Peel Slowly & See

An amazing comprehensive career retrospective from one of the most "underrated" and innovative bands ever to emerge from the 1960’s. The Velvet Underground’s legacy is now a revelation of how minimalism can be the vehicle for great compositions, art, life experiences and decadence all at the same time reflecting what America still is underneath it’s skin. Lou Reed compose a lot of great tunes, melodic, fragile, and strong all at once like a shade in summer. “Peel Slowly and See” (1995, Polydor/Chronicles) is a 5 CD Box Set including all first 4 Velvet’s studio albums remastered up to that time. CD 1 is a collection of 6 early 1966 Demos recorded at John Cale’s living room. CD 2 is the entire “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (1967) album plus 2 Nico tunes and an unreleased song. CD 3 is “White Light/White Heat” (1968) album plus 7 unreleased songs and 2 songs from 1985’s “VU” and one from 1986 “Another View”. CD 4 is “The Velvet Underground” (1969) album in its ‘Closet Mix’ version plus 5 songs from “VU” and 2 unreleased. CD 5 is the “Loaded” (1970) album plus 5 unreleased songs, and 2 live songs. Personally, this box set is necessary for real VU fans, but it has three missing details like all song’s lyrics, the separate CDs didn’t include the original album artwork just a little picture of the covers on the back tray of each CD. It didn’t include the entire 1984 “VU” and 1986 “Another View” unreleased songs compilations properly remastered this last point it’s the most disappointing aspect for me but the box set it’s 99% perfect in my opinion. The box cover is based on the original Andy Warhol “Banana” album cover with a pealable banana sticker. The box contains an 88-page booklet with a very extensive essay by Journalist David Fricke with lots and lots of memorabilia and photos provided by Sterling Morrison himself. Also includes many conversations with Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Maureen Tucker. A very very good collectable box set. Peel Slowly and See It’s Alright!...

When you consider this box was originally released in 1995, I think it's help up very well over the past fifteen years. Sure, there's a lot more VU available now with deluxe versions of Loaded and the VU/Nico album. If you consider this box set on its' own merits though, I can't see how anyone can find fault with it. The original four albums are here in their original running order and the digital mastering still sounds terrific. These original LP's are all framed by various B sides, outtakes and unreleased live tunes as the band progressed from one album to the next. The late Nico's first album is also here with two tracks featured by the way.....and considering Reed and Cale both worked on it and wrote for it, it belongs here too. What's not to like? This box shows yet again that VU were decades ahead of their time. Lou Reed as a songwriter and performer was lavished with praise by Bowie and Iggy in the 70's and by subsequent generations of musicians since. You can hear why here, in one setting without having to make yourself insane buying everything individually. Fanatical collectors aside (I don't mean that in a bad way either), you can't do better than this box set. I'm glad it's still in print and available. There's the immortal dead rock gods from the 60's.....and then there's VU. I've always chosen VU, maybe you should too. Start here then.

All four Lou Reed-led Velvet Underground albums with lots of extra tracks. Sound quality is great. Everything is in chronological order with each full album featured in its entirety on each disc (with the track listing conveniently indicated on the CD artwork). Aldo includes a fifth CD of early demos. As comprehensive a compilation as one could ask for, considering most fans do not consider the post Lou Reed final album under the Velvet Underground brand name to really be a Doug Yule solo project. Highly recommended for even casual fans, as Amazon offers it for an irresistibly cheap price.

