The Complete Matrix Tapes

The double album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live is the apex of live recorded rock n' roll for many (certainly for me anyway) ... one of the greatest live albums ever made. Unbelievably this new set makes most of it more or less redundant. This is the VU recorded live at the Matrix in San Francisco across two fine nights in November '69. A lot of the same tracks as on 1969 Live but superior mixes in better quality. The club had its own built-in recording studio and the sound reproduction is far, far better than 1969 Live. If you're familiar with 1969 then this will blow your mind. Lou is so droll on his introductions, he really makes me chuckle. You can tell he's having fun.... extemporising lyrics as he goes along and taking well-known songs into new areas. The band are super tight but also kind of confidently loose at the same time. I'm listening to it now and can't really believe the thing exists. I wish there was more live VU from 1967 and 1968 in this quality when the band were a bit more wild and jagged. I believe some tapes exist but the owners are reluctant to part with them for various reasons. Well - no matter, this is tremendous stuff and will more than satisfy for now. Pity 2 full cds of it came out as part of last year's Super Deluxe 3rd album but I guess that's how recordland operates nowadays. Stellar release anyway - highly recommended. >edit< Just noticed the price has dropped to £29.99 today - and I paid £44.99 just yesterday... bit of a buzzkiller. Oh well, just my tuff luck I guess :(

First of all I've never heard any of these recordings before (didn't buy the special edition 3rd album with part of this set included) and I must say they're fantastic. Sound quality is brilliant and it's like the VU are there in your front room with you. Whilst sound quality is important the thing that really appeals to me and the reason why I think these sets easily deserve five stars is the sheer quality of the performances. Whilst they all differ from the studio album versions they are great performances (Version 1 of Waiting For The Man is personally the best I've heard) and this gives you an insight as to how good Lou and the band were in what I consider to be their heyday. Packaging is pretty basic compared to some of the other more plush editions with just a basic box,card sleeves and a 21 page booklet but at £29.99 I think this is a bargain for as someone else here mentions one of the best live albums you'll hear. If you 're a fan of the Velvets then you should have this album in your collection.

This is a wonderful set. Truly. As most who have bought or will by this, I have known Live 69 for a long time and the upgrade on songs from that set is astounding. Then there are all the new versions to replace those on various bootlegs with the blistering WLWH Version 1 and WGO V1 being amongst the many highlights. There's just one thing and it is just a wee observation. In no way diminishes the 5 stars. The tracks that appear on both this set and the VU 45th Anniversary box set Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Deluxe are mastered (is that the word?) slightly differently. Just seems weird they are different. The 45th versions are slightly louder with the bass being slightly deeper and the treble bits slightly more trebly. I only noticed after a long time of listening as I well and truly have got my money's worth from all the VU reissues. Anyway, just thought I'd mention it.

It's almost criminal this hasn't been released before. Given the poor quality of the handful of tapes that have existed, and the 'racket in a bucket' of the officially released 'Live At Max's Kansas City' and 'Live 1969', the Velvets fierce old live reputaion might seem at best baffling. At last, I see what the point might actually have been. Over these four discs, the Velvets live reputation becomes obvious. The sound is crisp and clear, and you can hear everything in precise detail. Sure. By modern standards this might not be amazing, and by Velvets standards these probably werent the best shows the band ever played, but … imagine. After 46 years hiding in a box, finally, the Velvet Underground live can be heard as clearly as they were if you were actually there. Firstly, junk all your other Velvets live recordings, - or more correctly, if you only have the studio albums, get this and – at a push – the MCMXVIII live reunion release. Most of the performances on “Live 1969” are on this set ; and on “Live 1969” they were recorded using a cheap tape player as a bootleg : these are the professionally mixed sound coming out direct from the venue speakers, not a shoddy four generation 50 year old bootleg. The whole set features four full shows and over four hours of live Velvets recorded in pristine condition, - and whilst most of the shows have been released over the years on “Live 1969” and the “Quine Tapes” - put simply they are all absolutely redundant and useless when you hear this. Everything else sounds dreadful, and you only need these four shows.

