Track Listing

1. Ocean
2. Pale Blue Eyes
3. Heroin
4. Some Kinda Love
5. Over You
6. Sweet Bonnie Brown
7. It's Just Too Much
8. White Light White Heat
9. I Can't Stand It
10. I'll Be Your Mirror

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14073 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's the rarest of live albums whose songs add anything to the majesty of the original studio recordings. This one adds immeasurable data to the Velvet's story. Without 1969: Live we might never have known that they were more than just an art outfit, that they could actually rock with fury. Check out Reed's strumming on "What Goes On" if you want to have your mind blown. None of these staples of the V.U. catalogue can be truly known without hearing these fully formed, fleshed-out versions, so for history's sake alone we must treasure this. History's tragedy of course is that we get to hear the excruciatingly light applause--it sounds like there's only 10 people in the room at some points--after each course in ass kicking. They were wrongly under-appreciated in their time, and for this we must all pay forever by playing this record constantly. --Gene Booth

CD Description
Though 1970 brough LOADED and (relative) commercial successfor the Velvets, it also saw the beginning of their decline. Apparent commercial concessions and interpersonal tensionshad already begun to tear the band apart at the seams. Their real peak came the year before, when--finding themselves halfway between artiness and pop pursuits--they dived headlong into amphetamine-fueled, minimalist-influenced proto-punk.The European influence had lessened with the departure of John Cale, allowing the VU to become a pure rock & roll band of unprecedented fervour.
The second volume of this seminal live set delves a bit more into the often-forgotten gentle ballad side of the VU's work. On the elliptical, strangelyromantic "Pale Blue Eyes" the stirring, almost-anthemic "Ocean" and the poignant "I'll Be Your Mirror" (the sweetest song Reed ever wrote), the band plays it low-key but unsentimental, with just enough tenderness to bring out the songs' emotions. The near-psychotic swirl of "Heroin" and the unrelenting rock & roll sledgehammer of "I Can't Stand It" remind listeners of the band's brawn.

Customer Reviews

A stunning pair of albums, but this one perhaps less so
Not as good as Volume 1, but that isn't saying much. If you only buy one of the pair then it should probably be the other one - but once you've bought that you will certainly want to own both! This recording seems to be from a different gig to it's partner, and whilst it's still very good, it doesn't quite carry the same atmosphere or depth as vol 1. But then very few albums do. It is still well-worth hearing this for extended stage versions of Velvet classics.

second verse, same as the first
When Paul Morley -- later of Art of Noise -- reviewed this for NME many years ago he more or less declared that it was the greatest rock album ever released. With the exception of Sister Ray what you have on volumes 1 and 2 together are the best versions of the Velvets' best songs, without any arty-farty messing about, and with splendid singing from Lou Reed and magnificent guitar playing from Stirling Morrison: listen to his solo on White Light, White Heat and witness a rival to Neil Young and Tom Verlaine. Finally, the sound is marvellously appropriate to the music: what it lacks in clinical polish it more than makes up for in ambience. Forget the other Velvets albums and grow old with this one.

Turn the lights down and go fix a drink
I have this and its partner on vinyl. I have them both now on CD. So I guess I like them. I never saw them before the re-union so this is close as I can get to those days. It does have background noise but that is part of the charm. Put it on, turn the lights down, go fix a drink and you can almost see Lou and the guys on the stage and its the people on the next table you hear chatting. If you're after clean then this isn't for you. But then you wouldn't like the Velvets.