THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO / If It's Too Loud For You Move Back! REMASTERED (2CD)

DISC 1:
01. Melody Laughter
02. Femme Fatale
03. Venus In Furs
04. The Black Angel's Death Song
05. Lou says
06. All Tomorrow's Parties

DISC 2:
07. I'm Waiting For The Man
08. Heroin
09. Run Run Run
10. The Nothing Song

Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio, November 4, 1966.

The performance in Columbus, Ohio, on November 4, 1966—the only complete live recording of The Velvet Underground & Nico—was captured using an open-reel tape recorder with Andy Warhol's approval. Later, the person who made the recording released a self-produced, mail-order-only LP titled *1966*; this "semi-official" release contained only the improvisational sections of the performance across its two sides. Subsequently, the vocal tracks were extracted and released on a bootleg LP titled *Down For You Is Up*. For decades, this was the only live recording from the Nico era known to fans. However, aside from the *1966* LP (which held the master tapes), the sound quality of the vocal bootleg was poor and artificially boosted. Furthermore, because The Velvet Underground’s live sets at the time featured long pauses between songs that couldn't fit onto an LP, the release was a haphazardly edited collection of songs that left much to be desired. Yet, in 1997, thanks to the efforts of a US Velvet Underground fan club, the original open-reel tapes held by the taper were unearthed. This led to the release of the bootleg CD *IF IT'S TOO LOUD FOR YOU MOVE BACK!*, which featured digital mastering sourced directly from those tapes. This original, full-length source CD—titled after Lou Reed’s stage banter, "If it's too loud for you, move back!"—was a remarkable release that offered not only top-tier sound quality but also an unedited look at the band, preserving every rehearsal moment and bit of stage patter between songs. It revealed the true live structure of their performances—seamlessly blending improvisation with actual songs—allowing listeners to experience a 1966 Velvet Underground concert exactly as it happened. The band’s essence lay in this combination: compact performances capturing the atmosphere of their debut album alongside two tracks of pure, twenty-minute improvisation. Here, one can finally hear John Cale’s "Thunder Machine"—previously known only through biographies—and a vocal performance by Nico that goes far beyond mere window dressing. This is the Velvet Underground. The reason so few recordings survive is that, at the time, the band did not play standard concert venues; instead, they performed exclusively at Andy Warhol’s EPI (Exploding Plastic Inevitable) multimedia events, attracting only a handful of dedicated followers. Consequently, this release offers a rare glimpse into the band's true nature—a side of them not captured on their early studio albums. Although the *If It's Too Loud for You, Move Back!* CD was an essential release, it had never been reissued since 1997, eventually becoming a "phantom" record—highly sought after yet virtually impossible to find. For this new edition, we have once again borrowed the original source material from the fan club and perfected the sound using modern remastering techniques. It is an enduring classic that every rock fan must hear. We have also revised the track indexing; while the original release drew mixed reactions for its track divisions, this version organizes the material by individual song. Furthermore, thanks to advancements in remastering technology since the late 1980s, the sound quality has been significantly elevated—a massive improvement over the original. The sound quality is in no way inferior—in fact, it is arguably superior—to the improvised sections found on the official *Peel Slowly and See* box set. I recommend this release with absolute confidence; it is a must-hear, essential item for every rock fan. After all, this is the only way to experience the live sound of the original Velvet Underground. Moreover, it is a genuine, official recording captured using open-reel tape and stereo microphones.