Robert Quine (qui devint un très grand guitariste de rock méconnu, et joua un temps avec Lou Reed), simple fan puis ami du groupe, a capté le Velvet en concert avec les moyens du bord. Une partie des bandes est sortie sur Live 1969. Bien des années plus tard, une version plus complète est sortie sur ce coffret magnifique. Malgré la qualité sonore, c'est la preuve par neuf de ce que savait faire Velvet en concert : le jeu est fluide, souple, à la fois détendu et précis. Une grande leçon de rock intelligent, et la preuve que même avec Doug Yule à la place de John Cale, le Velvet restait un groupe essentiel.

Live at 'The Matrix' - San Francisco, November 26 & 27, 1969. Die 'Velvet Underground' präsentieren sich an diesen beiden Tagen als beeindruckend eingespielte Liveformation. Auch die wiederkehrenden Songs der vier Sets bieten immer wieder neue Facetten. Viele der Songs gehen zurück auf das legendäre Doppel-Vinyl-Album "1969 - The Velvet Underground Live". Insgesamt 42 Aufnahmen/Songs, einige nur auf speziellen Editionen bisher veröffentlicht, neun Songs sind bisher unveröffentlicht. Die 'Matrix-Tapes' bieten wirklich beeindruckende Versionen: neben vielen anderen besonders erwähnenswert: ein selten so intensiv gehörtes "Ocean" (~ 11 Min.), ein nicht endenden wollendes "Sister Ray" (~ 37 Min.) oder ein dahinschmelzendes "Pale Blue Eyes". Besonders erwähnenswert - und von daher sind die 5 Sterne voll gerechtfertigt - die sehr erfreuliche Klangqualität. Zur Ausgabe: 4 CDs in einer festen Box (im CD-Format) // ein 24-seitiges Booklet mit Liner-Notes von David Fricke (Rolling Stone-Redakteur / 2015) ergänzt das Set. "A great rock & roll gig and a history that keeps on giving". Fazit: Aus meiner Sicht "uneingeschränkt empfehlenswert". Abschließend die Band-Besetzung: > Lou Reed - vocals, guitar > Sterling Morrison - guitar, backing vocals > Doug Yule - bass, organ, backing vocals > Maureen Tucker - percussion [Reinhard Busse]

