final v.u. box set
Publicity Machine
Interview With Sal Mercuri
For those of you who didn't get to read the two part article in
Medialine on the Quine Tapes, it is up on the web:
Part 1 - The Robert Quine Tapes
Bootleg Series Volume 1
Medialine News - Audio--From Audience Tape to CD Boxed Set
http://www.medialinenews.com/issues/2002/february/news0206_16.shtml
Part 2 - Packaging
Medialine News - Universal Packs Velvets Tapes
http://www.medialinenews.com/issues/2002/january/packaging0102_03.shtml
The 4 Compact Disc set FINAL VU
1971-1973
Doug Yule, Moe Tucker, Willie Alexander,
Walter Powers, Rob Norris, George Kay,
Mark Nauseef, Billy Yule, Don Silverman
is a great idea in concept - It is released on Tokyo label Captain Trip-
CTCD 350-353
For those who feel that the SQUEEZE album should have contained music
from Walter Powers and Willie Alexander of THE LOST, Doug Yule of THE
GLASS
MENAGERIE, and Maureen Tucker instead of Ian Paice of Deep Purple (if,
indeed, it is the Deep Purple drummer), FINAL V.U.
was a chance to give the fans a solid reason for the existence of the
group after Lou's exit.
Before shelling out $70.00 or more for
this otherwise impressive box it is important for fans to know that the
album contains a horrible tenth generation or something
copy of the show I recorded on May 27, 1973 at OLIVERS (now known as the
Cask N Flagon) in Boston.
When we published the lengthy interview with Jonathan Richman in
Varulven Magazine in the mid-1970's I called for the creation of THE
VELVETS APPRECIATION SOCIETY. Handing out copies of the magazine at a
Lou Reed show at Boston's Paradise Theater (that issue now goes for
ten bucks on EBAY, how cool!!!) I met Phil Milstein who contacted me and
said he would start the club. He did - with me writing for the magazine
and
our frequent newsletters which i've got somewhere,
they are nice echoes of a time gone by!
I gave Phil a truncated copy of the "Ghost Band" at Olivers and that is
the only copy that got out - so it is logical to think that the copy of
a copy of a copy of a copy is what ended up on Captain Trip's Box.
This is a pity as I was in discussion with both Olivier Landemaine
http://members.aol.com/olandem/vu.html
and Sal Mercuri way back in the Autumn
of 1997 when I digitized the Velvets tape That correspondence is here:
http://community.webtv.net/MusicBM/TheVelvet
along with:
Upcoming article on FINAL V.U., NYC MAN, THE RAVEN, DOUG YULE,
MOE TUCKER "Moe Rocks Terrastock"
http://community.webtv.net/MusicBM/TheVelvet
The fans don't have the first gen tape, even though I would have been
happy to work something out with Captain Trip - providing, of course,
the 19 year old
with the vision to tape this important show be creditied as Robert Quine
was credited by Sal Mercuri on the Universal release refrenced above.
My tape includes a cool interview with Doug while Steely Dan (a band who
played at the club a few months later) and Three Dog Night play in the
background. Again - to expect fans to shell out 70.00 for a cheesy
rendition of a really good sounding tape, well, it does great disrespect
to Doug Yule as an artist, it is a slap in the face to fans who want to
hear Doug as the band was concluding - and prior to his joining
AMERICAN FLYER, it just puts a cloud over the whole project. My
original idea was to find tracks from the bandmembers done at the
time - the 45 RPM we released on Varulven -
"I'm Sticking With You" which has Jonathan Richman, Willie Alexander,
George Nardo, and Moe Tucker.
The interview I conducted with George Nardo about these sessions and
about him knowing Lou at the time, and the two tracks Willie Alexander
gave me of he and Walter Powers
- recorded at the Orson Welles Recording studio under the Orson Welles
Cinema outside
of Harvard Square. I've released " Cause I'm Taking You To Bed" on the
DEMO THAT GOT THE DEAL radio cd - and a song called "Modern Lovers" -
nothing to do with Jonathan's band.
These interviews and songs would do much to put the legend into
perspective.
This - I believe - was material recorded right after Willie and Walter
returned from Europe and the Velvets' tour. This would be a fascinating
record a lot like THE SONS OF THE DOLLS
lp released by New Rose in the 1980's -
---music by Arthur Kane, Sylvain Sylvain
and Jerry Nolan compiled on one disc.
