The only boxed set I own

With the death a few years ago of Sterling Morrison, I assume that it is safe to say that there will never be another Velvet Underground reunion. How sad to see him go.

I bought this box set right when it was released and immediately sat down to listen to the whole set at one sitting. Being a fan of this group, sometimes one has to be defensive to friends, but when you consider that the latest recording on this set was done 31 years ago, and still sounds fresher than some of the heavy metal trash that passes for music these days, no apology is ever necessary.

The first disc contains the early demos, recorded at John Cale's loft in NYC. It was poorly recorded and one also hears cars pass in the background. Many tracks just stop and then restart. Although I realize that it is historically significant, perhaps a better choice would have been would to have include some of Reed's earlier work in various Do Wop bands that he was in during his days at Syracuse, and like wise some of Cale's earlier classical work or his advant garde work in the Dream Syndicate. It would have provided a better understanding as to how these two different styles came into forming the Velvet Underground sound.

Make no mistake, this boxed set contains all of the released studio albums, many of the sets that were later released in the two later released outtake albums, "VU" and "Another VU", plus some previously unreleased outtakes and live recordings. It contains the first album, "The Velvet Underground and Nico" which established the band as the cutting edge, so much so that it pratically guarantee them never to have any commercial success, the ear bleeding distortion and feedback of the "White Light/White Heat" album, the softer and introspective sound of "The Velvet Underground" the third album, and finally "Loaded" the fourth album. Many critics panned this album, but when you consider that after three albums, with not one being considered a commercial success, people wondered if they could really put together a commercial album. Sterling Morrision was quoted as saying that it was a concern when they went into the studio to work on "Loaded", and the final result was that they could, indeed, produce a commercially sounding record.

But for those of you that just have to have your daily fix of VU, the outstanding tracks, are the live ones, such as "What Goes On", and the previously unreleased "Booker T" where the band does a rave up in the Booker T & The MG's mode.

The only serious omission in this collection are some of the "Loaded" outtakes now available on the double set Fully Loaded CD, with two wonderful alternative versions of "Rock and Roll" and some better alternative versions of other tracks presented here.

Yep, this one about does the trick, but it is just a track or two shy of being the definitive work.