Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The Velvet Underground Etc.

Samuel Scott

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:38:33 +1300

My brother gave a cassette copy (a real one, from a shop!) of VU when I was 14. I can honestly say it changed my life. I didn't have the cover and had no idea it was collection of odds and ends. Fuck I love it. Years later, it is…

Simon Grigg

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:40:09 +1300

Titch

Died a few years back. He was in a (road crew) van that went off the road down Taupo way.

Jonathan Ganley

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:53:04 +1300

clicked on one link, stayed until all photos looked at and captions read
Hey, thanks!
James Young’s account of life as Nico’s Keyboardist, Songs They Never Play On The Radio is hilarious.

The scene where Cale meets John Cooper Clarke is priceless.

__"Hark, hark, the dogs do bark,
the beggars…

kiwicmc

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:38:47 +1300

There are some fantastic photos on that site, clicked on one link, stayed until all photos looked at and captions read.

Arhh, it takes me back – Whatever happened to Barney and Titch from the Auckland bootboys?

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:14:52 +1300

Cale was such a curmudgeon

Then again, who wouldn't get a little cranky at the umpty billionth question about a band you left forty five years ago and that git Lou Reed. :)

thegirlstefan

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:13:56 +1300

here's a story Gordon Campbell did 2 years ago now, about the perilous state of record stores. Sad to see who has survived since then. In the piece, Dennis from SB mentions how buying the building has kept them afloat:

http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/12/record-shop-r-i-p/

Simon Grigg

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:42:41 +1300

You know the thing I miss most about record stores? The smell

I miss the conversation. Phil Bell (Sir Vere) and I were talking about this a few weeks back and we both miss the hangout at the counter talking to likeminded nutters. In Auckland you still find it at…

Rob Hosking

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:47:49 +1300

You know the thing I miss most about record stores? The smell. No, I don't mean the incense which always seemed to be there – for some strange reason* – in the old St Kevins Arcade Record Exchange. But the smell of the vinyl and polish had a character of…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:46:44 +1300

I did not know that. Though if one believes in accountancy, there's the opportunity cost of not closing down and renting the place to Starbucks.

Gary Elshaw

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:37:23 +1300

It was there on Friday, but i couldn't find the VU .rar bootleg download from Russell's original link today. Another two part version available from here and here

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:13:55 +1300

Hmm, Nico. I have a version of her doing Bowie's Heroes and it is comical and really, really bad.

But I did catch a late Sunday night concert with Jack Black and an all-female backing band last night. It was great. It was on MTV, where good things can occasionally…

Danielle

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:25:33 +1300

I feel a bit guilty for not caring very much about record shops closing. I hardly ever go into them nowadays, and I used to spend HOURS in them in my teens and twenties. I just don't have the browsing desire any more when there's, like, the internet. Pity about…

Russell Brown

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:05:29 +1300

I’d been told, and until 5 minutes ago reading this thread, always believed that Nico had died of a heroin overdose. Seemed believable.

No, Nico died of cycling.

She was living in Ibiza and got on a fitness kick — and had a heart attack riding around the hills in…

Grant McDougall

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:35:21 +1300

Slow Boat's owned their site for decades, so rent prices are no excuse for their steep prices.

Damian Christie

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:38:53 +1300

I got lent the Velvet Underground & Nico album by my guitarist mate so I could learn how to play "I'm Waiting For The Man". I was already in a band though, so that ruins that theory ;)

I'd been told, and until 5 minutes ago reading this thread, always believed…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:24:42 +1300

I don't think they're making a fortune. Think of the amount of cash that's tied up in stock, increasingly expensive Cuba Street space (with chain stores creeping up the street, landlords have been pushing rents up).

I'd say $20 for an LP is a reasonable price for keeping the ability…

Graham Dunster

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:16:34 +1300

And talking of reasonable prices, I was aghast at how much Slow Boat and Evil Genius wanted for their vinyl lats time I was in Wellington. RPM not so bad, it all made Real Groovy Auckland look almost reasonable. Certainly won't divert me from internet purchases in the near future.

