Unpiecing The Jigsaw: Velvet Underground Tribute

This is a tough one. Basically, this is the Heaven and Hell Vols 1-3 tribute set from 1990, a truly superior tribute set; I'm over the top on how great it was, each a 5 out of 5 worthy of loop play. For those that missed out on it when it came out, this is the only shot you have at it, you're stuck, get it, or pay loads more for the few originals to be found. Do so now, because it looks like a small batch again.The bad... it seems like at least some of the tracks were pulled from an LP rather than any master or even the original CDs and maybe subjected to some (minor) auto pop-click filtering which also shed a bit of sound (Run,Run,Run and I'm Set Free to name two). But it is more than acceptable if you have no alternative source for this work. Track order is different, but so what. The "bonus" material of the two Nico live tracks are fully discardable and pointless, pulled from poor recordings and poor copies; there are much better Nico live outings than these, though I cannot speak to the uniqueness of these particular ones; I don't really mind, but hardly a valued bonus. The additional one tribute track by the Prank is not a tipper, but fine nonetheless. The bonus disk of the Lou Reed Interview didn't make it with my package; in it's place was a duplicate of the first disk with some glitch in the track title recognition. Again, no real loss for me. I am certainly no fan of a somewhat misleading representation of the material either - as if renaming what is virtually the same content as the original Heaven and Hell Vols 1-3 is some new idea. So, if you already have the set, avoid this of course; there is nothing that it will really add. But... if you don't have Heaven and Hell Vols 1-3, get this by all means.Back to the good...as the now cliche saying goes, The Velvet Underground only had a few hundred fans in and around their time, but every one of them went out and started their own band. And here are a bunch of them doing stuff they like. These are great interpretations of Velvet tunes from talented bands for most of whom this set was my introduction (i.e., Heaven and Hell). Most are not straight up takes, but instead are channeled and re-made through the creativity and style of each of the contributors. Interestingly enough, the Nirvana Here She Comes Now is one of the less re-interpreted pieces of the bunch, but it is true to Nirvana, a perfect fit. Special highlights for me are Some Kinda of Love by Levellers5, Foggy Notion by Echo and The Bunnymen, Beginning to See the Light by Into Paradise, What Goes On by the Screaming Trees, All Tomorrow's PArties by Buffalo Tom, European Son by Ride, and Sister Ray by Badgeman, the latter two alone are worth the price of the set for me and led me to venture further into the wall-of-noise/shoe-gaze genre - to which White Light White Heat must be credited as an inspiration in part.There is no tracklist in the listing at the time of this writing, so here you go.1. Run Run Run - Motorcycle Boy2. Here She Comes Now - Nirvana3. Pale Blue Eyes - The Mock Turtles4. Sister Ray - The Badgeman5. Lady Godiva's Operation - Chapterhouse6. She's My Best Friend - The Wedding Present7. I'm Set Free - Terry Bickers Bradleigh Smith8. Who Loves the Sun - Shelleyan Orphan9. All Tomorrow's Parties - Buffalo Tom10. Foggy Notion - Echo and The Bunnymen11. Sweet Jane - Hurrah12. Some Kinda Love - Levellers 513. Sunday Morning - JamesCD214. Femme Fatale - Beef15. White Light Whit Heat - Revenge16. Stephanie Says - Lee Renaldo17. Candy Says - The Telescopes18. I'm Sticking With You - Jellyfish Kiss19. Beginning to See the Light - Into Paradise20. Lonesome Cowboy Bill - Bill Nelson21. European Son - Ride22. I'm Set Free - The New Fast Automatic Daffodils23. Head Held High - The Original Sins24. What Goes On - The Screaming Trees25. I Heard Here Call My Name - Half JapaneseCD326. Jesus - Swervedriver27. Ocean - The Eleventh Dream Day28. Who Loves the Sun - The Dylans29. Lady Godiva's Operation - Fatima Mansions30. All Tomorrow's Parties - The Reegs31. Murder Mystery - The Prank32. Femme Fatale - Nico - Live33. All Tomorrow's Parties - LiveCD4 (A dice roll whether you get it?)34. Lou Reed InterviewIf you want to see how various bands that list Velvet underground as an influence sound and or weave your path through derivative music, this is a great item for you. If you are/were a fan of one of the bands doing a song here, you probably have heard the VU; if not, sure I recommend this, but I recommend you get into VU directly - check out reviews to find your way (but I rate Velvet Underground and Nico is a stand-out great among greats).Yes, there's a lot one could complain about here, and I do. But keep the good in mind; it's great music and a great path to related music. If a release is managed again in the future with the original masters, I'll be crazy enough to get that too.

With 31 artists (not counting Nico, of the original VU) you take the good, and in a few cases, the great, with the not so much. Some of these artists are clearly trying harder than others. Among the great, IMO, Femme Fatale by The Beef, and I Heard Her Call My Name by Half-Japanese, not an easy song for anyone to interpret. And then there's an interview with Lou!

Thirty of the tracks on this compilation comprise the three-volume Heaven and Hell tribute series released in the late 80s/early 90s. I bought each of these eagerly waiting for next, and was disappointed when volume 3 was the last in the series. Frankly, if you have the Heaven and Hell series in playable condition, then you don’t need this. But if you’ve scratched a CD, or don’t have all three discs, then you need this. With the Heaven and Hell discs changing hands for silly money, all you’re missing out on with this set is the original artwork.The small print admits that most of the material here was originally copyright Imaginary Records – so much for the simplistic liner notes boasting about how hard they worked tracking down these cover versions! Of the “new” tracks, the four minutes of Murder Mystery bears no resemblance whatsoever to the nine minute track on the Velvets’ third album – my guess is that the compilers noted the title and grabbed it without regard for the music, thinking that the title alone was enough of a Velvets’ connection.The two Nico tracks are new to me and illustrate the line which shouldn’t be crossed when churning out bootlegs by steadfastly crossing it. The sound is appalling, with speaker hum and feedback running through what were clearly intended to be gentle renditions of the songs.Which leaves the interview. My guess is that it was recorded by a journalist to prepare a magazine interview from. Lou’s speak is frequently hesitant, but my guess is more that he’s tired than that he’s off his face. Lots of people moving round and making day-to-day noises in the background: clearly not intended for release, it certainly doesn’t warrant an entire CD for its 47 minutes.They’ve altered the running order from the original CDs (which, if I’m not mistaken were also released on vinyl, hence their less than generous length), and with perhaps a little messing with the running order of the originals, and the omission of the extra tracks, they could have released an extremely creditable two-disc tribute album. Although it makes an old collection available again, it’s ultimately a disappointment (and the liner notes are nonsense!).