the band sound great and there are some great versions of stuff like WL/WH on it.

As for "Heroin", i never really liked any other version of it than the banana album one. But I can't see how this particular version is any worse than say, the one on Rock N Roll Animal or the Lou box set...?!

Heh, don't get me wrong - I think American Poet is great for the most part. But hearing them lay into Heroin like it's Sweet Home Alabamba or something - complete with bluesy guitar solo at the end - just cracks me up

I have to say I haven't heard Rock'n'Roll Animal or Lou's box set, so I'll have to plead ignorance there...

I find the Tots band charmingly hapless and they're certainly out of their league trying to tackle 'Heroin'

As for the Rock n Roll Animal version, its definitely got a lot more going for it IMO, the Hunter/Wagner band really take it somewhere else with Ray Colcord playing that towering pseudo-religious organ between verses and that utterly revved up shred-type lead guitar frenzy propelling the final verse into crescendo...also Lou's vocal so incredibly cool, disenchanted, adversarial and all round pissed off, the same qualitites I love about his vocals on that entire double album

The Lou Box set one-I assume you mean the one with jazz great Don Cherry guesting on it well I guess its different at least but yeah I could take it or leave it.

One thing babe I just don't understand is why Lou used the version he did on the NYC Man collection, its pretty ordinary.

Also worthy of mention I think are the Bataclan and Velvet Redux versions, especially the latter in which I find the whole band on classic form in their rendition

Oh, shit! Allow me to correct myself. It is the sparse Bataclan version of Berlin that I find to be the greatest version ever. NOT American Poet's version!

Yeah its a good version

My favorite version of Berlin is probably the Take No Prisoners one which I find very powerful