"When The Velvet Underground moved from Verve Records (who had released their first two albums) to parent company MGM Records, they signed a two-album deal, releasing their third in March of 1969. Later that same year, however, there was a management change and MGM Records' new CEO, Mike Curb, wanted to purge the record company of all acts he considered offensive to his moral standards. The Velvet Underground quickly became one of the groups blacklisted and were released from their contract. The band had, however, in the meantime recorded fourteen tracks for possible release as their second MGM album. All of these were shelved and forgotten by their record company until the early Eighties..."
Robert Christgau:
Each of the Velvets' official studio albums had a distinct personality, and so does this unofficial one, recorded mostly in mid-1969, right after The Velvet Underground appeared. It's goofy, relaxed, conversational and obscure, an effect accentuated by the unfinished feel of takes the band never prepared for public consumption. As a result, especially given PolyGram's state-of-the-art remix, it's their most listenable record even if its friendliness is deceptive - the disarming straight-ahead rocker "Foggy Notion" has a lyric whose casual sadism beats any of The Velvet Underground & Nico's shock-horror perversities. If you ever doubt the VU's rightness, just compare the flashy compromises of the solo "Lisa Says" and "I Can't Stand It" (itself the making of Lou Reed) to the flat rush of the Tucker/Morrison-powered versions here. A Basement Tapes for the '80s.
