Like "Sunday Morning" and "Candy Says" (and arguably "White Light/White Heat") before it, "Stephanie Says" lulls the listener into something of a false sense of security as they begin the musical journey ahead (although the difference is not nearly as severe as on the group's previous albums). Indeed, after a soft melodic introduction on guitar, a celesta is added that's reminiscent of the one that opens "Sunday Morning" on their debut record. Recorded and mixed in early '68 to be the A-side a single that didn't get released, this song's original mix eventually came to be released on the 45th Anniversary reissue of the Velvet Underground's second album (and the first I got to know very well) White Light/White Heat. It's one of the five songs on this album that feature John Cale prior to his firing from the group (he's here on backing vocals, celesta, and his signature viola). The lyrics are somewhat cryptic, but I interpret them as discussing the distance between Stephanie and those in her life (the lyrics say she's the door instead of the room; that she is, or is in Alaska [which sits geographically apart from the main 48 US states]; that she's not afraid to die because she has little to lose; and so on). But that's just my reading of it; I invite you, dear reader, to interpret them for yourself. Also, as their previous album starts with "Candy Says," opening this one with "Stephanie Says" makes for some conceptual continuity of sorts. Rock And Roll's first LP side is actually bookended with "says" songs. bandleader (and early trans chaser) Lou Reed rerecorded a number of songs on this album during his far more successful solo career, and this one was reworked into "Caroline Says I" and "II" on his miserable masterpiece Berlin (1973).
Anyhow, after that song fades to silence, a voice pops up saying "here we go, rolling on one," which is followed by some guitar licks. Then "Foggy Notion" kicks in, the six and a half-minute rocker that really gets this album up and running. It's featured here in its' original 1969 stereo mix, taken from The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary boxed set. Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Lou Reed, who in this number has both a foggy notion and his calamine lotion, sings with sass when he's not taking solos over rythm guitarist Sterlin Morrison. The interplay between their two guitars is a central aspect of this album, something that the clarity of this album's mixes (compared to those of some of their earlier, lower-fidelity albums) helps to highlight. "Foggy Notion" also makes clear the direction the band is taking on this LP. While on The Velvet Underground the band softened their sound and made it really up-close and personal, and on 1970's Loaded (i.e., with hits) they went full commercial pop/rock despite a compromised band line-up, Rock And Roll finds them smack in the middle of that shift: drummer Mo Tucker (who has a simple and influential arms-only style) had not yet gone on maternity leave, but the songs are more commercial than before—the Velvet Underground play rock and roll. The tunes are, maybe as a result, more fun and less serious than ever before. It might be going too far, but I believe that had this double album been released in 1969, it could've been a big seller—maybe even their biggest. It's certainly the most commercial thing they did prior to Loaded the next year. But I digress.
Continuing onward, the listener arrives at "She's My Best Friend," one of the catchiest songs on the album, sung with the softer voice of multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule (who replaced John Cale). Reed, though, redid this one himself on his album Coney Island Baby (1975). Tucker's yells during the outro are fun. This one is also a '69 mix, as made evident by that good old vacuum tube-born vocal distortion. After it comes "Andy's Chest," another '69-mixed track with some interesting and silly lyrics along with a short, delectable guitar solo that ends quite abruptly. Evidence of Lou Reed's B.A. in English and his resulting mastery of the language comes with the lines, "'cause you know what they say about honey bears/when you shave off all their baby hair/you have a hairy-minded pink bare bear." This one was also rerecorded by Reed, on his breakthrough David Bowie-produced classic Transformer (1972). Side one draws to a close with "Lisa Says." Unlike all the previous guitar-dominated tracks, this one softens things up with a piano high in the mix. It's also the first modern mix on the album; luckily, these aren't drastically different beyond increased clarity and reduced vocal distortion. Reed also later rerecorded this one on his commercially-flopping self-titled solo debut, where he was backed by a portion of the prog-rock band Yes. That album is actually contains the first official releases of four of this album's songs, including its' opener...
