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The Velvet Underground - Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII (2005)

Genre: Rock, Experimental Rock

The four surviving members of the original Velvet Underground reunited in 1993 for a brief European tour, initially as an opening act for U2 and later as headliners for a three-night stand in Paris. This DVD is a document of the Velvet's live shows filmed June 15-17, 1993 at L'Olympia Theater in Paris. It was previously released on CD as Velvet Redux Live: MCMXCIII. Unfortunately, the internal tensions that had destroyed the band in 1970 apparently resurfaced during the European gigs. A planned U.S. tour was scrapped when the Velvets broke up again. They have not performed together publicly in the 13 years since these recordings.

The DVD concert features the original lineup consisting of rhythm guitarist Lou Reed, John Cale on viola and electric bass, Moe Tucker on percussion, and lead guitarist Sterling Morrison, who died of cancer in 1995—a year before the Velvets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For fans, this disc is worth owning just to see the original quartet alive and performing together for what would be the last time.

Why the Velvet Underground got back together for a few weeks in 1993 remains vague, though one suspects money was involved. The irony of this is the Velvets in their heyday hardly enjoyed more than critical success. They were the darlings of the New York underground and the hipster rock press, but, to put it charitably, record sales were modest. In interviews through the years, Reed has recalled how he worked in his parents' business part-time during the band's salad years, while Morrison was known to bicycle between recording studios and college campuses to finish his degree. Morrison eventually quit the band to teach college at Texas A&M. So by 1993, cashing in on some Velvet Underground equity probably seemed like a solid idea.

On this concert DVD, Cale handles vocals on the tracks that German chanteuse Nico sang for the group nearly 40 years ago on their most famous album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. This was the record with the notorious banana cover created by artist Andy Warhol, who initially managed the band before he was fired by Reed. The pop-art design featured a bright yellow banana with a cardboard pull-tab near the top and an invitation to "peel slowly and see." Those who chose to mutilate their album covers would find a pink banana phallus underneath. Yes, this is what passed for cleverness in 1967, when acid ingestion was more common than acid indigestion.

Musically, that seminal disc, released in March of '67, would deliver an iconoclastic kick in the teeth during the Summer of Love later that year. Lou Reed penned unapologetic songs of despair, New York street life, sadomasochism ("Venus in Furs"), and odes to narcotic addiction ("Heroin"), among other unnerving preoccupations. Incredibly, thought it's one of the most nihilistic statements ever recorded by a rock band, the Velvet's debut album remains a haunting and compulsive listening experience. It is one of the few records that, once started, is almost impossible to stop. Despite the bleak thematic concerns, the melodies and musical ideas flow seamlessly to create a cohesive statement about urban life in the second half of the 20th century. Musically, the Velvets would never top their debut album, which today ranks 13 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. No coincidence, then, that a third of the tracks on this concert DVD are drawn from that first Velvet Underground record.

The relentless nihilism of the band's early years abated marginally as Reed began to flirt with the idea of a solo career. A classic Velvet track like "Rock 'N' Roll" (the first eight lines of which are quoted in The Charge, above) showed Reed was capable of expressing, well, not quite joy, but at least a heartfelt belief in rock music as salvation. Still, not long after he quit the Velvet Underground in 1970 and forged on with a solo career, Reed started yammering about transvestite groupies ("Walk on the Wild Side") and cutting loose with virtually unlistenable experimental noise (the gawdawful album Metal Machine Music). So the most recognizable face of the Velvets never completely abandoned his fascination with the dark side.

Tracklist:

• Venus in Furs

• White Light/White Heat

• Beginning to See the Light

• Some Kinda Love

• Femme Fatale

• Hey Mr. Rain

• I'm Sticking With You

• I Heard Her Call My Name

• I'll Be Your Mirror

• Rock N'Roll

• Sweet Jane

• I'm Waiting for the Man

• Heroin

• Pale Blue Eyes

• Coyote

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