Posted on 10/28/2021 11:00:25 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
How do you make a rock doc without any concert footage? In his electric portrait of the Velvet Underground, the film-maker Todd Haynes elegantly sidesteps this conundrum. Unable to rely on archive material of their gigs, he turns instead to the early films of Andy Warhol, their friend, publicist and one-time manager.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Maybe he was a talented person, but I never could get past that "wild side" stuff. RIP.
I like Lou Reid, at least what I’ve heard from him. And that is not much. I have heard some stuff for the 1st time recently on my Sirius XM deep tracks channel .And I really like take a walk on the wild side.
I’ve read the documentary was tame but I like that because quite frankly I don’t want to actually ‘see’ the wild side of NYC in the 70s. I was there and I saw it and it was not a pretty sight.
But I’m waiting to see it on amazon prime. Don’t know if it will ever get there.
“Maybe he was a talented person, but I never could get past that “wild side” stuff.”
That song was a commentary on the abysmal state of NYC at the time. The unedited “not suitable for airplay” version makes that pretty clear.
If you want to hear an amazing version of Sweet Jane check out Reed’s “Rock and Roll Animal” album.
L
I always thought it was "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", that started it.
Best Live Album, ever. No better double-guitar attack than Hunter and Wagner.
Not a huge Reed fan either. I like the album with Nicco the best. But you must admit, he and the Velvets were a huge influence on people like Bowie, The Stooges, Mott The Hoople and others.
Nothing to do with the topic, but I like your screen name. The great Lee Marvin. Back when movies were fun.
A lot of the footage was taken from Andy Warhol’s short films. He seemed to be the intellectual glue that held the group together but Lou Reed was definitely the poet for the group.
I thought it was interesting how much the East Coast intellectuals and radicals hated the West Coast hippie love child types. They thought they were hedonistic children with no interest in real cultural revolution.
The also hated Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention which seemed weird since they were pushing the same antiestablishment themes. I think the real reason they hated him is that he was actually a talented virtuoso on his instruments and a more creative composer than anybody from the VU.
I doubt history will long remember the VU which seemed narsisistic and pretentious compared to real artists in jazz and progressive rock of the time that could actually play their axe although John Cale was fairly skilled. The best example of how shallow they were was their touring with the tone-deaf Nico long beyond her 15 minutes of fame for “La Dulce Vida”.
John Prakash was legendary on the bass.
L
“I think the real reason they hated him is that he was actually a talented virtuoso on his instruments and a more creative composer than anybody from the VU.”
As good as VU was they couldn’t hold a candle to Zappa’s genius for composing.
L
“New Sensations” by Lou Reed introduced me to the Kawasaki GPz. This has cost me a small fortune over the years, but I am on my third 1981 GPz 1100 now, and regret none of it. In fact, I love that GPz so much I could kiss it.
One of the most entertaining comedies/westerns ever despite Jane Fonda. Check out my profile for a picture of the Kid sleeping one off.
“...and the colored girls sing, doot, do-doot, do-doot... “
There are still a few around in garages. Those old bikes never seem to die. Most don’t get many miles on them, either. I almost bought one in the late 90s but got a Suzuki GSX1100G shaftie instead.
That’s the one. Amazing live performances by everyone involved.
L
Yeah, I had that album, so I knew it was it. 🙂
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