hey, remember that guy that found that velvet underground acetate for 75 cents...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061211.UNDERGROUND11/TPStory

A "friend"? Yeah, right.

Here's a confused account of it!

OK, the final bid was fake.

The acetate contained the only definitive version, even.

(with a picture of Iggy Pop at the moment)

http://www.montrealmirror.com/2006/121406/news2.html

Oh boy, here we go again. As previously reported, Sunset Rubdown merch guy Warren Hill scored the supreme rock'n'roll artifact, an acetate test-pressing of an early version of the first Velvet Underground record, for $0.75. He put it on eBay, somebody named "mechadaddy" won it last Friday, and as mentioned in our year-end news wrap-up, "mechadaddy" turned out to be just some schmo whose buddy hacked into his eBay account. A deadbeat, as they call them on the wild frontiers of eBaynia.

But Warren's not daunted by one chump bidder, no no! He re-listed the acetate for auction today, but here's the catch: only pre-approved eBay users can bid, which means you have to e-mail Hill first. Info here.

And hot golly, it's only $0.99 right now! The best part: Dude's already making a profit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/VELVET-UNDERGROUND-NICO-1966-Acetate-LP-ANDY-WARHOL_W0QQitemZ300060897304QQihZ020QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6182113.stm

;-)

Maybe I ought to put on George Harrison.

http://download.yousendit.com/1B55CDDB4151B272

Shiny's the wrong word methinks... how about borderline listenable? It's tough to get rid of that much surface noise without warping the music a bit.

I wasn't planning to do them all but if there's a particular track you'd like to hear I'll give it a whirl.

13 hours to go, current high bid approx. $25K, bidder ID kept private

http://cgi.ebay.com/VELVET-UNDERGROUND-NICO-1966-Acetate-LP-ANDY-WARHOL_W0QQitemZ300060897304

US $25,200.00 - 0.75 = $25,199.25 for Mr. Hill! Sold for 33,599 times the amount he paid for it.

Which would have gotten a lot of headlines if only that fake crap hadn't happened last week. Now, it's "only 25,200"

This is amazing: http://open.spotify.com/user/andyzax/playlist/7Gk5LAmxjb92qrJtnwTueK
"I Couldn't Hit It Sideways: 12 Excruciatingly Bad Velvet Underground Covers" - a Spotify playlist

haha

dave navarro - venus in furs

yeeeeeeeeeeecchh

Best part of that list is that one of my favorite albums from 2010 in on it: The Voices Factory. Dude who made the list (and those who hear it) can think what they want, but I've been saying for a while that this Italian group has made the best Velvets tribute ever. So, um, fuck you Spotify Playlist idiot.

Sometimes they're better than the originals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAP6rACzWsU&feature=fvsr

...and have the good sense to cover some of the best VU songs that nobody ever bothers with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX9wV1ePgPk&ob=av2e

Seriously, I played this album more than anything but Fucked Up in 2011. So there.

The Bettie Serveert all-VU covers album is worth tracking down too.

I'm pretty passionate about the Voices Factory thing, actually. Like it's allowed me to genuinely enjoy the VU catalog for the first time in years. I think at this point it's almost impossible for an American male to cover VU and do anything distinctive. Voices Factory hit it from this almost 1st-album-Slapp-Happy perspective that really kills. The band is far from perfunctory, and you never get a sense that they don't get it, or that they're being condescending. Song selection is generally perfect. They even do something worth hearing with Sister Ray. They ought to be getting awards, rather than snark...

I couldn't listen to it sideways

Forgot about that Bettie Serveert album

They ought to be getting awards, rather than snark...

http://www.imprintitems.com/sitewide/images/products/prodbigimgs/5860403.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/713EH3EFSSL._SL500_AA300_.gif

Anyway, this reminded me that I had a great album with some cool covers cued up on spotify Count's Rock Band: Do Not Listen If You Hate Coltrane or Maggot Brain

doug yule's tide

i don't think there's anything else i once liked that looking back brings me more shame than that dave navarro album. ta be fair to me i was 16 and a slow developer. can't remember if i liked the venus in furs cover in particular, but i did think it was cool he was covering the vu.