Rhino has a fully loaded slate for this fall...make that a fully Loaded slate. On October 30, the same date as the recently-announced 20th anniversary edition of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, the label will give the deluxe treatment to The Velvet Underground's fourth studio album. Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition will follow in the footsteps and format of the deluxe sets previously released by UMe for the VU's first three albums The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light/White Heat, and The Velvet Underground. This 6-disc box will feature:
- The original 1970 album remastered in both its stereo and mono mixes;
- Demos, singles, early versions and alternate takes from the Loaded era;
- A previously unreleased Philadelphia concert from May 1970 featuring seven songs from Loaded;
- A newly-remastered and re-edited version of Live at Max's Kansas City containing tracks from the original 1972 album plus selections from Rhino's expanded 2004 edition; and
- Stereo and surround mixes of the original Loaded album on DVD.
By the time of the original release of Loaded on Atlantic Records' Cotillion imprint in November 1970, Lou Reed had already departed The Velvet Underground. But the album contains some of his most beloved songs for the band including "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll." With the increased participation of Doug Yule (including on the lead vocals on four songs) and without the credited Maureen Tucker, who was pregnant at the time of the album's recording, Loaded has a very different - and unabashedly commercially-oriented - feel than its predecessors in the group's catalogue. (VU guitarist Sterling Morrison does play on the record. Guest drummers including Doug Yule's brother Billy subbed for Tucker.)
In 1997, Rhino Records released the Fully Loaded 2-CD reissue, with 23 outtakes, demos and alternate mixes. This release forms the basis of the additional material on Disc Three of Re-Loaded, with the outtakes appended to Disc One and the single versions (including two previously unreleased mono single mixes) on Disc Two. Note that, per Rhino, for the surround and stereo downmix on the DVD, the original album track listing has been slightly re-sequenced to include the segue originally planned for "I Found a Reason/Head Held High." The press release also indicates that the album's surround mix (the first surround release for the Velvets) will be playable in DTS and Dolby Digital.
Rhino re-loads on October 30 with this deluxe set. You can peruse the track listing and pre-order below! A single-disc remastered edition of the album will also be available at Amazon U.S. that same day. (Amazon U.K. link is TBD.)
The Velvet Underground, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition (Rhino/Atlantic, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
CD 1: Loaded - Remastered Stereo LP plus bonus tracks
- Who Loves the Sun
- Sweet Jane (Full Length Version)
- Rock and Roll (Full Length Version)
- Cool It Down
- New Age
- Head Held High
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill
- I Found a Reason
- Train Round the Bend
- Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
- I'm Sticking with You (Outtake - New Remix)
- Ocean (Outtake)
- I Love You (Outtake)
- Ride Into the Sun (Outtake)
CD 2: Loaded - Promotional Mono Version, Singles and B-Sides
- Who Loves the Sun
- Sweet Jane (Full Length Version)
- Rock and Roll (Full Length Version)
- Cool It Down
- New Age
- Head Held High
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill
- I Found a Reason
- Train Round the Bend
- Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
- Who Loves the Sun (Single)
- Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (Single)
- Rock and Roll (*)
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill (*)
CD 3: Demos, Early Versions and Alternate Mixes
- Rock and Roll (Demo)
- Sad Song (Demo)
- Satellite of Love (Demo)
- Walk and Talk (Demo)
- Oh Gin (Demo)
- Ocean (Demo)
- I Love You (Demo)
- Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall (Demo)
- I Found a Reason (Demo)
- Cool It Down (Early Version - Remix)
- Sweet Jane (Early Version - Remix)
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill (Early Version -Remix)
- Head Held High (Early Version - Remix)
- Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (Early Version -Remix)
