Jonathan Richman discusses The Velvet Underground (2014)
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- "On Lou Reed’s birthday, March 2, 2014, Radio Valencia featured major Velvet Underground fan Jonathan Richman DJing an epic two-hour Lou Reed show."
This is an interview only cut and the whole thing can be heard here: www.daysofthecr...
or here: www.radiovalenc...
jonathanrichma...
The Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman are both somewhere in my top ten favorite things in the world. I could listen to him talk about them forever.
don't get much better does it?
I could just cry listening to Jonathan talk Velvet.
Me too x
I was 23, fresh out of Rock school when I got into Velvet underground and Jonathan Richmond.... they got me going on my love of Rock Music 🎶 ❤
absolutely. what are the other eight?
The Mr. Rogers of punk rock
His heart is made of gold.
Mister Rogers is the mister Rogers of punk rock
@@rstuvwxy7020 nuh uh
4 years later....but what a comparison!
Such a pure soul. And such a contrast to the sleaze and dirt of the VU.
His voice is unmistakable
I experience a bit of synesthesia playing music, I loved hearing Jonathan describe his perception of the Velvet sound as a color experience.
Thanks for this! There's not enough Jonathan interviews, so this is a real treat, especially since he's talking about Lou and the VU.
I love Jonathan Richmond and The Velvet Underground ❤
This interview is a Treat ❤
Thank you XOXO
I wish Jonathan would write an entire book length account of his experiences with VU. I’ve learned as much in this interview alone as I have in a lifetime of studying and reading about the Velvets. The care he takes to set up the context of these situations illuminates as much of the history as the situations themselves.
most insightful interview i’ve heard with jonathan. great to hear his perspective on a music influence that shaped his early sound.
I also had the privilege once to drive him back to manhattan after one of his performances in NJ. makes me think now if he saw himself in me, with him driving the velvet underground up in boston. only wish the interview went two more hours…
His description of seeing bands in the 60s is fascinating
It was still like that in the eighties. Bands like the Cure still set up their own kit in the early eighties. Robert Smith injured his hand changing a flat tire while on the Cure's first American tour.
@@tolpacourt holy fuck glad his clothing did not suck him under the vehicle
tire changing.... whata moron.
just call AAA or mom!
cars are for losers.
I think John Cale would have been the mystery element that went away when he was fired. After he left, they became more of a “road band”. Live at Max’s showed that. Early VU must have been more discordant with viola amplified. Lou and Sterling were totally subtle players. From what I have read, blues scales were not welcomed. It must have been the drugs, but they were scientists with Cale. His genius was always putting some mad elements into whatever he did.
I agree. With Cale, the first album sounded like nothing else; after him, they were great, but not revolutionary.
I’m glad he brought that up - about no security and bands setting up their own equipment in 67-68 - that’s how it was in the UK up until about 1970. Rock was not a multi-billion dollar industry and a career choice for kids back then. It was ignored by mainstream media. It was word of mouth, and known to kids who read the music press. There were no “schools of rock” in every sixth-grade class. TV commercials didn’t have Stratocasters hanging on the wall in the background. Nobody in their right mind would hang a guitar on the wall unless you ran a music store.
Never realized the extent to which they took him under their wings.
wing, singular.
This is what of the greatest things on the tube. I say.
Richman was so lucky to see the band so many times. Wow! My favorite band.
Best description of the VU's special magic I've ever heard
Great interview. Wished he had spoke more about Cale and the Modern Lovers sessions.
agreed
@falica77 27:00
i am much younger than jonathan richman. but when he describes first hearing VU. i was already a fan of lou reed and the VU but, the first time i heard the cramps i decided to learn to play guitar. human fly, t.v. set, what's behind the mask, and of course surfin' bird. it changed my life.
Poison Ivy is disgustingly underrated
Goddamn. I needed that. Thank You !
Loved how he describes the "5th sound" the velvet underground had.
Such a great listen, thank you for posting so much!!!
This’s great. Jonathan en Lou. Heroes to me.
This is a Price Above Rubies! ThankYou! Love that “5th Ghost Sound” & All of this, So much ❤️Jonathan❤️ Shares!
god i miss gigs
😭😭😭
This is fantastic, thanks.
Thanks for this my dude so cool!
Fantastic interview, as a V.U. fan this is like being there. Jonathon is such a likeable person.
I grew up in Natick, MA where Jonathan grew up too. He was my main inspiration.
Happy Birthday Jonathan!
That blending is also why people love the Green Fuzz by Randy Alvey - sounds recorded from a distance allowing vibrations to merge in the oxygen
I know exactly what he's talking about. We called at sonics it was like we could hear horns when there were no horns. It was always in the small back rooms with the sound bouncing off the back of the wall and hitting you in the back of the head with the same force that you were getting it from the stage. For me it was not at the Boston tea party but the back room Max's Kansas City.
I've read that the VU only sold a few thousand albums, but each of those albums produced a new band. Jonathan is living proof that validates the myth. Only a few artists can affect people like that. The Beatles, VU and The Ramones made young kids pick up guitars. There's a few other bands you could add to that list, but those would be in most top ten lists.
really good interview!
Thanks, great interview.
Richman is such an underrated figure in the development of what would become 'punk'.
Great interview!
I am memorised
The two interviewers here setting up an annoying interview, their only narrative being that the Velvets was all about Lou Reed. Thankfully Jonathan sets things right here, that the others contribution within the band was as equally important.
