1969: Velvet Underground Live: Volume 2

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's the rarest of live albums whose songs add anything to the majesty of the original studio recordings. This one adds immeasurable data to the Velvet's story. Without i1969: Live/i we might never have known that they were more than just an art outfit, that they could actually rock with fury. Check out Reed's strumming on "What Goes On" if you want to have your mind blown. None of these staples of the V.U. catalogue can be truly known without hearing these fully formed, fleshed-out versions, so for history's sake alone we must treasure this. History's tragedy of course is that we get to hear the excruciatingly light applause--it sounds like there's only 10 people in the room at some points--after each course in ass kicking. They were wrongly under-appreciated in their time, and for this we must all pay forever by playing this record constantly. i--Gene Booth /i

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-07-19 rating:
fabulously atmospheric live album
This second half of 1969 Live isn't quite the tour de force that Volume 1 is - it's slightly patchy by comparison. But its high points are still very high indeed. br / br /Both CDs contain material recorded over a series of concerts in San Francisco in late November/early December 1969 (the majority) with a few tracks from a concert in Dallas a few weeks earlier. But the sound quality from the two sources is so similar that it sounds as if it could all have come from one night. br / br /Ocean first appeared on Lou Reed's debut solo album; the Velvets had recorded several studio versions but the slow, stately 10 minute version here is definitive and thoroughly epic. Pale Blue Eyes actually improves on the superb version on their 3rd album. The version of Heroin here I'm not crazy about but isn't bad by any means. Some Kinda Love grafts a spoken intro from Dallas onto a performance from San Francisco but is a fine version. Over You is a cute little love song (something Lou Reed was surprisingly good at!) that's never appeared anywhere else. The medley of Sweet Bonnie Brown and It's Just Too Much likewise had never appeared anywhere else (though another version of It's Just Too Much, from the Dallas gig, has surfaced subsequently on the box set) and sounds like a couple of stoopid throwaway songs Reed made up as he went along; they're one of the most effortless, guileless and unforced slices of enjoyable rock'n'roll I know of - sheer innocent fun. White Light/White Heat is, for me, the nadir of this album - it goes on three times as long as it needs to and features some pretty uninspired guitar mangling. I Can't Stand It is a bonus track which didn't appear on the original double LP; there are better live versions on bootleg but it's pretty good. And I'll Be Your Mirror replaces Nico's vocal on the studio version with Lou Reed's - it's good, but not as good as Nico. br / br /So not as good as Vol.1, but still essential for Velvets fans and one of the most atmospheric live recordings ever - you'll get used to the hiss very quickly.

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review by: date: 2004-03-07 rating:
second verse, same as the first
When Paul Morley -- later of Art of Noise -- reviewed this for NME many years ago he more or less declared that it was the greatest rock album ever released. With the exception of Sister Ray what you have on volumes 1 and 2 together are the best versions of the Velvets' best songs, without any arty-farty messing about, and with splendid singing from Lou Reed and magnificent guitar playing from Stirling Morrison: listen to his solo on White Light, White Heat and witness a rival to Neil Young and Tom Verlaine. Finally, the sound is marvellously appropriate to the music: what it lacks in clinical polish it more than makes up for in ambience. Forget the other Velvets albums and grow old with this one.

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review by: 12barbluez date: 2004-02-15 rating:
Turn the lights down and go fix a drink
I have this and its partner on vinyl. I have them both now on CD. So I guess I like them. I never saw them before the re-union so this is close as I can get to those days. It does have background noise but that is part of the charm. Put it on, turn the lights down, go fix a drink and you can almost see Lou and the guys on the stage and its the people on the next table you hear chatting. If you're after clean then this isn't for you. But then you wouldn't like the Velvets.

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review by: date: 2002-04-19 rating:
A stunning pair of albums, but this one perhaps less so
Not as good as Volume 1, but that isn't saying much. If you only buy one of the pair then it should probably be the other one - but once you've bought that you will certainly want to own both! This recording seems to be from a different gig to it's partner, and whilst it's still very good, it doesn't quite carry the same atmosphere or depth as vol 1. But then very few albums do. It is still well-worth hearing this for extended stage versions of Velvet classics.


review by: date: 2001-11-17 rating:
pure sexy velvet
woow this is it - it truly belongs with its sister part 1. Wicked geetar, great lyrics and vocals from bluesman Reed. It has a small club feel how and I lurve its intensity. Lives up to the myth. I've listened to it for years.

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