"I Can't Stand It." Side two opens with the count-in that precedes this rocker which picks the energy back up again. It's one of my favourites, with its' memorable lyrics such as "she used to hit me with a mop" and an interesting guitar solo, during the middle of which Reed builds tension by way of a countdown from eight to one. It's is featured here in a 2014 mix, and after it comes the fantastically silly "Temptation Inside Your Heart," the second song here featuring John Cale. Along with almost everything else they recorded in early '68 before he was kicked out of the group, this number shows the less serious and somewhat more commercial direction the band was already headed in. Reed and Cale parrot strange and often funny (as well as third-wall-breaking) vocal lines at each other overtop an imitation-R&B backing track, ending in laughter and a bust of bongos or possibly a different type of hand drum.
Things get more artsy and serious after that with the pretty ballad (I may be wrong about that second descriptor) "Ocean." The fabulous Mo Tucker washes the listener with cymbals imitating waves, and this song was hypnotically extended when they played at the Matrix in '69 (those four sets are highly recommended by this author, who finds The Complete Matrix Tapes to be one of the best live rock albums by anybody). Featured in its' '69 mix, this song was re-recorded by the Velvets later in '70 but nonetheless went unreleased until Reed closed his debut record with an excellent version of it in '72. The ghostly "here come the waves" backing vocals are a real treat. After that, Rock And Roll moves onward with a catchy pop-rock song called "One Of These Days" (one of many songs with that title), the only track with lead guitar by Doug Yule. A 2014 mix, its' second half is an instrumental jam that segways nicely into the following track, "Guess I'm Falling In Love," the first instrumental. It's also a modern mix. Interestingly, all three of the instrumentals on this album are simply unfinished songs—all had lyrics when performed live, and they are included at the bottom of the essay. There's a decent recording of the song with Reed singing from their April '67 gig at the Gymnasium in the Big Apple: I based the lyrics off that performance, and it's available in the excellent White Light/White Heat 45th Anniversary box. Anyhow, this is the only track recorded in '67, either during or shortly after the White Light/White Heat sessions, and as a result is full of that album's distinctive highly distorted and gritty guitar. It chugs along nicely, and fortunately (in my opinion, at least) doesn't feel too out of place, coming after the previous track's jam section. And with that, the first half of the album comes to a close!
Opening the imaginary second LP is the album's intended lead single (according to Lou Reed), the intentionally-commercial "We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together." It has prominent handclaps, and I don't have much else to say about it besides it being both pretty fun and a modern mix. Following that comes a weirder one, "Ferryboat Bill." This song and the earlier "Ocean" are the only ones whose '60's mixes were included on VU and Another View. Same mix here. With swirling keys, offensive lyrics, and doo-doo-doo-doo backing vocals, this short number almost feels more like an interlude than a real and complete song. After it ends abruptly on the doo-doo-doo-doo's, the song "Hey Mr. Rain" kicks in. This is another of the ones recorded before John Cale was fired from the band, and that viola is very prominent here. There were two versions of the song recorded: the way I see it, vesion one is somewhat more pedestrian and gets dull as a result, whereas version two (the one included on Rock And Roll) remains interesting throughout despite getting a little weirder, with elements unique to it such as the guitar zaps (for lack of a better word) that take place several times over the course of its' runtime. That's why I picked version two. It's also a modern mix.
