Acoustic version of Venus in Furs from Peel Slowly And See [Disc 1] played by Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison. Actually the demo is longer, they sing the song 3 times : this is 2nd time, best one... Enjoy !
John Cale is one of the most underrated musicians of all time.Swapping out the strings on that electric viola for guitar strings gave the fierce drone on the first two records.
Of course he´s underrated. Why has he never apeared on the cover of The Rolling Stone or any other relevant Music magazine? There are trillions of books about the Beatles, Stones, Bowie, Pistols whatever, you just name them. There are only 3 books about JC; his semi-autobiography What´s Welsh For Zen? then a book by an italian journalist in Italian! and a fanzine like book. Or when do you ever get to hear or see his music being played by the media. And a lot of people I spoke to who are heavely into alternative music have never even heard of him before. Considering his enormos influence on modern music and his endless talent he should be right up the top with the other giant rockstars. I believe Cale´s story still has to be told: as the arch-punk, afterall it was him who sowed those bad seeds into rock´n roll, music wise. As saying with his old friend and foe Lou Reed: I hope one day John Cale will be seen sa the Beethoven of his time.
Literally early velvet underground is classical,ancient and traditional folk type music using electric guitars ,bass and drums that's why their music sounds so timeless and touching as well as a little touch of experimetal textures and sounds . Amen.
John Cale makes this version so alluring and captivating. His voice is beautiful and in great contrast to the somewhat dark lyrics of this masterpiece. I am truly blown away by its sheer beauty. Help,i cant stop listening to this.
The funny thing is Lou could sing like this too. He had an incredibly buttery soft voice which you can hear in later VU albums after Cale departed. They just opted to sing it very harshly, maybe to match the violent and raging viola?
Have you seen some of the early Velvets photos, with Angus MacLise still in the band? Cale is dressed up like some psycho priest with that clerical collar and those dark Ray-ban shades, ready to celebrate a black mass.
From everything I've read I am surprised Cale didn't get a writing credit on this. He virtually invented drone drone rock... or at least introduced drone to popular music
Listen to Lou Reed solo heroin demo. Plenty of drone. What they had in common. Ostrich guitar link is interesting. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostrich_guitar
I hadn't heard this version of the Velvets' song. It's totally different in sensibility. In this acoustic version, with Cale singing, it sounds as if it had come out of the British electric folk scene that was happening in the late 60s/early 70s -- something totally different from what the Velvets were up to.
A lot of the early demos are 'folky' . It's weird. I think they are still finding their sound. The song had on the whole been written by Lou years before. He wrote 'Heroin' when he was 15. I think you couldn't choose a more diverse group of people. Lou and John are undoubtedly the . They chose Moe to play drums, or a drum and she had never played. I think it's genius.
Ya' know some where in You Tube Land there is an interview with John Cale and he talks about how he [and Lou Reed] originally co-wrote and conceptualized this as an English folk song; He even recorded this original version on his own album but I couldn't tell you what album that was. But the song references a book, which I can't remember the title to, but one of the main character's is "Severin". It's NOT demonic but rather more along the lines of S&M. It could be from the Marquis deSade BUT it could also be a different novel by the same author using a nom de plume [writer's alias].
Never heard this version before. It starts off as a pure English folk song. The music continues as such but the lyrics become really dirty , as I remember the song
What's Lou's version? The lp version? Well that wasn't purely Reed, the others had their contribution too. Especially Cale had a massive impact on the arrangements and sound, should have been co-credited for the music.
So real- feeling.B. would call it Ren faire music,& laugh. I call it a supplication,& I know the Velvets would laugh but it brought hot tears to my eyes. I bought my 1st electric violin because of John Cale. The Velvets would never be a stadium band& I love it. The Beatles have their good ones,I'm not really a stones fan( the music tv always puts their top 100 bands,& it always ends with the cliffhanger- "who's #1? Beatles? Stones?" I always thought where are our true creators,Cave,Cale,Reed ,Bowie,Bolan, Curtis,the thinkers the Readers! The list goes on,so they line the church of music,even if they are tokened out to the r&r hall of fame- as punk would say,boring ! & Yet they'll play there when nominated. So contrary. - b not B.
Feel like you might hear this from afar in the plague years of England. A minstrel locked up in a tower, running out of food, slowly losing their mind.
Just the melody to this song should be played in all churches in the world because it literally strikes a chord in your heart just like Scarborough Fair beautiful
its amazing. i wouldnt mind both Reed and Cale-sung versions on the same album because little differences make the actual takes of the songs so much different.
Xavier Trevino I think they were listening to the same records, in the sense that Cale is from the same area that Paul Simon, by way of Martin Carthy, picked it up from.
that's almost impossible. they had recorded the album in April and the Simon and Garfunkel album was on the market in October. I never heard of communication between the two bands... john Cale studied a lot of classical music so it's possible he "stole" that from the material he studied more than someone who played at that time. velvet underground was a unique band and no one ever sounded like that before them (and I would say after them...)
