Great filling up between White Light and The Velvet Undergr
This album is a great filling up between 'White Light' and 'The Velvet Underground' albums. You can hear the songs which could be on White Light (Mr Rain, Guess I'm Falling in love) and other ones for the later albums. Guess I'm Falling in love is better than the live versions !!!! It's just a pure and raw instrumental.THere are some other beatifull instrumentals too on the album: ride into the sun, ... By the way, don't miss 'Mr. Rain VERSION 2', cause it's way better than the first version (on peel slowly and see). Dont' know why they didn't put this version on the box. But, well a true Velvet fan needs both.
This CD Rocks!
Don't listen to amazon's reviewers or whoever that other person up there is. So maybe you get an extra Mr. Rain. Big deal. This is really a cool extention of the studio albums that blends the Cale-Yule transtion nicely. "Real Good Time Together" is my favorite hand-clapping speed freak Velvets song, and this version is really cool because Moe sings on it. "Ride Into The Sun" is a trippy kandy-colored instrumental that's nothing like the other versions that have words (I recommend lighting that afternoon smoke to this one and kicking back). "Coney Island Steeplechase" is one of those summer Saturday breakfast cereal tunes that just begs to played on the way to the beach. "I'm Gonna Move Right In" is a jazzy theme that you won't find anywhere but bootlegs, and "Guess I'm Falling In Love" (the only studio version that I know of) is just mean, man. Plus, you get the typical edgy perverse stuff ("Ferryboat Bill", "Mr. Rain") and a rootsy pre-Loaded "Rock And Roll"....A great rare Velvets mix for anyone who wants to get deep or just feel good.
Essential listening - from a fan's perspective at least
As a fan, I rate this higher than your average listener probably would. For me it's essential although VU, their other compilation of non-album tracks, is much more so. I can understand why someone might accuse the Velvet's instrumentation of being rudimentary or why they might dislike Lou Reed's occasionally (and gleefully) overextended voice. But the Velvet Underground is loved for being raw, unflinchingly real, positively fearless and sometimes even darkly humorous. Lou Reed wrote about whatever he wanted including the drug life and other subjects that garanteed alienation from the mainstream of the 60s. Today, the world has finally caught up with them and they've even been inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame."We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together" - a perfect opener, this one is very upbeat and straight to the point. Spirited strumming, hand claps and "Na, na, nas" all add to the fun. *****
"I'm Gonna Move Right In" - a laid-back and groovy shuffle, this instrumental track showcases Sterling Morrison's ample improvisational skills. Someone pointed out to my initial surprize that VU were occasionally were occasionally similar to their perceived musical opposites The Grateful Dead. I dare say it's true, the main justification for the comparison being Mr. Morrison's playing. *****
"Hey Mr. Rain (version 1)" - If New York City art-punks were prone to rain dancing during times of draught, this is what they might play: a strange loping tune with trippy viola from original Velvet John Cale. ***1/2
"Ride Into The Sun" - This track is simplicity itself and exquisitely pretty. Quite different from the song it would later become with vocals by Doug Yule who became Cale's replacement. The version with the Yule vocal appears on the PEEL SLOWLY AND SEE box set and is very good as well. At this stage, "Ride" is an instrumental sounding a bit like a variation of the classic "Sweet Jane" which shares some of the same chords. ****1/2
"Coney Island Steeple Chase" - a decent rocker, but far from their best. I have a strange suspicion that majorly altered states of some kind were involved in this recording due to the general lazy feeling about it. But for all I know "altered states" were an integral part of all their records. ***
"Guess I'm Falling In Love" - one of their hardest rockers. Too bad they never laid down the original vocals with this recording, but it's still great. ****1/2
"Hey Mr. Rain (version 2)" - similar to version one but better due to a quicker pace, more insistent vocals, additional guitar flourishes and a more intense stab at viola from Cale. ****
"Ferryboat Bill" - A thumping little keyboard driven oddity that churns along until it's repeatedly interupted by a couple bars of doo-wop style "do n do dos." As a curiosity I like it, but can't objectively rate it too high. **1/2
"Rock n Roll" - a worthy alternate version from the one that appeared on LOADED featuring a chrystaline guitar despite the rather poor recording quality found on this song as well as most others on ANOTHER VIEW. But the Velvets were avid experimenters and that often extended to the recording process itself. You gotta accept the occasional shortcomings in their quest for sonic genius which they accomplished more often than not. ****1/2
An aside: as an obsessive Velvethead, I like to mull over the great lost Velvet album that might have been. VU have a great wealth of non-album tracks to choose from. I think my version of the ultimate "Lost Album" is as good as any official album they released!
Side 1
We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together
Guess I'm Falling In Love (instrumental version)
I Can't Stand It (PEEL SLOWLY AND SEE remaster)
Lisa Says (PSAS remaster)
Sad Song
Foggy Notion (PSAS remaster)
Ride Into The Sun (PSAS version)
Side 2
One Of These Days (PSAS remaster)
Hey Mr. Rain (version 2)
Walk It, Talk It
She's My Best Friend
Satellite Of Love (PSAS version)
Stephanie Says (PSAS remaster)
Ocean (PSAS version)
I Love You
Even the leftover cuts would provide a rewarding and fun collection of B-tracks and alternate takes that would tickle any Velvethead pink:
Rock n Roll -> Ride Into The Sun
Side 1
Rock n Roll (ANOTHER VIEW version)
Hey Mr. Rain (version 1 - PSAS remaster)
I'm Gonna Move Right In
Temptation Inside Your Heart (PSAS remaster)
I'm Sticking With You (PSAS remaster)
Side 2
Ocean (VU version)
Oh Gin
Coney Island Steeple Chase
Ferryboat Bill
Andy's Chest (VU version)
Ride Into The Sun (ANOTHER VIEW version)
Forgettable
late era vault tapes from one of rock's most seminal bands. A few early outtakes have some Cale on them, but the songs are so lame, who cares? Annoying version one of "Hey Mr. Rain" ruins the marginally better version two, "Real Good Time Together" isn't any better here than it is on Reed's solo album, and you can do without the original "Rock and Roll" that's here too. "Ferryboat Bill" is of some amusement, but one nugget out of nine? If you have to have unreleased Velvets, "VU" is the album to buy, in fact its a must have. Novices, don't start here-fans, buy something influenced by the Velvets instead.
An underrated set of essential songs for VU fans
ANOTHER VIEW is the sequel to VU, the first set of previously unreleased songs by the influential New York group. While not as consistently strong as VU, some of the pieces here, like both versions of the vague, unsettling "Hey Mr. Rain" and the silly "Ferryboat Bill" are undeniably essential to a Velvet Underground fan's collection.