Easily one of the more frustrating parts of the whole interview. I'm so glad to have this much of Jonathan speaking on really interesting topics, but so often the interviewer's follow-up questions seem to suggest that he either doesn't really understand what Jonathan just said or is actively ignoring it to stick to his script.
5:00 -sounds like when I went to see Mo and Sterling play a Valentine’s Day gig, here in Liverpool! 😉
‘Things I did to get in free when the queues were longer than the venue could hold…
thank god for jonathan
32:39 -I read an interview with Doug Yule where he insisted that a lot of the recording, if not all, of “live 1969” was done before he got in the band! And even said that that, frankly wonderful, “what goes on“ is definitely Cale on the organ & not him?! …I like to think he’s right 🤷♂️
nope - it's Doug
Love this cutie pie
16:40 -This ‘blending’ was something that Lou Reed forgot all about in his later years as everything thereafter was all about separation and ultra clarity of individual instruments and everything being equal -all except the voice which dominated.
I think this really spoiled their last live album somewhat and, despite Cale’s complaints, a reformed Velvet Underground Studio album would have been in danger of sounding like a Lou Reed album with different backing musicians & somewhat lovable, eccentric drumming IMHO
-& I Say this as someone who really likes the sound of his “New York” album
other than METAL MACHINE MUSIC ;)
@@rickxnow8768 true enough!
…although in Many ways that was ‘blending’ to the max🤪
Did you ever hear the live version..?
@@rickxnow8768
czcams.com/video/sdUlCjWPqlY/video.html
@@BeesWaxMinder Yeh! Used to play both the vinyls of MMM on Technics 1210s simultaneously and adjust the pitch, play at 45rpm etc etc... through a great big sound system... Funtimes... Recommended ;)
@@rickxnow8768🤫👍
Who had a coffee shop or pizza parlor or record shop or bbq shack that let kids give all ages shows? That's the closest that he describes regarding the presecurity era. He's also describing the pre millions era.
Nice perspective
Would be good also to hear jonathan playing the songs
Very nice
So cool 😎
What is the twang in Jonathan’s accent - sounds a bit different from most American accents I’ve heard?
Its a Boston accent
@@wonderrob3225 Hi, thanks for clarifying its a Boston accent. Quite a nice accent I think.
@@emscott2705 it's a very "soft" Boston accent ... Jewish not Irish.
I would guess his parents were not from the Boston area ...maybe NJ
“How in the world were they making that sound? Velvet Underground!”
czcams.com/video/7PQ7FlRA8SQ/video.html
I always .,….. quoted the things Jonathan said in Uptight W Velvet Underground.
And this is more enlightening , Thier processes were skewed un-average …… really wat he’s saying is .,,, they were experimenting / letting things
happen .,, which was La Monte Young & their first drummer Maclise.
Lou revealed very late .,,.. that the engineers wouldn’t take them seriously. And this is leaving a hole .,,,… You have to suss everything out .
Cale. remarking over and over ; ‘The drone worked !”
like a mad scientist.,,, and really his quantitative assessment of them via “ Venus In Furs”. …
Wats he say ; “ l needed to know we had something , .,,,.”
Sterling is playing , straight guitar while Lou is playing the screeching notes , with his guitar all strings tuned to the same note.,,..,,
Right there , and with Cale Filling in..,,, demands a different ,…….. recording process.
syneasthesia
This is very interesting and insightful, but a lot of it feels very tinted by nostalgia. "Seeing a band in 1966 was more intimate" yeah, maybe it also feels that way because you were 16 years old at the time.
Know what he means though. Bands in small/medium venues are often unnecessarily loud.Amplification has outstripped the power of music. In the hand of Hendrix /Cream in 67 it may have been a novelty.But it's long since become a cliché and so many bands sound better from the bathroom because the volume is simply too much for the ear.
@@randybackgammon890 Ah, I see what you're saying. You're right, a lot of bands and venues are unnecessarily loud, even when the music itself doesn't call for it. I think that modern trends in music production, especially mainstream rock (which is horrible in my opinion), that tend to favor loudness, also in turn make new and young musicians think they need to be loud all the time as well. That being said, a skilled band with a defined sound, good compositions and a live sound engineer who knows what he's doing will sound absolutely amazing as well as loud. There are also bands that use the loudness itself for creative expression. Sunn O))) comes to mind, their live sets are a physical experience, you can feel the particles in your body change their vibration with every chord change.
@@JacksonKillroy Agreed but very much tends to the type of music.All I'm saying is that since 67/68 the 'turn it up to 11' has become a substitute for a lack of actuall creative content. Keith Richards says that what your searching for is power WITHOUT volume.But then the Stones(though some may argue otherwise)aren't a metal band.Depends on what you like I guess. And the apogee of production value will always be the mid sixties for me
16:41
I hate to be that guy, but jimi hendrix, blue cheer, the who were playing in 67-68 I never saw any of these bands but they had to be playing at levels equal or greater than velvet underground.
29:15
@@jackrowland2002 that section was about feedback, earlier he mentions velvet underground being the loudest band of that era. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.
@@BrianDropdead
No you’re totally right my bad
Except they fried their brains with drugs, and the velvets were mostly sober (aside from Cale).
Your probably right but I think there’s something about velvet underground that makes them sound loud even if they aren’t loud by today’s standards. Sister ray for example feels like the song is breaking down because of how loud it feels. I guess the best way to describe it is that although it doesn’t sound loud, it feels loud.
Who’s fucking dumb ass looking guy?
You?
You, it seems like !