Original 1970 Velvet Underground Vinyl - Loaded NOT A RE-ISSUE.

$

50

Original 1970 Velvet Underground Vinyl “Loaded” NOT A RE-ISSUE.

Original copies of the album have no silence in between the first two songs,

"Who Loves The Sun" and "Sweet Jane", with the first note of the latter being heard at the precise moment the former completely fades. Some later presses break the segue with the insertion of a few seconds of silence. All CDs of 'Loaded' retain the original segue without the silence.

Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was originally formed as an outlet for blues and deep Southern soul; its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About A Mover", reached the R&B charts.

Cotillion's catalog quickly expanded to include progressive rock, folk-rock, gospel, jazz and comedy. In 1976, the label started focusing on disco and R&B. At that point, Cotillion's catalog albums outside those genres were reissued on Atlantic Records.

The Velvet Underground”s Vinyl Record: “Loaded” #SD-9034
Originally released November 1970, by Atlantic record‘s subsidiary label, “Cotillion”.



Loaded is the fourth album by The Velvet Underground. The album was the final album recorded featuring Lou Reed, though he had departed from the band shortly before the album's release.

Loaded was Velvet Underground’s first record release by major label. Loaded was produced for the mainstream, without "thematize" sex and drugs. Although the songs were successful and popular in several music radios markets, neither singles, nor the album itself peaked in any music chart.

It was the last album featuring Lou Reed, the founder. After his departure, Doug Yule became the new front man of The Velvet Underground and released together with Willie Alexander (keyboard), Walter Powers (bass guitar) and Maureen Tucker (drums) their fifth and last album, Squeeze.

When the Velvet Underground moved from Verve Records (who had released their first two albums) to parent company, MGM Records, they signed a two-album deal, releasing their third and eponymous album The Velvet Underground in March 1969.



Later that same year, however, there was a management change and MGM Records' new CEO, Mike Curb, was brought in to try to rescue the financially struggling label. He decided to purge the record company of its unprofitable acts. The Velvet Underground quickly became one of the groups targeted and were released from their contract. The band had, however, in the meantime recorded fourteen tracks for possible release as their second MGM album. All of these were shelved and forgotten by their record company until the early 1980s.

In 2003, the “Loaded” vinyl was re-released as a reissue in a upgraded audiophile vinyl package (180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl). A compact disc was also released. “Loaded” charted as #109 on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time list.



BACKGROUND:

Loaded was a commercial effort aimed at radio play, another step away from the Warhol-influenced days. The album's title refers to Atlantic's Record’s request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits".

Doug Yule said, "On Loaded there was a big push to produce a hit single, there was that mentality, which one of these is a single, how does it sound when we cut it down to 3.5 minutes, so that was a major topic for the group at that point. I think that the third album to a great extent shows a lot of that in that a lot of those songs were designed as singles, If you listen to them you can hear the derivation, like this is sort of a Phil Spector-ish kind of song, or this is that type of person song."

Reed was critical of the album's final mix. He left the Velvet Underground on August 23, 1970 but Loaded wasn't released until three months later, in November. After its release, Reed discovered that the album had been re-edited and re-sequenced without his consent.

One of Reed's sore points resulting from that unauthorized re-editing was that the "heavenly wine and roses" melody was cut out of "Sweet Jane". In the original recording, this part was intended to provide a perfectly flowing bridge to a full-fledged plagal cadence two-chord version of the chorus (earlier choruses in the song have a 4-chord riff).

In Reed's initial solo performances, he would include the verse (see for instance American Poet), until 1973, when he would routinely leave that verse out, as the bridge fits less well in a more hard-rock version (as heard for instance on Rock 'n' Roll Animal). However, the post-Reed, Doug Yule-led Velvets always performed the song with the verse re-inserted.

A career-spanning retrospective of Reed's recordings with the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist, NYC Man (The Ultimate Collection 1967–2003), which Reed compiled himself, uses the shorter version.



