Hard to imagine, considering the band practically invented punk, indie and every other vital modern musical form, but as the Velvet Underground’s van pulled up to San Francisco club the Matrix for several nights in 1969, the only reputation it had was as a deeply uncommercial former adjunct to Andy Warhol. It’s felt in the smattering of applause greeting the band across these four discs, comprising the most beautifully recorded selection of live Velvets you’ll ever hear.
But you’ll also hear dramatically di fferent versions of familiar chestnuts like “I’m Waiting For The Man,” “What Goes On” (with Doug Yule’s organ replacing Lou Reed’s lead guitar), nearly 40 whiplash minutes of “Sister Ray” and a “Heroin” that easily kills any other version you’ve heard, including the studio take. Casual listeners may balk at an expensively packaged boxed set of live material. But this is less a vault-clearing and more an essential document.
—Tim Stegall
