(thing) by conform Sat Apr 21 2001 at 23:23:27
Peel Slowly And See is a 5-CD anthology of the Velvet Underground's studio work. It include the original four studio albums (The Velvet Underground and Nico, White Light/White Heat, The Velvet Underground, and Loaded) with the orginal tracks sandwiched between a large number of demos and unreleased songs, and a fifth CD of Lou Reed/Sterling Morrison/John Cale demos, recorded before the first album. It also contains an 84-page booklet with an extensive essay by David Frike about the history of the band and each of the recordings, as well as a whole lot of photos of the band, press clippings, show flyers, etc.

The cover of the box set includes a functional version of the Andy Warhol banana device from the VU and Nico album. Other than that, the packing is unremarkable except that the cover photo on each CD is a mastering sheet from the studio sessions listing tracks and frequently involving many scrawls and scribbles indicating track ordering for the release.

Is this set worth the time or money? I think so. There are a good number of solid but obscure songs added here; especially from the Loaded session (I'm Sticking With You, Ocean, Ride Into The Sun) and while the best of these are also included on the Fully Loaded Edition release of that album, the VU never released an album that was less than excellent, and it's worth grabbing all of the best here in one fell swoop.

The versions of the albums included in this set are much longer than their original releases (White Light/White Heat here has 14 tracks, compared to the original's 6) so here are the track listings for each CD:

Disc 1: Original Demos

  1. Venus in Furs demo
  2. Prominent Men demo
  3. Heroin demo
  4. I'm Waiting for the Man demo
  5. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams demo
  6. All Tomorrow's Parties demo

Disc 2: The Velvet Underground and Nico (tracks 2-12 comprise the original album)

  1. All Tomorrow's Parties single version
  2. Sunday Morning
  3. I'm Waiting for the Man
  4. Femme Fatale
  5. Venus in Furs
  6. Run Run Run
  7. All Tomorrow's Parties
  8. Heroin
  9. There She Goes Again
  10. I'll Be Your Mirror
  11. The Black Angel's Death Song
  12. European Son
  13. Melody Laughter live
  14. It Was a Pleasure Then
  15. Chelsea Girls

Disc 3: White Light/White Heat (tracks 8-13 comprise the orginal album)

  1. There Is No Reason demo
  2. Sheltered Life demo
  3. It's All Right (The Way That You Live) demo
  4. I'm Not Too Sorry (Now That You're Gone) demo
  5. Here She Comes Now demo
  6. Guess I'm Falling In Love live
  7. Booker T. live
  8. White Light/White Heat
  9. The Gift
  10. Lady Godiva's Operation
  11. Here She Comes Now
  12. I Heard Her Call My Name
  13. Sister Ray
  14. Stephanie Says
  15. Temptation Inside Your Heart
  16. Hey Mr. Rain (version one)

Disc 4: The Velvet Underground (tracks 2-11 comprise the original album, though this is a different mix than the original release)

  1. What Goes On live
  2. Candy Says
  3. What Goes On
  4. Some Kinda Love
  5. Pale Blue Eyes
  6. Jesus
  7. Beginning To See The Light
  8. I'm Set Free
  9. THat's The Story Of My Life
  10. THe Murder Mystery
  11. After Hours
  12. Foggy Notion
  13. I Can't Stand It
  14. I'm Sticking With You
  15. One Of These Days
  16. Lisa Says
  17. It's Just Too Much live
  18. Countess From Hong Kong demo

Disc 5: Loaded (tracks 1-10 comprise the original album)

  1. Who Loves The Sun
  2. Sweet Jane full length version
  3. Rock And Roll
  4. Cool It Down
  5. New Age full length version
  6. Head Held High
  7. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
  8. I Found A Reason
  9. Train Round The Bend
  10. Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
  11. Satellite Of Love
  12. Walk And Talk
  13. Oh Gin
  14. Sad Song
  15. Ocean
  16. Ride Into The Sun
  17. Some Kinda Love live
  18. I'll Be Your Mirror live
  19. I Love You

I like it!