One of the last of my set of Kyle recommendations. I obviously dig The Velvet Underground, but had never heard any of their live stuff. The legend is, this is better than on the albums.
Largely, I'm inclined to agree. On the album, some of these songs come across as hollow, if fascinating gestures, but these recordings really bring out their ragged energy, their simple cores, and their basic, actual "rock and rollness".
The live setting is stark and awkward and weird, in a seemingly small, seemingly empty space, as each song is greeted by a barest smattering of applause. At first I thought it was how the crowd was micced, but eventually the character of the sound left me to think that these guys were being barely tolerated by a coffee-shop worth of folks. Its surreal, but kind of intimate and appealing.
I do have complaints about some of the songs though, especially on the first disc. At times, the playing is just messy and disconnected, and Lou sounds awfully flat in places (especially on the disappointing first-disc version of Heroin, luckily redeemed by the second-disc version). But the second disc is mega solid by comparison. I'm tempted to split the discs into two reviews, especially since they were later split on CD, but I'll stick with the original intent of the release, and give the whole thing a 4/5
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