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Velvet Underground OG Check

TheMackTheMack 3,414 Posts
edited September 2006 in Strut Central
i got velvet undergrounds 3rd (s/t) album and was wondering if anyone could help me verify if it's an original UK press with the Val Valentin mix. i know it's a UK pressing but i dont know the signs to tell if it's the Val Valentin mix. can anyone help me out?

  Comments

  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    have you heard the closet mix? it's very noticeably different. Also, I believe the 1st UK press split the back photo the wrong way side to side, not up and down.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    The 1969 UK original pressing of the third Velvets album is easily one of the rarest major label LPs of the 1960s. Estimates of the number of copies pressed are around the 600 mark. This UK first press was unique, containing a different mix to that which was issued in other countries, as well as a different back cover. These quirks were both corrected for later pressings.

    As most Velvets fans know, this LP exists in two completely different mixes, the MGM engineer Val Valentin???s mix and the Lou Reed mix (or ???closet??? mix - for the claustrophobic sound). Prior to release, the Valentin mix was rejected and Lou Reed???s mix was intended to be used on all pressings worldwide. All went to plan, except in the UK. Here in Britain, Valentin???s discarded mix was mistakenly pressed into action, presumably as the result of MGM in the USA supplying the wrong masters.

    The LP was simply deleted from the MGM catalogue in the UK instead of being repressed with the closet mix, leaving only the initial batch of a few hundred in existence. When the album was eventually reissued the early 70s, the closet mix was in place. That 2nd MGM version is by far the most common UK pressing around.

    The differences between the two mixes are huge. For one track, ???Some Kinda Love???, a completely different recording is utilised. This can be easily detected, as the Valentin version is longer and has two duelling guitars (one in each channel) and a faint cowbell, while the Lou Reed mix features a totally different take with only one guitar (in the right channel) and a much louder cowbell in the left channel. The other nine tracks are the same takes in both versions, but mixed very differently. In ???I???m Set Free??? for example, the Valentin mix brings up the ringing 12-string guitars and gives Mo???s drums more air. Reed???s closet mix suffocates these instruments in favour of the bass and the vocals, giving a much stuffier sound. Overall, the Valentin mix is simply a better balanced master which really gives the instruments greater equality and clarity. Over the years, the Valentin mix has gradually become the preferred choice for reissues, but would it have seen the light of day at all if not for this ???rogue??? UK original?

    Not only did the UK get the first airing of the Valentin mix, it also got a different cover design. On every other edition of the LP, the split photos of Lou Reed on the back are arranged vertically. On this pressing, they are horizontal. Again, when the 1971 pressing was issued, this mistake was corrected. The cover itself is a front laminated flipback, printed by Garrod & Lofthouse.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    there ya go. chances ae the one ya got is the 2nd issue which is about as common as the US press. Anyone who wants to get this should really opt for the early 80's US press on Verve. The Valentine mix is THEEE mix of this, IMO, of course.
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    there ya go. chances ae the one ya got is the 2nd issue which is about as common as the US press. Anyone who wants to get this should really opt for the early 80's US press on Verve. The Valentine mix is THEEE mix of this, IMO, of course.

    I was going to note this. I have both pressings and personally prefer the Valentin. There is a marked difference between the two, and like their first LP, both mixes have been reissued so's you don't have to spend big to get a taste.
  • TheMackTheMack 3,414 Posts
    ok that solves it. the back photo of mine is split vertically. thanks for the info
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    there ya go. chances ae the one ya got is the 2nd issue which is about as common as the US press. Anyone who wants to get this should really opt for the early 80's US press on Verve. The Valentine mix is THEEE mix of this, IMO, of course.

    You're saying the Polydor reish from the 80s is the Valentino mix?

    I don't think I've ever picked that up...

    Does it note which mix it is anywhere or are all the reissues the OG mix?
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    there ya go. chances ae the one ya got is the 2nd issue which is about as common as the US press. Anyone who wants to get this should really opt for the early 80's US press on Verve. The Valentine mix is THEEE mix of this, IMO, of course.

    You're saying the Polydor reish from the 80s is the Valentino mix?

    I don't think I've ever picked that up...

    Does it note which mix it is anywhere or are all the reissues the OG mix?

    Aside from the original UK press the 80's verve/polydor repress is the first widely available version with the VV mix. I know there was also a CD release of the VV mix too, but the box set has the closet mix. I know it's currently in print on wax, but have not heard it to know what mix. No copies I've ever seen make note of the different mixes... so it's tough, but once you've heard both it's like night and day...
  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    there ya go. chances ae the one ya got is the 2nd issue which is about as common as the US press. Anyone who wants to get this should really opt for the early 80's US press on Verve. The Valentine mix is THEEE mix of this, IMO, of course.

    You're saying the Polydor reish from the 80s is the Valentino mix?

    I don't think I've ever picked that up...

    Does it note which mix it is anywhere or are all the reissues the OG mix?

    Aside from the original UK press the 80's verve/polydor repress is the first widely available version with the VV mix. I know there was also a CD release of the VV mix too, but the box set has the closet mix. I know it's currently in print on wax, but have not heard it to know what mix. No copies I've ever seen make note of the different mixes... so it's tough, but once you've heard both it's like night and day...

    An aside: I wonder how much Greg Calbi's 1984 remastering added to the overall sound of the s/t on the later Verve pressing. It's certainly much cleaner. A little grit is gone, but the separation just sounds more competant - a bit like the non-Bowied version of Raw Power. I'd never directly juxtaposed the two versions until tonight.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    yeah, good point... I actaully like the '84 remastering of WLWH, but hate it on Velvets and Nico...
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