Lou nicely erased John's vocal from the VU album on this song. Nice. My wife always said "How did someone with a voice so beautiful get in the Velvet Underground?". Refer to John's version of this or a certain Leonard Cohen song for reference...
i love this song, i even recorded a version myself, not that you care, and this is the most extraordinary performance, they could have been using lutes and dressed as mummers. i hate it. i'm amazed. if this is the demo i'm surprised they ever recorded it again. i suppose they are playing with ironies, opposing the setting against the lyrical content. it just goes to show how risky jokes can be.
Does anybody wonder if the band ever really approved of Lou's decision to sing the song himself? I have been in bands with more than one singer, and I know if someone else could sing it like this, but I wanted to "sing-speak" it like Lou, a lot of musicians would put up resistance. That's why a lot of singers make it a rule that they alone are lead singer, because they don't want to compete, especially on their own songs. But the best bands, like the VU, mostly have more than one lead singer.
Yeah, nice try unless you knew Lou. He would have insisted on his version whether it was the "better" version or not. And John didn't get to sing hardly anything other than live performances. He was the better singer - and Nico was the better "sing-speaker". Didn't make a difference.
In the church of true creatively made music,there is a stained glass window that lets only the moonlight in on full-moon nights.it stands behind a dusty,unused lectern,where no priests of sound have conducted since the 2010s-16s. The stained glass,as you approach down a worn black carpet spun from musical notes of violence, emptiness, triumphs&downfalls young&old, voices&instruments,the glass slightly blinds you ,scintillating the entire church in what looks like the tears,or maybe black blood,or patent leather. When you climb the bald stone stairs to get close enough to see ,the arched window contains the leaded,stained glass of eons- &all the colors of the tears of the worlds unfounded & that which is within the nomads, the suffering,partying,rising falling&dying stars,always creating ,true artists. The colors inspire fear & then you recognize- not Jesus,suffering on a cross,but a wiley 2- headed saint, St. John(Cale)& St.Lou(Reed),dressed tightly in black,the black angel grinning behind them giving them the very ink from his veins,& Severin,serving at the pointed boots of the 2 bickering, yet lifelong, bound friends, the spikes &within the droppers,the best medicine,to quiet the mind of chaotic, relentless creators,that which will torment them then leave them used up,alone, until they numb away the ringing of truth in their skulls,or unless they let it join with ink &blood& sound,&leave for the masses,what they can. In selfishness,they create what they would want to hear- & some of the masses without ability or too fearful, but in desperation for something meaningful, find it,hear it,treasure it,Amen. To inspire,humankind,someday, maybe,again.- b not B.- VUalways
They should've taken this version and mixed so it sounds like Lou and John are dueting. Imagine John's verses being folk, and then Lou comes in electric style. Almost like a duet between genres as well
@@markabboud8564 No problem Mark - I believe there are early VU (Reed / Cale) demos out there too, that feature Lou playing harmonica, trying his best to sound like Dylan ! Stay Safe everyone !
He had committed Himself as Producer of The DiLs' Debut LP fer his Fledglin' label, SPY; & Pled w/ the Kinman Bros to remain in NYC that Summer '79 coin' Gigs {"There's Enormous demand fer Yoo guys here"}; but Drip & Phony Blew Him Off & Let me Go. I prolly had a nervous breakdown subsequently & Ole JC Lost innarest in them&zippy
[Verse 1] Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather Whiplash girlchild in the dark Comes in bells, your servant, don’t forsake him Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart [Verse 2] Downy sins of streetlight fancies Chase the costumes she shall wear Ermine furs adorned, imperious Severin, Severin awaits you there [Bridge] I am tired, I am weary I could sleep for a thousand years A thousand dreams that would awake Different colors made of tears [Verse 3] Kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather Shiny leather in the dark Tongue of thongs, the belt that does await you Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart [Verse 4] Severin, Severin, speak so slightly Severin, down on your bended knee Taste the whip in love not given lightly Taste the whip, now bleed for me [Bridge] I am tired, I am weary I could sleep for a thousand years A thousand dreams that would awake Different colors made of tears [Verse 5] Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather Whiplash girlchild in the dark Severin, your servant comes in bells, please don’t forsake him Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart
This sounds like some wank Hipster cover of the known version. Goes to show what I know. It sounds amazing really. Same artists, totally different vibe. Dirge, New York version versus folky Welsh hippy version. Who would win? There's only one way to find out...
Music could be an English ballad from centuries ago , the kind Joan Baez made a career of . The lyrics a reference to an 1800's porn book - of special interest to masochists . Ive always thought that Cale was rated as a genius by people who never noticed how basic his skills actually were . Warhol was the real genius - at convincing rich bored people that ordinary people were facinating . Sometimes they were , I can agree . But usually they were just sitting there , zonked out of their heads on Warhol's drug cocktails , mumbling about random things . Or just sitting there .