I sent a letter off to Captain Trip and Sal Mercuri today to discuss
doing something just like that. It is something we discussed back in
1997. It is a bit
strange that someone I have so much respect for - Sal Mercuri - someone
I gave tickets to see Lou to earlier this year - someone who has had a
long correspondence with me and who certainly - with his great work on
the
U.S. Bootleg Series, would make such a dumb mistake and hurt the fans
as well as Doug. In storage I have flyers from the May 27, 1973
gig where the band is called THE VELVET UNDEROUND. Wonder if the
promoter mentioned is the late Mickey O'Halloran. O'Halloran would do
something like book a member of the band and call it The Velvet
Underground - he booked Bruce Springsteen
into that club if memory serves --- Bruce is coming back in September to
play Fenway Park. Doug Yule writes in the liner notes "the soon to be
extinct Fenway Park" - but he may be incorrect there - the new owners
are expanding the ballpark and doing a good job with it.
Olivier Landemaine should also know
better than to use a 19th generation tape. If fans really want to hear
this stuff in all its wonderful glory - write
Captain Trip Records
3-17-14 Minami-Koiwa Edogawa-Ku
Tokyo, Japan
http://www.md.xaxon.ne.jp/cptrip
A dull, fuzzy sounding tape that is a hollow echo of the past does no
one any good -it is disgraceful to have something that cloudy and murky
out there. This one of a kind tape is a photograph in time - a snapshot
- of a young Doug Yule on his own - as a Doug Yule live recording it is
an excellent document.
It is my hope that Lou Reed will soon start putting his concert tapes
out to fans the way that Bright Midnight Records (The
Doors) and Dagger Records (Jimi Hendrix) and Pearl Jam and Zappa and so
many others are letting the fans have a real good look at wonderful
moments from an era that was
so important, so musically fun, so wonderful.
We are all reading these lists because we love Lou Reed and his music -
the music of the people who jammed and performed with Lou.
Anyone interested in campaigning with
me to lobby Lou to officially release his underground tapes, write:
joe@v...
rnranimalbook@y...
(I'm writing a book on BERLIN and RR ANIMAL
tour)
joe viglione
varulven records
p.o. box 2392
woburn, ma 01888
http://www.varulven.com
Thanks!
http://community.webtv.net/TheMadFaxer/rockjournalistjoe
http://www.varulven.com
Message 6360 of 6360 | Previous | Next [
Music Business Monthly
an album released in France on New Rose
in 1983 and in America on Var Intational
is being re-mastered with bonus tracks.
Produced by the late Jimmy Miller, the guy
behind records by Traffic, The Rolling Stones,
Blind Faith, Plasmatics, Motorhead, Johnny
Thunders, the 2003 edition on Var Deluxe
will also feature an interview with Miller.
35 out-takes were re-mastered with
engineer Jay Couper (drummer with
Denny Laine of Wings) on August 23, 2003
1. Again You Rock
2. Again You Rock
3.Auguste Winds
4.Experienced Again
5.The Intuition Element
6.Wave Descends
7.Midnight Sun
8.Midnight Sun
9.Reaction
10.Reaction
11.Reaction
12.Reaction
13.Sweet Jane (Lou Reed)
This take was from 1974, nine years
earlier, but was still on the reel!