Graham Dunster

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:12:44 +1300

Love to read that John Cale book, but not available – well, not a reasonable price that I can find!

JacksonP

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:03:02 +1300

More here.

Great shots. Glad to know we had the same thought at the 2007 Cale Concert. That electric viola was something to behold.

Jonathan Ganley

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 18:04:37 +1300

Here's John Cale at the Gluepot on that very tour. More here.

thegirlstefan

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:28:54 +1300

yes, Evil Genius is dong a good trade in Berhampore in Welly,

Kumara Republic

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:39:00 +1300

Thankfully Wellington still has Slow Boat Records. And Rough Peel Music set up shop not too long ago.

Mike O'Connell

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:21:08 +1300

Indeed sad to see Marbecks go. This was the original wasn't it? The closest Christchurch had to Marbecks was Radar, sadly gone, a quake victim like Real Groovy (who got hit in both big quakes). And with wretched timing, Evil Genius opened in Lyttelton a week before the Feb 22…

Simon Grigg

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 04:17:39 +1300

Am I along in really liking Songs for Drella?

Umm..no.

Marbecks queens arcade #bye

Man, isn't that just awful. I could say all sorts of things about some people not ever being allowed near running record stores, however I won't – but the idea that the very best classical store…

Sacha

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:26:41 +1300

'real music' = jazz & classical

Marbecks queens arcade #bye

Kumara Republic

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 00:20:16 +1300

It was unavailable in New Zealand from about 1970 through to 1979, and in those days there were no imports allowed courtesy of Rob's import licensing schemes. There were only a handful of vinyl import licenses in the country and they were mostly used for 'real music' = jazz & classical.…

Barnard

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 23:00:07 +1300

Am I along in really liking Songs for Drella?

Simon Grigg

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:27:35 +1300

For a cult album, the Velvet Underground and Nico was never actually that hard to obtain

It was unavailable in New Zealand from about 1970 through to 1979, and in those days there were no imports allowed courtesy of Rob's import licensing schemes. There were only a handful of vinyl…

DexterX

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 20:01:48 +1300

To treasure that album was to have a certain idea about what music is meant to be.

I always found White Light White Heat embodied that certain idea – writing great songs:

This is well worth a listen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLs22Z4Qsoo&playnext=1&list=PL830225ABE569B013&feature=results_main

Great songs live their own lives – as part of the…

Martin Lindberg

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:29:14 +1300

but 6 more discs without anything really new is just a bit much.

Now now. The new box has the mono and stereo versions of the album.

Barnard

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:22:11 +1300

James Young’s account of life as Nico’s Keyboardist, Songs They Never Play On The Radio is hilarious and includes a section on touring NZ with Headless Chickens supporting.

It was hilarious, although I did wonder how embellished some of the stories were.

Barnard

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:19:25 +1300

You can buy the record and the songs on it every digital whichway now — not least on this year's six-disc (yes, really) reissue package

Because I'm a VU fanboy I have ordered this. It will fit nicely next to the five-CD box Peel Slowly and See from 1995.

I…

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 18:38:14 +1300

Mutti oder Muttl vielleicht! That was 1986. One of those 'wish I'd gone to' gigs. As most know, she tragically died in 1988, falling off her bike in Ibiza, precipitated by a heart attack. She may have survived if the diagnosis (sunstroke!) was correct.

Doug Hood

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:58:23 +1300

James Young's account of life as Nico's Keyboardist, Songs They Never Play On The Radio is hilarious and includes a section on touring NZ with Headless Chickens supporting

Seem to remember they called her mom

Grant McDougall

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:51:14 +1300

Cale's autobiography What's Welsh For Zen ? is a superb read, he's very warts'n' all in discussing himself and there's great anecdotes through out it.

James Young's account of life as Nico's Keyboardist, Songs They Never Play On The Radio is hilarious and includes a section on touring NZ with…

Doug Hood

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:36:08 +1300

Forgot that.He wss great when it was just the two of us, especially after a few drinks over dinner.Told me heaps of stuff about Lou,which I've kept to myself.He was pretty bitter about it all.Wasn't anywhere as much fun 2nd time when he was sober.

