THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Music Factory interview 2LP 1968

$

2,009

The Velvet Underground -- The Music Factory 2xLP

Tom Wilson & Guests - Velvet Underground

Original 1968 stereo White Label promo release on MGM Records (catalog # MFRS-3), with two LP's in a generic sleeve, with 2-page cue sheet.

Here is a copy of the rarest of rare Velvet Underground items -- a sort of holy grail for VU collectors -- this 2LP set was produced in the early months of 1968 only for underground FM radio stations in a one-time edition of several hundred copies. And it never shows up. Anywhere. Ever. Excpet here + now.

It has producer/deejay Tom Wilson chatting with John Cale and Lou Reed over the course of an hour-long radio broadcast, and they play and discuss these VU tracks: "The Gift "[excerpt], "White Light/White Heat", "Lady Godiva's Operation", "I'll Be Your Mirror".

Portions of this interview have found their way onto some obscure VU releases over the years, but here is the whole thing, where Lou Reed and John Cale discuss the history of the band and the circumstances behind White Light/White Heat which they had just finished; where Lou Reed expresses his desire to make personalized Velvet Underground year-long tapes for everyone to stick in their walls ("We'd supply armbands, labels. We'd reclassify"); where John Cale explores the notion of creating weather by using music, etc...

There is also a memorable 'commercial' for Nico's Chelsea Girl LP, as well as a very funny 60-second Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention 'commercial' for the Absolutely Free LP. And the hour is rounded out with music from Verve/MGM artists like Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Richie Havens, The Blues Project, etc.

Review from Forced Exposure #7/8, Summer 1985 (see that issue for a full transcript of Wilson's interview with Cale & Reed, transcribed by Dan 'Dredd Foole' Ireton): Sometime during the fall o' '67 'r so MGM Records decided to do a series o' promotional wax-settin's t' get word o' their new releases around. This, by itself, 'd be none too extraordinary, but they decided t' pkg the chosen sounds inside a sorta talk-show-style format and the guy the picked t' host the series was Tom Wilson (then, the label's main in-house producer). Aural evidence suggests that Tom'd load himself up w/every chemical he could lay his hands on shortly before enterin' the Manhattan studio and, once there, proceed t' pester whichever MGM artists/"guests" he'd happened t' find w/inspiredly inane jibes, questions and whatever else happened t' pop into his addled bean. The promo series (called "From The Music Factory") ran for a short while, was distributed primarily t' a hundred 'r so large metropolitan record stores, a handfulla radio stations, wax-hungry MGM execs and precious few others. Its press run was probably around 300.

Anyhow, the most legendary & desirable member o' this series's the one where Wilson's guests are Lou Reed and John Cale. It was recorded shortly after the three had laid the WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT lp t' rest, and has been obliquely referred to in scattered articles and discographies o'ver the yrs. Still, the thing was so rare that nobody we knew even claimed t' own it. It was one o' life's great mysteries, y'know?

CONDITION: Overall VG+ -- The condition of each side is broken down like this:

Side 1: VG++ with some sleeve scuffs, light playwear, plays very well with minimal surface noise; label is bright and clean

Side 2 (note: the only side without the Velvet Underground, except at the very beginning you hear Lou Reed speaking and eating pickles for only about 30 seconds): G++ with several medium depth scratches (caused apparently by the staple in the cue sheet), these are the only substantial scratches on the whole album, the only passages which play with loud tics (NOTE: tics are NOT during Reed's pickle eating)... the worst tics by some kind of divine velvet-intervention are mostly concentrated in the excruciatingly vapid Seth Connors song, really the only thing on this entire album which you would never want to listen to anyway; label has very light foxing (as with all the label scans above, the foxing is a bit exaggerated in the scan)

Side 3: VG+ with some slight scuffs and nicks, light playwear, plays pretty well with a bit of surface noise in spots; label has moderate foxing

Side 4: VG+ to VG++ with some sleeve scuffs, light playwear, plays very well with minimal surface noise; label has mild foxing

Cue-sheet (note: the two pages are still stapled together): around VG with some wear, a little crinkling, some light foxing and finger smudges

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Graded conservatively using Goldmine standards [G / G+ / VG / VG+ / NM / ]
grade only used if record is brand new.
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