Yes, Loaded is a “perfect rock ‘n’ roll album,” as dubbed by pitchfork writer Stuart Berman. So it’s good that a human being spent a bunch of time “remastering” it. Or was it done by a computer? Or does it even matter? Berman, care to comment?
So you should buy this beyond-bloated Atlantic wallet liner, consisting of more discs than you can give away outside a Wilco show… because the original album was “40 minutes long, five songs to a side, and not a single wasted note.” Oh, also, “The second concert included here… (is) most of interest to Velvets completists.” Oh, thanks, that should sweeten the pot. But you would never stoop to the dorky, hunch-backed, obscurity-hoarding status of “Velvets completists,” would you, Berman? You are, after all, an Atlantic rep, apparently.
As it happens, I own Loaded on CD (Loaded, not remastered), it’s the same copy I’ve had since 2004… I have to say it’s better than White Light / White Heat, POSSIBLY better than The Velvet Underground, for the very inclusion of “Sweet Jane”… anybody who says this album is better than the band’s debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, probably listens to Staind. Berman argues that Loaded “marked the moment where Lou Reed’s early gig as a Pickwick Records song doctor ceased to be an amusing footnote to the band’s story and became their governing principle.” Oh, really Berman, so how are the other “Pickwick Records song doctors” doing on the yearly Village Voice polls these days? Is there anybody in their right mind who gives a flying fu** that Lou Reed was a “Pickwick song doctor”? Anybody who thinks Loaded is Reed’s songwriting zenith is grossly ignorant apparently, of “Sunday Morning,” “Femme Fatale” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” each of which was still performed in the sans-John-Cale days of Live at Max’s Kansas City, a 1970 show bootlegged with beautiful amateurism, showcasing of 17 year old Billy Yule’s brilliantly loose drumming, and most importantly PUT OUT ALREADY. PUT OUT ALREADY.
So yes, this “perfect reissue” ACTUALLY RECYCLES A LIVE EDITION THAT IS ALREADY OUT, THAT ANY FAN OF THE VELVET UNDERGROUND SHOULD ALREADY ALREADY FU**ING FU**ING OWN OWN. Hey Berman, where are they holding the Atlantic Christmas party this year?