White Light, Web Heat:
the Velvet Underground's online home
members.aol.com/olandem/vu.html
by Tim Frommer
Now we're talking. After taking Lou Reed's
web site to task last time [Ed.: See here.], I went to
Olivier Landemaine's unbelievably comprehensive collection of all things Velvets. As you know,
everyone who saw VU perform went and started a band. Anyone who sees this site will either post
an homage to his or her favorite band, or cede the title to Mr. Landemaine once and for all.
While one might argue that the site doesn't make good use of the multimedia capabilities of the
internet, the encyclopedic nature of this site would take you days of library time, if there was
a library on the planet cool enough to contain what's available here.
After visiting the site off and on for the past few weeks, there is still plenty left to be
explored. The first place to start is the discography - and once you've seen this help me decide
on a suitable adjective - which is divided not merely into singles, LPs and CDs, but also has
separate entries for releases eight countries, with scanned cover art or single labels in the
case of the 7"s. Many entries include extensive annotation from the descriptive/ informative to
the truly fan-obsessed (noting that the listed time length on some songs from Loaded don't
correspond to the songs' actual lengths). Plus, duplicate the above for bootlegs. Actually, more
than double it since bootleg releases far outnumber the band's official output including all
those pesky compilations. The only items missing from the bootleg discography are any kind of
sound quality rating to aid the potential shopper and a range of the going cost on these titles.
OK, somehow I pulled myself away from the discography to check out the bibliography. The books
are categorized by language (eight again) with scanned dust jackets and short blurbs about each
title. A portion of the "books" seem to be merely collections of articles with pictures or short
discographies that were printed on a heavier stock. Most of these are well under 100 pages and
are pretty obviously attempts by publishers to cash on the VU/Lou Reed cachet. Also listed are
fanzines, magazine articles from around the globe, album and concert reviews.
What (comparatively) limited audio available for streaming at the site is compensated by the
quality and utter uniqueness of it all: a bootleg track of the month, a 25-minute version of
"Sister Ray" from a Boston performance in 1968, radio spots promoting VU albums and Andy himself
introducing "a new band" from a broadcast on the New York PBS affiliate. Wow! There's not much
more for me to add, but click slowly and see.
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