The Velvet Underground is going back to mono, thanks to the Sundazed label. On October 30, the seminal underground rock band’s first three albums will get the deluxe box set treatment in their original mono versions. But that’s not all. The Verve/MGM Albums will also include the mono version of Nico’s 1967 solo debut Chelsea Girl (featuring the Velvets’ Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison) as well as what the label is billing as “the definitive version of the band’s unfinished fourth
Are there somehow not enough super deluxe box sets in the pipeline for you? Universal added another to the pile today: a 45th anniversary deluxe edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico. The iconic, Andy Warhol-produced LP, released to almost no fanfare in 1967 but today recognized as a classic example of art-rock, is no stranger to CD reissues. Two different remasters appeared in stores in 1986 and 1996, and the album (along with various bonus material) appeared in the career-spanning 1995
Catalysis (ca-tal-y-sis): The action of a catalyst, especially an increase in the rate of a chemical reaction. With his induction into Ace Records’ Producers series, John Cale joins an esteemed group including Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Sly Stone, Phil Spector and Burt Bacharach. If Cale isn’t always thought of in the same breath as those giants, it’s simply because his career has been so diverse, encompassing writing, performing and arranging for artists ranging from The Stooges to
If you've got guitars on the mind, look no further than a pair of new releases from those compilation experts at the Ace label! Fender: The Golden Age 1950-1970 (Ace CDCHD 1315) is a new 28-track anthology that manages to be both comprehensive and the tip of the iceberg, where the famous guitar is concerned! A new companion to the 2010 book of almost the same name (Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970 by Martin Kelly), this set offers a rare chance to appreciate both the talent on the record label
She may have been a self-described “schlep from Levittown,” but Maureen “Moe” Tucker of The Velvet Underground always beat to the sound of her own drum. Tucker shed her suburban roots when she joined with Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in The Velvet Underground, replacing drummer Angus MacLise. (His tenure was a brief few months.) It’s fair to say that The Velvets changed the sound of rock and roll forever, breaking long-held lyrical taboos and musically drawing from both
And the Top 15 of our 100 Greatest Reissues list begins! We've taken Rolling Stone‘s list of the greatest albums of all time and investigated their many pressings and expansions over the years. Today, we're rocking in the 1960s, take a jazz detour to 1959, and remember a 1976 compilation of material circa 1955! 15. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (Reprise, 1967) If you weren’t experienced before listening to the 1967 debut of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, it’s safe to say
Ramones, Ramones / Leave Home / Rocket to Russia / Road to Ruin (Rhino) 180-gram vinyl reissues of the first four Ramones records! The first 500 to buy them from Rhino directly (as seen in this post) get replica 45s with each album, too. (Official site) Andrew Wood, Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story (Hip-o Select/A&M) A late, underrated icon in the early days of grunge gets his due with this triple-disc set, featuring the acclaimed DVD documentary of his life and career (which gives the
You know, it took some time, but Universal's ICON series is really coming into its own. What began as a limply-packaged, uber-budget-oriented series of single-artist compilations - not a patch on the label's previous 20th Century Masters and Gold series - is really emerging into something unique. It's just a shame it took this many tries to work out the kinks. Ha ha ha! Who am I kidding? The newest batch of ICON titles, due for release next Tuesday, July 19, is boring. You have a compilation by