Cut live at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City in October 2018, The Feelies Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground, is a full-throated homage to one of the indie pioneers’ foundational influences. Founding Feelie Bill Million joins us for an all-things-Velvets chat, with digressions into The Beatles, The Willies, future plans, and more.
Search Results for: Velvet Underground
The Feelies :: Some Kinda Love: Performing The Music Of The Velvet Underground
The Feelies connection to the Velvet Underground goes long and deep. As gawky teenagers, Glenn Mercer and Bill Millions put VU on the same tier as the Beatles. Their jittery, drone-y, laconically delivered Crazy Rhythms sounded like no one else, except possibly the Velvets. The band covered “What Goes On” on their 1988 album Only Life, and, about the same time, got a chance to play a show with Lou Reed at the Orpheum Theatre in New York City. Reed himself once told Bill Millions that the Feelies were the only band that ever “got” the Velvet Underground.
The Velvet Underground :: Fully Re-Loaded
10 tunes were chosen for Loaded, each one a perfect pop miniature. The album is famous for its unparalleled one-two punch of “Sweet Jane” and “Rock & Roll,” of course. But that’s just the beginning of its delights. There’s also the twilit balladry of “I Found A Reason,” the choogling groove of “Train Round the Bend,” the garage rock abandon of “Head Held High,” and the slow, sad sway of “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’.” Slyest of all is the groovy opener, “Who Loves the Sun,” which wouldn’t have sounded out of place next to the Archies on Lou’s beloved AM radio.
Move Right In: The Velvet Underground At The Boston Tea Party, 1968-1969
Dig into a homemade comp of choice Velvet Underground performances at the Boston Tea Party, the club that served as the band’s home away from home in the late 1960s. These so-called “Professor Tapes” have circulated for years, but the master reels were made available a while back, and – though they’re still far from an audiophile experience – they’re much more listenable now. And the music here more than makes up for the 50+ year old tape hiss.
The World’s Behind You :: The Velvet Underground & Nico Reimagined
Here’s our own reimagining of The Velvet Underground & Nico, featuring obscure takes on the VU, spanning from the 1960s to the 1990s. Some of these renditions are fairly faithful to the source, while others are decidedly irreverent, finding some truly weirdo approaches to these very sturdy songs. Synth-pop, goth, glam, industrial, grunge, garage … it’s all here, and more.
The Velvet Underground :: The Second Fret, Philadelphia, January 1970
…fiery renditions of “White Light / White Heat,” “Sister Ray” and “Foggy Notion” (Sterling Morrison sounding especially killer on the latter tune). There’s a rare take on the lovely “Over You,” for some reason never attempted in the studio — here, Lou Reed calls it his “Billie Holiday impersonation.” And then there’s “Sweet Jane,” still in its original, slow-and-steady incarnation, Reed making up lyrics as he goes. Lo-fi quality? Yeah. Hi-fi experience? Oh yeah.
The Velvet Underground :: The Boston Tea Party – January 10, 1969
Most of what you read concerning the Velvet Underground will inevitably note how woefully under-appreciated the group were during its brief lifespan. But the VU were superstars — and not […]
Tina Harvey :: I’m Waiting For The Man (The Velvet Underground)
Lou Reed tried to sell us on a Harlem heroin score being cool, even if he was feeling “more dead than alive.” Tina Harvey went to the same dealer, but […]
Transmissions Podcast :: What’s Left in the Velvet Underground Archives?
With the release of the Complete Matrix Tapes last year, you might be wondering: What exactly is left in the Velvet Underground archives? On this, the seventh episode of AD’s Transmissions podcast , we invite […]
The Velvet Underground :: The Complete Matrix Tapes
No other rock n roll band was recorded live in the ’60s as frequently as The Velvet Underground, thanks to characters such as ‘The Professor’ in Boston, and future guitar […]
The Velvet Underground: Sweet Jane (Rehearsal) – The Matrix
It’s a big couple of weeks for Velvet Underground fanatics, with Rhino’s six-disc Re-Loaded box set and the four-disc Complete Matrix Tapes both hitting shelves, immersing listeners in the band’s latter days. What we’ve got here […]
The Velvet Underground :: The Freeman Tape Sampler, Max’s Kansas City, NYC, August, 1970
With the official release of (most of) the Matrix Tapes last year, there is very little unheard Velvet Underground live material left in the vaults. But there is a still-unreleased tape that should […]
The Velvet Underground :: Candy Says – Boston, Dec 12, 1968
In a few weeks, a six-disc box set celebrating the Velvet Underground’s self-titled third LP will hit shelves. The main draw is the inclusion of The Matrix Tapes – long-awaited, […]
The Velvet Underground :: Guess I’m Falling In Love, Live 1967
The just-announced “super-deluxe” edition of the VU’s White Light/White Heat will include a handful of previously unheard performances — the most interesting of which are a live rendition of “The Gift” and […]
The Velvet Underground :: The Matrix Sampler
The bones of the Velvet Underground’s carcass have been picked over many, many times since Lou Reed left the group in the summer of 1970, from greatest (non) hits comps […]