Continuing on through the third side of the imaginary vinyl record, the instrumental "I'm Gonna Move Right In" follows "Hey Mr. Rain." Churning live versions of the track had lyrics (see them at the bottom of the post, although I couldn't make out a few of the words due to the limitations of the low-fidelity audience recordings I found), but this studio recording, which was mixed at the time, for some reason don't. Wether it was considered finished or not is unclear (to the extent of my knowledge, at least), but this six and a half minute groove is a pleasant change of pace in for the album despite that. Closing out the penultimate side is a live recording of "Over You," a song never recorded in the studio. Luckily, two different versions were recorded to multitrack tape during their four sets at the Matrix in November '69. 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (1974), which is largely sourced from those shows, uses the faster and sloppier performance, whereas I have chosen to include the slower and more carefully-performed version. It's a wonderful-sounding modern mix, and luckily doesn't sound too out of place next to these studio recordings. Also, the great line "I keep chasing lesser, lesser rainbows" really shows Reed's skill in the economy of words. He can say lots with very, very little, and his 1972 masterpiece "Perfect Day" is a masterclass in exactly that.
After side three ends with applause from the tiny audience, side four matches that non-musical energy with a quiet count-in to "Beginning To See The Light." This particular recording was made while John Cale was still there (this is actually the final track which features him), some months before the more acoustic-leaning version was recorded with Doug Yule for The Velvet Underground. I judged it both good and different enough to be worth including, and also becase this final side needed a chugging opener to get things moving again: a job which this version executes perfectly. Both it and this following track, "Coney Island Steeplechase," are modern mixes. "Steeplechase" is fun and catchy, especially the part where Lou Reed counts down the days of the week. After that we arrive at the album's closing trio of songs. On the band's third album, drummer Mo Tucker sings lead vocals on its' excellent closer "After Hours." Here, near the very end of the album, she does it again, singing "I'm Sticking With You." This track was used in the soundtrack to a wonderful film about a teenage pregnancy called Juno (2007), after which Lou Reed began performing it live again. This one is a sweet and silly song, as much of this album seems to be, and is a 1969 mix.
Same goes for the next track, which is also the title track and the final track with singing, "Rock And Roll." Several of the songs that the Velvets put to tape in 1969 were rerecorded during and shortly after the band made their final album, Loaded, the following year, but this was the only one that actually made the cut onto the released LP (the others were "Ocean," "I'm Sticking With You," and "Ride Into The Sun" with vocals). Nonetheless, I decided to make "Rock And Roll" the title track here because, the way I see it, this song is the band's thesis statement on this album. They are making, generally, the shallowest and most commercial rock music that they had recorded up until that point (although a number of songs don't fit that description, especially the Cale ones that I have shoehorned snugly into this LP). "We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together" being planned as the lead single is a real statement of commerciality that this number further encapsulates. The Velvet Underground are making rock music to have fun and good times to—at least relative to what they were doing before. Apart from on "Ocean," they're really not taking themselves that seriously, and as a result, this is their lightest album before Loaded. It is for this precise reason that I chose the album cover that I did. It's an Andy Warhol imitation that was used as the cover to the Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Featuring Nico compilation from 1971, an image commonly associated with the band that one of my friends even has on his wall as a poster. I see the lips sucking on soda as representing the commercial music (by their standards, it must be remembered) being listened to: in other words, feel-good product being consumed. Loaded with hits, but in different words and with a lot less in the hits department (not that Loaded charted much higher than their other stuff in the end). When, as the lyrics say, Jenny put on that New York station and heard fantastic rock music that saved her soul, she was listening to the Velvet Underground. That is why "Rock And Roll" is both the title and penultimate track on this album (and the last one with words). It's their statement about the music they were making—and is actually the polar opposite of the statement they were making with their second album White Light/White Heat, a monolith of uncommercial anti-beauty.