Hard to criticize the great music on this box set, but there are some missteps in the track listings and packaging. You would expect the demos, live tracks, & extras from the respective time periods to be at the end of the official releases, right? Not so. It's also disappointing that this isn't the box set that includes everything that is commercially available. On disc 1 there are demo versions exclusive to this release. We are all excited to hear new Velvet's material, but it's mostly Cale singing the same verse over and over accompanied by Reed on acoustic guitar. Interesting, but you won't be anxious to hear this more than a couple of times. On disc 2 there's the short version of All Tomorrow's Parties (Single Version) which is before The Velvet Underground & Nico. There is no reason for this to start the disc; it's the shorter, lesser version of the song. The huge bonus on this disc is the live track Melody Laughter, which is VU live w/Nico; wish there was more tracks like this on here. Disc 3 features demos and live tracks before the main release that is White Light/White Heat. Again, all of these tracks should be at the end of the official release. The live tracks Guess I'm Falling In Love and Booker T. are particularly noteworthy, but are awkward listens before the showcase release. Disc 4 has a live version of What Goes On and you get to hear the "closet" version 2 tracks later. A minor annoyance, but still. The live and bonus tracks on this are outstanding. Disc 5 I have little to complain about. Loaded precedes all of the great extras. On to the packaging. Comes in a great book shelf worthy cardboard case w/a vinyl peel off banana that encloses the discs themselves which are in plastic cases as opposed to the annoying cardboard digipacks that are customary these days. There is also the awesome 80 page booklet w/musings from the Velvets as reported by David Fricke. What is disappointing about the packaging is that the original LP covers are reduced to thumbnails on the back of the cds. These are replaced, on the front cd cover, by scans of the analog tape cases w/hand written notes; very cool, but not worthy enough to replace the original covers. In conclusion, lots to like here, but my big gripe is I wanted an all inclusive box set w/track listings that were suitable to my tastes.

I didn't think it was possible, but the mastering on this boxed set makes these iconic lo-fi recordings sound much, much better than I've ever heard before, including the Mobile Fidelity Gold discs. Though this box is twenty years old as of this review, it's well worth hunting down. In addition to the entire studio catalog of the Velvets, it includes lots and lots of extras. A no-brainer, especially if you can get it cheap. And the banana actually peels back!

This really blew me away. I was bummed melody laughter is a bit shorter then the full length version on the super deluxe version. However, the super deluxe version is very hard to come by. This is definitely a good compilation. The demo tapes are mind blowing good. Heroine never really changed as the years went on.

There is so much to draw ones interest in this box set - nothing boring or trite. From fascinating demos to live tracks which make you wish you had been there to hear them in person. The booklet makes for great reading too!

Excellent album. It is nice to follow their career and see how they progressed.

Tutto il meglio e anche di più dei mitici velvet con nico....cofanetto dal sapore retrò... Molto ben fatto....sempre ottimo servizio Amazon

brilient memory of classic album

La caja contiene material inédito e increíble, como las primeras grabaciones de Lou con John y Sterling haciendo versiones sencillas de las canciones del primer álbum. El booklet tiene buenas fotos y una apreciación contextual sobre cada disco que no está mal. Yo me deshice de mis discos individuales y opté por la caja que, además, tiene buen diseño.

Le Velvet ! Ce coffret est un pur fantasme enfin assouvi ! Des démos avec Lou Reed, Sterling Morrisson et John Cale en train de préparer les grands morceaux du premier album à la banane Warholienne ! Des inédits mortels et un son magnifique ! Et 5 albums qui ont marqué l'histoire du Rock, de Sunday Morning avec la SUBLIME Nico au Rock'n'Roll de Loaded ! Lou s'est tiré, Sterling aussi, Moe Tucker flirte avec le Tea Party paraît-il, Nico est morte d'une chute de vélo sur une plage, John Cale va très bien, merci ! Des CLASSIQUES qui ont inspirés tant de groupes, de notre Etienne Daho en passant par les Jesus and Mary Chain ! Peu de gens l'ont acheté à sa sortie ( le premier ) mais chacun a fondé un groupe, comme l'a écrit Elliot Murphy ! Ecoutez, vous saurez ... Goodbye Lou !

Magnífica edición con toda la discografía de The Velvet Underground con un sonido espectacular además de incluir un completo libreto. Todo ello dentro una caja tamaño libro aproximadamente.