The Velvet Underground [VINYL]

Product Information

Seems like they just stuck the same digital remasters they used for the CD reissue of the "The Velvet Underground" (third album). And although Universal did get the CD box sets out for the 45th anniversary editions of each album, with the vinyl resurgence now in full swing, do we still have to settle for digital transfers on CD's, or digital transfers on vinyl as is the case here [Back to Black series here in Europe], or the Music on Vinyl releases (and I assume the Sundazed releases too)?

Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground (45th - Discogs Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground (45th - Discogs

It was most likely pressed at United (where Universal farms out a lot of it's vinyl product), and although they're known for poor quality, this set (at least my copy) is fine - thick vinyl, free of defects, well-centered, and only the slightest amount of surface noise, which may be remedied by a cleaning.

I can report- digital transfers or not- the sound is really excellent even on my basic turntable speaker setup. If you stumble across them as individual LPs, you may not realize that the first three records, plus Nico's, are all in their mono mixes. Agree with the other comment: the stereo pressing sounds excellent; as good as this album has ever sounded. I was actually HOPING they were mono, but didn't figure that out until a scan of the barcodes brought me here. The "box" is flimsy cardboard, the 3rd and 4th album has the wrong label (should mgm, not Verve), the 3rd album's mono mix is just a lame fold-down (should have used the closet mix since that's never been reissued on vinyl), and the cover of the lost album is cheesy and contains the equally cheesy 80s mixes.

Velvet Underground - Loaded (Fully Re-Loaded Edition) The Velvet Underground - Loaded (Fully Re-Loaded Edition)

The second lp is half fold down stereo and the others are stereo fold downs through the entire albums. And the corresponding records in each box were warped in the exact same way suggesting it's a pressing issue. But this set does obviously have a great many perks, including, as I've said before, the one record that has the radio spots, the two aborted singles, the booklet and the neat little postcard, which came as a delightful surprise, because it can now join my collection of musician postcards.Having said that I'm a sucker for any permutation of the VU1968/1969 tracks of their 'lost 4th album' on Verve and had to get this. Content-wise, this is identical to the 4CD set from 2015, although pedants might note that at 43 tracks, this set has one more ‘track’ than the CD package due to the 37-minute version of Sister Ray needing to be split into two parts, on LP 6!