"Good evening, we're your local Velvet Underground. I don't want any of you to enjoy the songs frivolously." Lou Reed, the Matrix, 1969. Was the Velvet Underground (VU) one of the greatest bands of it's period? These tapes (from two nights of an 18 night West Coast stand) just may help you decide 'yes' if you're on the fence. Unlike the Quine Tapes which were low-fi recordings, this set of music is taken from clean soundboard sources that will be a revelation to VU fans that have only heard Quine's tapes. If you're reading this chances are you own at least one of the band's reissued editions, including the recent 5 CD set that includes 18 tracks from this Matrix set, so you already know about the sound quality. So you'll have to decide if having the extra music on this new set is worth it money-wise. Suffice to say this is the best sounding VU you'll probably ever hear. The music is a revelation (turn up the volume on Set 2's "Heroin" (Version 2) into "White Light White Heat" (Version1) for almost 20 minutes of rhythmic guitar intensity), heard now in good sound. Yes, there's a few songs that are repeated, but largely the performances will make you forget that fact--especially if you're a deep VU fan. The discs slip (tightly) into thick cardboard sleeves with nice graphics on the front and a track list on the back cover. The 23 page booklet has a long essay by David Fricke which is interesting and informative, along with a couple of b&w photos of the band on stage and a track list for each set. The VU was never "popular" during their day--only a few people picked up on the band's lyrics/music and their visceral delivery. Liked by critics, sadly their music wasn't in step with the (then) current music most other bands were dishing out. That first album with the banana on the cover (I still have mine--"unpeeled") was kind of weird even for those times. And some of the song titles on their first few albums weren't accepted by a more innocent music-listening public--I never let my parents see those album covers in those days. And when you heard Reed's lyrics about sadomasochism and dope...well that was enough thank you. And besides "you couldn't dance to the music". And with a lot of West Coast bands getting all the attention, the VU was out in the cold. But this live collection from the Matrix in S.F. (actually one of the band's favorite places to play on the West Coast) will prove that the VU had the rock 'n' roll goods. There was an old saying that few people bought VU albums, but those that did went out and formed their own rock bands. And when you hear these songs you'll get a better understanding of why that could be true. Down to a quartet without Cale's droning viola, the band plays song after song of stripped back, trance-like, rock 'n' roll, blowing some late '60s hippie minds along the way. Is the VU a S.F. dance band along the lines of the Grateful Dead? No. An r&b/blues/Haight street/guitar flash type of band like Quicksilver Messenger Service? Not really. This music grips you with an underlying current of menace like few other bands could do. Lurking just beneath the surface of these songs is a minimalist power, an edge, a toughness that's undeniable. The street-wise, sometimes grim, no nonsense delivery--with Reed's unadorned vocals (along with Morrison and Yule on backing vocals), and that two guitars/rhythm section (with something new-- a "girl" drummer playing drums in her unadorned style!), and some good late '60s swirling organ courtesy of Yule--give these performances a real-deal, uncompromising sound--grim and compassionate and rock 'n' roll all at the same time. The band plays their music with a slowly changing swell of rhythm--beginning a song slowly, building things up, and then backing off, only to increase the momentum again. But saying all that, check out the vocal on "After Hours" on Discs ("Sets") 1 and 2 for a nice pleasant surprise. Picking out high points is a waste of time--we all will have our favorites--this music should be heard as one experience. But this isn't the Velvet Underground from the time of their first album---more like something closer to their third album with the edges lightly smoothed down. This is New York/street r 'n' r strained through a minimalist sieve. It doesn't matter when you discovered the VU. Luckily I stumbled on their first album (and subsequently bought the next few albums) when first released on vinyl way back then--when I had to borrow my mother's car to drive to the record store. And I've been a fan of those first few albums since then. But even if you're relatively new to the band's music, this box set of live performances is something you probably can't afford to miss. No matter the length of the song, and there's some lengthy stuff here, this is the real thing--not rock filtered through hippie/tie-dye/incense/love beads/flowers--and I was in college in Palo Alto in the late '60s/early'70s during the height of the "Summer of Love", and love that period of music. But if you like rock 'n' roll with an East Coast/streetwise edge, give this a good listening. One of the better releases this year.

まずつっこみたい点が、このようにコンプリート版を出すならば なぜ3rdのデラックスで一部をちょい出ししたのか、という点。 せこいなぁとは思いつつも結局"お布施"として購入したわけですが、再生してみると あまりの内容の凄まじさにそんな不満は吹っ飛んでしいました...。 1969年の11月26日と27日のSanFranciscoのMatrixでの音源。 実際には他の日の音源も混じっている模様。 Lou Reedはハコの大きさによって演奏の質が変わったそうで、 とくに小さいハコでのライブが良かったとライナーでDoug Yuleが語っています。 まさにこのMatrixというハコは小さく、メンバー全員が集中して演奏しており、 さらに各地のライブサーキットで演奏力が鍛えられ、 このバンドとしては最高の場所・最高の時期のライブ音源です。 装丁／ライナーは非常にシンプル。 しかし完全初出音源が９曲含まれていることはいわずもがな、 既出音源にもリマスタリングが施され音が良くなっています。 音量は小さめに設定されているのですが、通常のCDの1.5倍くらいの音量で再生すると 自然な音色で鳴ってくれます。今回のリマスターは全ての楽器がバランスよく鳴るような印象。 とりわけ「Quine Tapes」で聴けた音源は、あちらがRobert Quineが持ち込んだ機材で録音されたのに対し、 こちらは会場備え付けの4トラックレコーダーで録音された"同テイク別録音"なのでとんでもなく音質向上しています。 Disc2のWhite Light/White Heatにはぶったまげるしかありません。 オリジナルアルバムの一連のデラックス版が有名ブートの公式移植的な傾向が強かったのに対し、 今回は"公式にしか"出来ないリイシューになっていて、(皮肉にも)質的にずば抜けて優れている。 ………さて、気は早いが「End of Cole Ave. Tapes」は公式で出るのでしょうか。

Best live recordings of The Velvet Underground bar none, not only complete but also far superior to any previously released versions of The Matrix club tapes. This is a must-have, holy grail type set for fans.