Re-Velvetized

1) I still haven't seen the Todd Haynes Velvet Underground documentary. I'm not doing movie theaters because Covid, and we already have enough streaming services. A friend has offered to hook me up, and I'll probably avail myself of their offer. But I already know I'm a terrible fan. When the Stooges reunited, bigger Stooge fans than I informed me I wasn't a real fan because I opted to play Stoogeaphilia shows over taking advantage of offers to see the reunion band. But I'd rather play than see anybody.

2) That said, I enjoyed seeing all the Velvet love on social media in the run-up to the Haynes doco's release. While reading all the posts, I was reminded that I've never owned VU or Another View. The Velvets' original discography (including 1969 Live, which was my go-to for years when I wanted to hear them) seemed sufficient. But I started trawling online and realized that vinyl copies of those two '80s releases now go for more than my $20 ceiling. I wound up ponying up 30 bucks for a copy of the Australian What Goes On box set even though the more complete Peel Slowly and See was on offer for the same price...because the latter duplicates more stuff I already have, and includes more stuff that I know I'd only listen to once (e.g., Lou's Dylanesque songwriter demos). The fan-compiled What Goes On serves as a neat audio verite document of the Velvets, and includes everything I'd want from VU and Another View except "Temptation Inside Your Heart," a joke about doowop that is the source of the line "Electricity comes from other planets." I'll probably listen to this as much as I have the complete Matrix thing.

3) Re-skimming Clinton Heylin's From the Velvets to the Voidoids (the revised edition with the uber bitchy "Postlude"), I realized there's a song from the Nico era that I never heard -- actually two. Listening to the bootleg of the '66 Factory rehearsals, I discovered the song Heylin mentioned ("Miss Joanie Lee") is pretty lousy, as is the one he missed ("Get It On Time"). The jam room Velvets sound like any other shitty garage band screwing around with I-IV-V s and one chord drones, although it's interesting to hear them transposing keys while Lou tries to teach Nico how to sing "There She Goes Again." Unessential, but I'm glad to have it.

4) When Stoogeaphilia expanded our brief from the Stooges to the whole period covered in Velvets to Voidoids, I thought surely we might do a VU tune or two. But the bass player had a college roommate who insisted on not only listening to the Velvets all the time, but lecturing on why they were important. So no dice. A few weeks ago, I was dicking around with Blood Ulmer's guitar tunings (which use lots of unisons -- like Lou's "ostrich" tuning -- and 4ths) and stumbled on the melody of "All Tomorrow's Parties," one of my favorite songs of all ti-i-ime. I started posting vids of some Velvet Underground songs, which I mostly played off the top of my head after maybe a cursory review of form or lyrics (hence the mistakes). I usually don't watch these things once they're done, but the one for "The Gift" -- a song which figured in a bad acid trip I had when I was 16, rendering me unable to listen to White Light/White Heat for decades  -- is an exception. Contrary to Heylin, the instrumental part isn't "Booker T," a I-IV-V; it's "Gloria," with feedback. I'd still rather play than see anybody.

ADDENDUM: Finally saw the Haynes doco. Wow. He really did them justice. It helped that they were well documented on film, and he must have had a big budget for clearances. Still, he knew the people to talk to and the questions to ask. And his love for the band and the independent cinema of the time shines through. Neck-and-neck with Alex Winter's recent Zappa (sorry, Lou) as the best rockumentary ever.