On November 26 and 27, 1969, The Velvet Underground played two sets at San Francisco club The Matrix. Both sets were professionally recorded, and an edited-down version of the shows was released five years later as 1969: The Velvet Underground Live. Some of this material also appeared on the Quine tapes, released in 2001, and a scrubbed and remastered version of some of the original set appeared as bonus material on last year’s Velvet Underground reissue.
Now, the entire 42-song set comprising both nights of the Velvets’ 1969 Matrix run are being released as a 4-CD boxed set. As Uncut reports, The Complete Matrix Tapes, as the set is called, were mixed from the original tracks, and include nineteen previously unreleased recordings, including “Some Kinda Love” and “Sweet Jane” from the first night and “There She Goes Again,” “After Hours,” and “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together” from the second night.
While the old adage about how everyone who purchased the original limited pressing of The Velvet Underground & Nico may be true (it’s not), the world isn’t exactly hurting for VU material these days. In addition to the four LPs the band produced during their original four-year run, the last few years has seen the release of dramatically expanded editions of three of those four albums (in addition to 1997’s 2-CD expansion of Loaded, which will get its own deluxe box this fall, too), as well as the 1995 boxed set Peel Slowly and See and 2001’s Quine Tapes release. Still, The Complete Matrix Tapes is, somewhat incredibly, the first-ever release of an entire Velvet Underground show, and is probably worth your time for that fact alone. The entire set’s track list is below.
The Complete Matrix Tapes track list
Set One (November 26)
1. I’m Waiting for the Man (Version 1) (14:06) ***
2. What Goes On (Version 1) (8:58) **
3. Some Kinda Love (Version 1) (4:59) *
4. Heroin (Version 1) (8:13) ***
5. The Black Angel’s Death Song (6:20) ***
6. Venus in Furs (Version 1) (4:38) +
7. There She Goes Again (Version 1) (3:08) +
8. We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (Version 1) (3:16) **
9. Over You (Version 1) (2:24) **
10. Sweet Jane (Version 1) (5:12) *
11. Pale Blue Eyes (6:08) +
12. After Hours (Version 1) (2:58) +
Set Two (November 26)
1. I’m Waiting for the Man (Version 2) (6:38) **
2. Venus in Furs (Version 2) (5:16) ***
3. I Can’t Stand It (Version 1) (7:54) **
4. There She Goes Again (Version 2) (2:54) *
5. Some Kinda Love (Version 2) (4:12) + / **
6. Over You (Version 2) (3:07) +
7. After Hours (Version 2) (2:37) *
8. We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (Version 2) (3:42) *
9. Sweet Bonnie Brown/Too Much (7:54) **
10. Heroin (Version 2) (10:08) **
11. White Light/White Heat (Version 1) (9:30) ***
12. I’m Set Free (4.48) +
Set Three (November 27)
1. We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (Version 3) (3:18) *
2. Some Kinda Love (Version 3) (4:40) *
3. There She Goes Again (Version 3) (3:02) *
4. Heroin (Version 3) (8:34) **
5. Ocean (11:03) **
6. Sister Ray (37.08) + / ***
Set Four (November 27)
1. I’m Waiting for the Man (Version 3) (5:31) +
2. What Goes On (Version 2) (4:34) +
3. Some Kinda Love (Version 4) (4:46) *
4. We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together (Version 4) (3:26) +
5. Beginning to See the Light (5:42) + / **
6. Lisa Says (6:05) + / **
7. New Age (6:41) **
8. Rock and Roll (6.58) + / ** / ***
9. I Can’t Stand It (Version 2) (6:54) +
10. Heroin (Version 4) (8:18) +
11. White Light/White Heat (Version 2) (8:45) + / **
12. Sweet Jane (Version 2) (4:20) + / **
All mixes previously unreleased, except +
+ appears on The Velvet Underground (3rd album) Super Deluxe Edition
* previously unreleased performance
** performance appears on 1969: The Velvet Underground Live
*** performance appears on The Quine Tapes Box Set
The Complete Matrix Tapes is out November 20 on Polydor/UMC.
(via Uncut)
