The Velvet Forum

Now that there's all this wonderful audio software avilable, has anybody tried to remove the hideous flute and strings from 'Chelsea Girl'? Those songs could sound SOOO good, instead of being SOOO annoying.

Actually I quite like it..it elevates the story of Chelsea trash to brill building slickness. In saying that, I love the BBC TV version from 1981 with its gutterall guitar and vocals only.

Sorry, I meant the album rather than the track. I think they make 'Winter Song' pretty much unlistenable.

Weren't those strings arranged by John Cale...

The credits read "Arranged and Conducted by Larry Fallon"

Its always a nice thought about Chelsea Girls and let's remove those damned flutes, too. I've often imagined going back and revising a few things in VU history:-

Aren't there some wonderful singing voice synthesisers now ? So how about inventing a John Cale bass, organ and viola synthesiser that could be used to replace all the Doug Yule parts on the third album? Voila - its as if Cale never really left! (sorry doug).

Or can we simply ask Moe to go back into the studios and redo all the drums for Loaded?

And while we're revising history what would the VU have done if Cale had stayed? What would the 3rd LP have actually been like? What songs did they write after he stayed? What albums did they then record? How did their sound develop and how did the covers look?

Anyone know if the outtakes and multitracks for the Chelsea Girl LP sessions still exist? I'd love to hear early takes of Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams and the title track. I wionder if any more Reed/Cale compostions were attempted at the sessions?

iaredatsun wrote: Aren't there some wonderful singing voice synthesisers now?

no
Doc

I haven't tried this with all the songs on the album, but if you mute one stereo channel of the track Chelsea Girl, it is possible to significantly reduce the volume of the flutes and strings whilst keeping the guitars and vocals.

iaredatsun wrote: And while we're revising history

In my opinion it isn't a case of revising history, but presenting the artists vision they way they intended it. The released version of 'Chelsea Girls' was not the album Nico recorded - as she herself stated on numerous occassions. Compare 'It Was A Pleasure Then' (the one track to avoid the string and flute overdubs) to the other 4 'VU' tracks and you'll see what the album could have sounded like. I was just wondering if with modern technology anybody had managed to get closer to creating a version of the album that actually sounded like the one Nico intended...

And thanks for the tip Mark, I'll try that.[/quote]