Goodnight, Ladies

I haven't been around in a while. Sorry.

I'm not really sure what to post lately. However, this is as good a time as any.

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The loss of Lou Reed was a really big shock to me. He was one of the untouchables, one of the few who weren't allowed to die.

But, he did. Still something tough for me to swallow. I sort of just have to forget that it happened.

I've never had to deal with the death of someone who has touched me so deeply.

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Warning: this post is probably gonna go nowhere

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The Velvet Underground is a band that I've listened to countless times. They have undeniably changed  me and opened up my musical sensibilities to an entirely new area. Their first album I listened to, White Light/White Heat, was this magical, dirty, dingy world I had never stepped into before. The album was unflinching and uncompromising, it was an all out aural attack upon the listener. And it was so good.

For about a year or two, I listened to The Velvet Underground endlessly. I actually made a friend hate the band without ever listening to them, just because I talked about them so much.

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Anyway....

So, coming to terms with the fact that this person is gone so simply is something that troubles me.

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Here's some solo demos.
Fall 1970 Demos

One of These Things First

On Record Store Day, I was quite eager to indulge and spend an absurd amount on records.

Thankfully, this never came to pass. The record store I went to was crowded and picked through, the most desirable records like Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play" were entirely gone and there was no Captain Beefheart in sight. However, there was one record that seemed to stick to the shelf like glue. That was Nick Drake.


Perhaps it was to be expected, he's an artist that didn't have a huge following in his time, and still doesn't now. It's unfortunate that more people aren't fans, as he is an artist that deserves more recognition for the wonderful music he made.

I grabbed one of the ample copies and was content with my Record Store Day experience. If I couldn't get my hands on all the harder to come by stuff, at least I could get my hands on this.

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Later, I did manage to find more records, Big Star's Nothing Can Hurt Me: Original Soundtrack (the last copy in store!) and Bob Dylan's single promoting The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10. I also found an interesting Bob Dylan album entitled Life and Life Only, which is most likely a bootleg, but looked very professionally made. It includes an interview with Les Crane and numerous live recordings from television and radio performances from 1961 to 1965.

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Included with the Nick Drake album was a very nice shop poster and a download code for a vinyl dub of the entire album. I will share with you one of my favorites (vinyl version):