Not part of Intuition Element
14.You Didn't Hear It From Me (David Bowie)
this is the Do Do song from the 1980 Floor
Show on TV's THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
The late Fudge Keegan, guitarist with
Stephen Stills and Syb Hashian (of the
group Boston) sounds very Mick Ronsonish
on this Bowie tune
15.You Didn't Hear It From Me
16. Run The Night Away
17. Cat In The Dark (J. Viglione / E. Brown)
This was the college radio single from 1982
---two of the members of the group were
in the previous band that did this song,
so the 1983 band did a long instrumental
version we are putting on the Deluxe Cd
18.Reaction
19.Wave Descends
20.Intuition Element
21.Run The Night Away
for more information
www.varulven.com
Music Business Monthly
(C) 1983 Joe Viglione
Var Music Publishing, BMI
http://www.varulven.com
Wave Descends
I'm caught in the dark
you don't know what it's like
to feel that wave descend at night
Here in the dark
in the web of your light
and i need you here to hold me tight
hold me tight
for when that wave descends on me
to push me to the other side
when that wave descends on me
i got nothing nothing nothing to hide
when that wave descends on me
it's such a subtle glow
to feel
right here
in the dark
well i drift off into a solitary thought
the major portion there to help me push back
the tide
keep it all together in this long and fateful night
when i love you i wish with all my might
all my might
when that wave descends on me
Driving around Sunday, August 24, 2003, 20
years after the original release of this 11 song
album produced by the great Jimmy Miller,
it was a revelation to hear the great guitar work
by Francis "Fudge" Keegan. Jimmy Miller -
who worked with Eric Clapton on Blind Faith,
Denny Laine in Ginger Baker's Air Force,
Keith Richards & Mick Taylor of The Rolling
Stones, John Lennon on the Rock & Roll Circus (Lennon being a totally
underrated rhythm
guitarist) told Fudge "You're in the upper
third of guitarists I've worked with...the lower
part of the upper third, mind you, but still in
the upper third" Miller was absolutely
correct - the late Fudge Keegan left us on
December 2, 1989 - he had recorded a
radio interview the night before and had the
INTUITION ELEMENT in his pocket when
he died.
The band was quite good - Todd Carnes
on the bass guitar, Jeff Hill on drums , with
yours truly on keyboards and vocals - it
was a really strong band to have working with
you as we gigged around New England up
to Portland Maine (home of Bebe Beull) -
behind this important record which was
released in France on New Rose.
Wave Descends continues the cosmic
consciousness ramblings of the disc -
a mixture of philosophy from Eckankar to
The Kybalion, as initiated on my 2nd EP
AUGUSTE PHENOMENON. Auguste
Winds from the album continues the
line of thought from that band which
emerged from the mid to late 1970's ---
Auguste -
inspiring reverence, mingled with admiration
majestic...venerable From latin - Augustus <
unrecorded augus increase < augre to increase
Wind
air in motion -
AUGUSTE WINDS
Var Music Publishing, BMI
(C)1979 Joe Viglione
Look away
to the sea
stars have fallen by this decree
relics reduced to debris
time and space have stopped for me
we are the whispers
on the wind
we are the whispers, Auguste Wind
Oh these things i find
from the strange and the beautiful
all on my mind
the part oh God I am afraid
how much longer must it be played?
We are the whispers
on the wind
we are the whispers
wandering on
wandering on
wandering on the wind
like magic they come and go
September the last chance to feel
them blow
each river melts into the tide
just like both these eyes have cried out
cried out unto the Auguste wind
cried out into the auguste wind
unlike the 7th chords of Wave Descends
the riff to this is like Led Zeppelin inverting
Black Dog by way of Sunshine of Your Love
..powerful stuff with this band in total
sync - Keegan plays like a Mick Ronson
on fire while Jeff Hill, only 18 at the time,
holds a really solid beat throughout the
entire album with some perceptive bass drum
riffs powering all these tunes. Todd Carnes
came from THE FIRST. They were a very
popular Boston band produced by Noddy Holder of SLADE - so Carnes worked
with
Holder through a connection of mine before
making an album with Jimmy Miller.
Miller had worked on demos for TALK TALK
(the song TALK TALK), Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Boomtown Rats,
Easterhouse,
and other groups in the U.K. His post-
Rolling Stones work was praised by both
metal heads and punkers when he worked
with The Plasmatics and Motorhead (two
bands which merged to cover Tammy Wynette
in days after they worked with Jimmy).
I met Jimmy Miller while negotiating the
Johnny Thunders EP for release on the
French New Rose label - the president of
that label signed me to Flamingo/Carrere -
a big dance label - back in 1978 - and made
me U.S. A & R rep in the early 1980's -
signing Willie Alexander to New Rose/RCA
and the Thunders tapes, which brought
Jimmy Miller into my life.
Though we worked on an album with
Buddy Guy 1986/1987, those five songs
were never released, making THE INTUITION
ELEMENT the most serious rock and roll
record Jimmy cut after leaving The Rolling
Stones. His discs with Billy Falcon (MCA),
The Savage Rose, and others don't have
the angst...or the "intution" of this 1983
gem released in Europe on New Rose
and in America on Var Interational.
Now VAR DELUXE is adding an interview
with Miller, the three 8 track demos (2 showed
up on the American release), and tons of
basement 4 track demos which are
pretty revealing - mixed by Jay Couper on
August 23, 2003. Great stuff.