- Who Loves the Sun (Alternate Mix)
- Sweet Jane (Alternate Mix)
- Cool It Down (Alternate Mix)
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill (Alternate Mix)
- Train Round the Bend (Alternate Mix)
- Head Held High (Alternate Mix)
- Rock and Roll (Alternate Mix)
CD 4: Live at Max's Kansas City - Remastered and Re-Edited
- I'm Waiting for the Man
- White Light/White Heat
- I'm Set Free
- Sweet Jane
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill
- New Age
- Beginning to See the Light
- I'll Be Your Mirror
- Pale Blue Eyes
- Candy Says
- Sunday Morning
- After Hours
- Femme Fatale
- Some Kinda Love
- Lonesome Cowboy Bill (Version 2)
CD 5: Live at Second Fret, Philadelphia 1970 (*)
- I'm Waiting for the Man
- What Goes On
- Cool It Down
- Sweet Jane
- Rock and Roll
- Some Kinda Love
- New Age
- Candy Says
- Head Held High
- Train Round the Bend
- Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
DVD: (*)
- 96/24 Hi-Resolution Surround Sound Mix (DTS, Dolby Digital)
- 96/24 Hi-Resolution Stereo Downmix
- 96/24 Original Stereo Mix
(*) denotes previously unreleased track
Chris says
I sat there on my chair LAST NIGHT and glanced at the previous Velvet Underground box thinking "I wonder if they'll do one for Loaded this year." I figured after the deluxe 2CD edition there probably wasn't much left to release so probably not. Didn't think I would be proven wrong so quickly! (However, it looks like I was right about there not being much left to release!) Now to click on the link and find out how much I am going to spend to get a live disc, a surround version and a scattering of tracks I don't already own. Why am I such a sucker? Any bets on there being a "Squeeze" box set next year?
Andrea says
Let me see if I got this straight: in order to fit the "complete" (2004) Max’s onto 1 cd (Btw: why? the phisical cost of an extra cd is close to nil for the label) they " re-edited" it, i.e. they left out "Who Loves the Sun" and the second version of "Sweet Jane"???
So the "Deluxe Loaded" will have an incomplete Max's show?
And what about the sound quality of the Philadelphia recordings?...
As for the Max's set, If I remember correctly it was recorded on a MONO cassette recorder, and does sound like a mediocre bootleg... I really don't know if and how much its sound can be improved... And I don't know how this sits with the "96/24 Hi-Resolution Surround Sound Mix (DTS, Dolby Digital)".... It's quite hilarious actually 😉
Joe Marchese says
FYI: The high resolution mixes are of the original album only, not the concerts or any of the bonus material.
Andrea says
Yes I guessed so... The other issues stand anyway, the edited Max's is going to be quite controversial, and given the mono, bootleg quality of the source I wonder how it may be improved compared to the 2004 reissue. I'd also like to know more about the quality of the Phliadelphia set. Unless it's spectacular, there's very little here to justify a "deluxe" edition.
John Ryan Horse says
Honestly, I have loved the Velvets since "Transformer" inspired me to seek out "White Light..." in the mid-70s, but this process of milking certain catalogs (i.e. The Doors, Pink Floyd) for endless "upgrades" leaves a bad taste in my mouth when other artists have never been given a decent remastering, let alone box sets (i.e Steppenwolf, Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Betty Harris, Chic, Tim Buckley, so many more)
Steve Bieth says
I for one am excited about this release. The first two albums were put out in hi definition audio on Blu ray and sounded great. I would love to have a 5.1 mix of this or any of their albums. I don't own the Max's CD's so that works out for me but I do wish it was the full 2 CD set. Anyway, I loved the first three box sets and I don't see me liking this any less. Plus remember if you have it all or most of it you don't have to buy it. I skip lots of box sets because I have 95% of the content.
Markus says
It is missing the still unreleased "friends"/"she'll make you cry" demo recorded for Atlantic November 1970 by Yule, Tucker and Morrison. It's an integral part of the Loaded story. Rhino is full of idiots, aping the official story the Velvets were nothing but Lou Reeds backing band.
Bp says
100%. That Friends/She'll Make You Cry demo needs to be released. Those songs are amazing and hearing them with Sterling and Mo would be amazing. I wish there was a bootleg out there.