Search - Velvet Underground :: Live at Max's Kansas City (Dlx)

"I'm Begining to See the Light..."

Kenneth M. Gelwasser | Hollywood, Fl USA | 08/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've owned the Velvet Underground's "Live at Max's Kansas City" for a number of years. I always found it to be the perfect CD for those strange nights, where you are tired as hell, but you still can't sleep. In other words it's the perfect late night album to just hang out to.The album, which is sort of a quasi band released bootleg, captured the very last performance (not counting any reunions) Lou Reed played with his Velvet bandmates before heading off into the 1970's and beyond for a solo career. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't put this CD on the stereo in a pretty long time. But I purchased Rhino Record's newly remastered and restored version and decided to give it a try. Well from the very first note, the only thought in my head was "Boy that's what Rock 'n Roll is all about..." It's sort of the same feeling I sometimes get from listening to early Buddy Holly or Eddy Cochran. It's just basic, primitive, Rock 'n Roll. The show truely is great. It has a wonderful set list (classics such as "Waiting for the Man", "Sweet Jane", "White Light White Heat" ) with some incendiary performances.My personal favorite cut is the slow ballad, "Pale Blue Eyes". Lou gives an amazing delivery! While Rhino has now remastered the sound, it still has that 'bootleg' feel to it. The clinking of glasses and audience conversations (including a very loud discussion about Nixon bombing Cambodia) just seems to add to the recording's ambience. You really feel like you are there. I love this CD! It's what Rock 'n Roll music is all about."

Five and half new tracks! Get me a double Pernod!

Walter Five | 13th Floor Elevator, Enron Hubbard Bldg. Houston T | 01/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow! There have been so many upgrades and additions to the Velvet Underground catalog over the last 7 or 8 years that it's difficult to keep up with all of them. Here's another worthy upgrade for us completists who must have every mix and every note of recorded tape available. While *every* album in the VU catalog can be considereed "essential" for different reasons, the revision and remastering leads this one ahead of LIVE 1969 as well as The Quine Tapes, as the best live document of the band (prior to the 1992 reunion).



THIS remaster offers an additional set's worth of material. It seems that the original producers 'cherry picked' the 'best' tracks for the original LP. Here you will find both sets, more or less complete (less in the case of the 2nd set, which picks up at the beginning of the second verse of "Who Loves The Sun.")



However, I wouldn't wish to imply that the material orginally deleted is in any way inferior-- it's not, these are performances that are as strong as anything on the album.



This set is historically significant for several reasons. The most immediate sonic reason being this is the first LP appearance of then 17' year old drummer Billy Yule. Billy's drumming is completely different from Moe Tucker's (who left temporarily to have a child), it's Rock n' Roll drumming with lots of drum rolls, fills and flash, a great departure from Moe's more sparse and primitive style. Personally, I find young Billy's style ameteurishly over the top, but it's not so detracting or distracting to take away from the overall ambience of the album. This is also Lou Reed's last night with the Velvet Underground-- Doug Yule and Tucker (rejoining the group after her pregnancy) soldiered on for another year and a half touring, but it wasn't really the Velvet Underground by that point.



The remastering of the sound for this CD is quite amazing. For those of us that grew up with the original LP release, it's hard to believe they were able to pull the sound quality up to this degree."

Live and loud

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 06/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It seems appropriate that rocker-muse Bebe Buell once wrote and sang, "Cut my teeth at Max's Kansas City/My soul is pure rock." It was the original rock'n'roll club, with drag queens, actors, hit singers and underground hits in the same room. It had Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and then-waittress Debbie Harry hanging out in the same place.



Alas, there hasn't really been a place like Max's Kansas City since. So it seems appropriate that a momentous rock occasion took place there: Lou Reed did his final show with the Velvet Underground. Fortunately, a pal named Brigid Polk taped the whole thing, and this "legitimate bootleg" is a rough-cut little slice of what that night was all about.



It opens with drums being clattered, instruments being tested, and a lot of background chatter. Then Reed offers a dignified intro ("you're allowed to dance, in case you don't know"), before launching into several songs that are primarily from "Loaded" and "White Light/White Heat," with stage chatter between songs.



Apparently Reed unexpectedly changed the second set (on the second disc), including material from the "Nico days," early in the band's existance, including a spare, stripped-down version of "I'll Be Your Mirror," a gentle "Candy Says," a suitably hungover-sounding "Sunday Morning," and the way-too-long "Some Kinda Love."



The album is bootleg quality, especially since they didn't have digital recording then, and Polk used a tape. So it's very fuzzy around the edges, a little incoherent here and there; "Femme Fatale" is downright murky. But it's all in remarkably good shape when one considers that it is from 1970.



And to some degree, its rough quality can be seen as a blessing. People like me -- who were born way after Max's Kansas City faded away -- can get a brief taste of what the nightlife at Max's was like, when fashion, art and pop all collided. So the background voices and clattery tuneups just add to the "you are there" quality.



It's also noteworthy because the songs included are among their best, and because Reed delivers them with so much emotion. There's a certain poignancy to his introduction when one realizes that it would be his last show with the Velvets. And it gives a bit of extra oomph to certain songs like "I'll Be Your Mirror."



"Live At Max's Kansas City" is not the best-quality live album there is. But it is a small slice of the psychedelic nightlife for anyone who wasn't lucky enough to actually go there."