LIGHTNING ROUND DAY 11.Incredibly dicey performance even by the ever-plummeting standards in these parts these days. It's partly because, in my haste, I erased two better takes of this and got sick of trying to get it right... the vocal is just bad, and the sketchy timing on the guitar is definitely an artifact of impatience. I'm leaving it here just as a rough sketch of what I think is a kind of cool solo acoustic arrangement of the song.
If the vocal were better, it would be easier to tell that it's less of a tribute to Nico's on the original than to John Cale's powerful and immensely moving live version on the Live MCMXCIII reunion album, which has to rank as one of the most frustrating listening experience there is. Consistently on that record, Cale, Mo Tucker, and especially Sterling Morrisson kick all kinds of awe-inspiring and deeply-felt ass (if you will (and you will)). Lou is right there with them on guitar, but every time he takes a lead vocal, you can't help but ask yourself, Jesus, is he really pissing on us, to say nothing of the band and some of his very best songs, on purpose? I challenge you to make it through his vivisection of "Venus in Furs" without wanting to smack him around just a little bit.
Personnel: Rex
Sadly, it would be totally in character for Reed to have done exactly that.
ReplyDeletelou would probably enjoy being smacked...in any sense of the word.
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