The album's musical journey ends, obviously, with its' final song: the beautiful cutrain-calling instrumental "Ride Into The Sun." Probably unlike the other instrumentals here, vocals were indeed recorded for this one in '69, but it seems the session tape with those and a pile of other overdubs dissapeared at some point before the song first got mixed for release in the '80s. This version with vocals still exists as a crappy-sounding acetate recording (for those who don't know, acetates are these records which degrade with each play but can be made very quickly, so were commonly taken home by artists at the end of sessions before cassettes replaced them), but I find most of the instruments in this modern remix relatively inaudible there, or at least the beauty of it is lost entirely to me (maybe or maybe not as a result of the serious loss in fidelity). It doesn't matter too much that the words are missing here because there are several later studio recordings of this song that include the full lyrics, so it's not like fans are really missing out on much. I find this song to be just so sublime, the audio equivalent of a sky-melting, blood-red, golden-violet sunset. It's the perfect playout music to this lovely album, in a way that makes it feel as if movie credits are rolling by. This is one of my very favourite song on the album, and by the band for that matter. And with its' fade out, Rock And Roll concludes.
So, to wrap things up nicely, here are the album's three sets of missing lyrics, to which I have added those of "Rock And Roll" for good measure:
"Guess I'm Falling In Love"
I got fever in my pocket
You know I gotta move
Hey babe, I guess I'm falling in love
I got fever in my pocket
Down to my shoes
Oh babe, I guess I'm falling in love
I got in my pocket, hey babe
Everything that I can have
I've got things in my love life
It's gonna work out fine
It's gonna be alright
I gotta move
You got yours on your side
Hey now babe, I guess I'm falling in love
I got fever in my pocket
Down to my shoes
Oh babe, I guess I'm falling in love
You'd better move it on sweet babe
Hey, on down to your shoes
Things they're right, mama
You know it'll work out fine
Hey, you gotta lose
Got hand in my pocket
You know it's up your street
Oh babe, I guess I'm falling in love
I've got ankles in my braces
Find it's hard to lose
Oh babe, guess I'm falling in love
Oh babe, guess I'm falling in love
Oh babe, guess I'm falling in love
"I'm Gonna Move Right In"
Well she's straight and looks like a lot of fun
The bar is open I'm gonna go drink with everyone
Walking down main street with my hat [unintelligible]
I've got all this money and have to have a care
I'm gonna move right in
I'm gonna move right in
I'm gonna move right in
After we hang a little we'll have a little fun
Maybe go shoot and kill and knife everyone
The bar looks like fun gonna have myself a drink
Babe I seem to know myself, I ain't gonna think
I'm gonna move right in
I'm gonna move right in
I'm gonna move right in
I'm gonna pay and try get myself straight
Gonna have a last look at me, she's gonna be my date
Go down on Main Street [unintelligible] going to the wire
I'm saying I have to get get get my plane higher
"Ride Into The Sun"
Looking for another place
Somewhere else to be
Looking for another chance
To ride into the sun
Ride into the sun
Ride into the sun
Ride into the sun
Ride into the sun
Where everything seems to pretty
When you're lonely and tired of the city
Remember it's a flower made out of clay
To the city
Where everything seems to ugly
When you're sitting at home in self pity
Remember you're just one more person
Who's living there
It's hard to live in the city
It's hard to live in the city
It's hard to live in the city
"Rock And Roll"
Jenny said when she was just five years old
There was nothing happeining at all
Every time she put on the radio
There was nothing going on at all
Then one fine morning she put on a New York station
Didn't believe what she heard at all
She started dancing to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock and roll
It took no computation
To dance to a rock and roll station
And it was alright babe
Now it was alright
Jenny said when she was just five years old
You know her parents'd be the death of us all
Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars
Well you know baby's not gonna help us at all
Then one fine morning she put on a New York station
She didn't believe baby what she heard at akk
She started dancing to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock and roll
Despite all the amputation
You could dance to a rock and roll station
And it was alright
Hey babe, it was alright
Here she comes now
There was nothing happeining at all
Every time she put on the radio
There was nothing going down at all
Then one fine morning she put on a New York station
She didn't believe what she heard at all
She started dancing to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock and roll
Took no computation
To dance to a rock and roll station
And it was alright
And it was alright
And it was alright
It was alright
It was alright
It was alright
It was alright
It was alright
It was alright
It was alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
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