JacksonP

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:14:54 +1300

This is close to the version of Venus In Furs we saw at Bruce Mason theatre, 15 Nov 2007.

It worked for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFvrkvMIhvU

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:40:12 +1300

Hey Russell, was one of my favourite tours, me on sound,Ken West on lights, touring party of 3.

Do you remember driving to bFM and you put a Clean tape on the car stereo — and Cale was all "take that rubbish off!" He was totally winding us up.

I…

Doug Hood

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:52:31 +1300

Hey Russell, was one of my favourite tours, me on sound,Ken West on lights, touring party of 3.

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:51:40 +1300

Buzzcocks, Joy Division...but duds too – Simply Red. Mick Hucknall (supposedly one of the 42) was taken to the cleaners (...coz God 'ates gingers...) by Steve Coogan's Tony Wilson character in 24 Hour Party People!

Kumara Republic

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:39:37 +1300

Hardly anyone bought that first Velvet Underground, but everyone who did went on to form a cult.

And in Manchester in 1976, only 42 people saw the Sex Pistols live – only for every one of them to form a band or enter the music biz.

Martin Lindberg

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:30:53 +1300

You can buy the record and the songs on it every digital whichway now — not least on this year's six-disc (yes, really) reissue package

Because I'm a VU fanboy I have ordered this. It will fit nicely next to the five-CD box Peel Slowly and See from 1995.

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:05:26 +1300

I'd just like to point out that much as I'd like to link y'all to the somewhat famous bootleg of John Cale's 1983 solo show at The Gluepot, I can't, because it was on Megaupload and the US government has sized the domain name and all the files on the…

BenWilson

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:42:38 +1300

I'm dissing myself, mostly, for lacking the musical hardness required for listening to that.

ETA: I could listen to Loopcrew indefinitely, though.

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:39:49 +1300

I heard Graeme Hill (Humphreys – Able Tasmans) at a Kings Arms kiwi music night quiz earlier this year relate an amusing anecdote about ’meeting/ John Cale when he was in the Bfm studio, probably on the same day you were there Russell – it didn’t end well!

Cale was…

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:33:51 +1300

Wow, I can see why that never sold, and also why I've never started a band. I haven't got the patience for 42 minutes of the same baseline.

Dude. That's John Cale you're dissing there :-)

Geoff Lealand

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:33:10 +1300

Not So Great Music News: Marbecks in Queens Arcade, arguable the best music store in Auckland, will be closing in early 2013.

BenWilson

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:28:34 +1300

Wow, I can see why that never sold, and also why I've never started a band. I haven't got the patience for 42 minutes of the same baseline.

Russell Brown

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:27:14 +1300

Hardly anyone bought that first Velvet Underground, but everyone who did went on to form a cult. How else can one explain the ongoing enthusiasm for these "recently rediscovered"--ie, this has been lying around for years, but we really didn't think until now that anybody would actually PAY to listen…

Peter Darlington

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:20:21 +1300

I reckon there's the most tenderest of tender segues from Velvet Underground to Flying Lotus (experimental art music?) so check out this beautiful, sad, short film for the title track of their new album "Until the Quiet Comes". It's all about death!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVHC1DXQ7U

RIP Austin Peralta (son of Z Boy…

JacksonP

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:17:05 +1300

Heard you on the radio this morning. Just like old times. ;-)

The daughter of a friend just recently released a few tracks under the name Lorde.

I think it’s kind of fresh, and worth a listen. I hope she puts something on The Audience.

David Cohen

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:11:30 +1300

Mike O'Connell

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:07:32 +1300

The old saying that hardly anyone bought it, but everyone who did went out and formed a band is true in spirit, if not in fact.

Indeed, e.g. Jonathan Richman (and Modern Lovers) who reputedly attended more VU gigs than Lou Reed himself! The Velvet Underground and Nico is an…

Public Address

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:07:32 +1300

Discussion from blog post.