Reed also felt snubbed by being listed third in the credits on the album; and by the large photo of Yule playing piano; and by all the song writing credits improperly going to the band, rather than Reed himself. Newer releases have satisfied many of Reed's concerns—he now is properly acknowledged as the sole songwriter for the album; he is listed at the top of the band line-up, and since the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See, another mix is available, restoring "Sweet Jane", "Rock and Roll" and "New Age" to the full-length versions Reed had originally penned.



The album does not feature Velvet Underground stalwart drummer Maureen "Moe" Tucker, as she was pregnant at the time (she is still credited on the album sleeve, however). Drumming duties were performed mainly by basest Doug Yule, recording engineer Adrian Barber and Doug Yule's brother Billy.

Lou Reed has commented that "Loaded didn’t have Maureen on it, and that’s a lot of people’s favorite Velvet Underground record, so we can’t get too lost in the mystique of the Velvet Underground...It’s still called a Velvet Underground record. But what it really is something else."

Sterling Morrison had strong feelings about Yule's increased presence on Loaded, saying
"The album came out okay, as far as production it’s the best, but it would have been better if it had real good Lou vocals on all the tracks."

Doug Yule claimed that "Lou leaned on me a lot in terms of musical support and vocal arrangements. I did a lot on Loaded. It sort of devolved down to the Lou and Yule recreational recording."



Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records and was active from 1968 thru 1985. The label was originally formed as an outlet for blues and deep Southern soul; its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About A Mover", reached the R&B charts.

Cotillion's catalog quickly expanded to include progressive rock, folk-rock, gospel, jazz and comedy. In 1976, the label started focusing on disco and R&B. At that point, Cotillion's catalog albums outside those genres were reissued on Atlantic.

Among its acts were the post-Curtis Mayfield Impressions, Slave, Brook Benton, Jean Knight, Mass Production, Sister Sledge, The Velvet Underground, Stacy Lattisaw, Lou Donaldson, Mylon LeFevre, Stevie Woods, Johnny Gill, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Garland Green, The Dynamics, The Fabulous Counts, and The Fatback Band.

Herbie Mann recorded for them, and had his own record label subsidiary there, Embryo Records, in the 1970s. Cotillion is also responsible for launching the career of Luther Vandross, who was in a three-member group called Luther. The label also released music from the Woodstock festival in 1970.

Cotillion was closed down in 1986 and Johnny Gill, Stacy Lattisaw, Slave and Sister Sledge were moved to its parent label Atlantic Records.

TRACK LISTING:

All songs written by Lou Reed except "Ride into the Sun", written by Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen "Moe" Tucker.

SIDE ONE:

    "Who Loves the Sun" – 2:45
    "Sweet Jane" – 3:18
    "Rock & Roll" – 4:44
    "Cool It Down" – 3:06
    "New Age" – 4:39

SIDE TWO:

    "Head Held High" – 2:58
    "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" – 2:45
    "I Found a Reason" – 4:17
    "Train Round the Bend" – 3:22
    "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" – 7:29


PERSONNEL:

The Velvet Underground

    Lou Reed – vocals, guitar, piano

    Doug Yule – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums, backing vocals,
                          lead vocals on "Who Loves the Sun", "New Age",
                          "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"

    Sterling Morrison – guitar

    Maureen "Moe" Tucker – drums: (credited, but does not appear due to maternity leave.
                                She does appear singing on the out-take "I'm Sticking With You",
                                and playing drums on the demo of "I Found a Reason"
                                on the Fully Loaded Edition)

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS:

    Adrian Barber – drums on "Who Loves the Sun" and "Sweet Jane"
    Tommy Castanero – drums on "Cool It Down" and "Head Held High"
    Billy Yule – drums on "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"
    John Cale – organ on "Ocean" demo version

TECHNICAL STAFF:

    Adrian Barber – engineer
    Geoff Haslam, Shel Kagan and the Velvet Underground – producers



In 2003, Loaded was #109 on Rolling Stone's reissue of their 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album holds two well-known Velvet Underground songs: "Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll". These two Velvet Underground songs are still heard regularly on classic rock FM radio stations.