Sidney Bechet – 'Mosaic Select 22'

 

Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was a pioneering American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer who was one of the first important soloists in jazz history.  Born into a middle-class Creole family in New Orleans, he was largely self-taught and played in top local bands by his teenage years.


Sidney became a master of the soprano saxophone, an instrument he famously adopted while touring Europe in 1919.  He was the first to give the soprano saxophone a prominent place in jazz, using its piercing sound to play lead lines usually reserved for trumpets.

His first sessions in 1923 predated those of Louis Armstrong, making him a primary architect of the jazz-swing solo style.  Sidney was renowned for his distinctive, wide, and operatic vibrato, which gave his playing a powerful and impassioned tone.  Sidney spent much of his later life in France, where he was revered as a cultural icon and known to Jazz fas as "le dieu" (the god).

In 1928 outside a Montmartre nightclub in Paris, Sidney was involved in a gun duel with fellow musician Gilbert "Little Mike" McKendrick, when he claimed Sidney played a wrong note.  Sidney challenged Little Mike" to a duel, declaring, "Sidney Bechet never plays the wrong chord!".  During the duel, a stray bullet from Sidney's gun hit a woman in the street, injuring her, though not fatally.  He was arrested, spent 11 months in jail, and was subsequently deported back to the United States in 1929.  The event highlighted Bechet's legendary temper, uncompromising musicality, and the volatility that defined his life and art.  

In 1947, he returned to France permanently, and died of lung cancer in Paris on his 62nd birthday in 1959.  He is buried in Garches, a suburb of Paris.

Sidney Bechet influenced generations of jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, who recorded the tribute "Blues to Bechet" on his 'Coltrane Plays the Blues' album from 1962.

This three-CD Mosaic Select set showcases a collection of sessions from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, spanning various Columbia Records subsidiaries like Columbia, OKeh, Variety, and Vocalion.  While some tracks hold significant historical importance, others are more obscure and marginal.  Despite this, Sidney shines throughout, effortlessly transitioning from the deepest blues to the most trivial novelty numbers.  His boundless energy, fertile imagination, and genuine warmth as a musician are evident in every track, from his inaugural recording session in 1923 (which serves as the opening track of Select) to a quartet performance from 1947, shortly before he permanently relocated to France.

I first heard Sidney, as a little girl, when my father played his 78 of "Petite Fleur", a record he played often.

For the freeload, what music did your parents play, and did you like it?

Marvin Gaye - 'What's Going On' (The Detroit Mix)

Marvin Gaye's landmark album 'What's Going On' was primarily recorded between June 1970 and May 1971.  The main rhythm tracks and vocals were recorded, at Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A): aka "The Snakepit".  Strings, horns, and some vocals were recorded Golden World Studios (Studio B), also in Detroit.  When Marvin delivered his self-produced master tapes to Berry Gordy, he and his Quality Control team unceremoniously rejected it, claiming it didn't have the Motown polish. 

So Marvin feeling dejected, and also feeling like he needed a change of scenery took his master tapes along with recording engineer Larry Miles to The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California.  In a single afternoon, they did overdubs, a remix, and by all accounts a mountain of cocaine.  Marvin was more than happy with the results, resubmitted it to Berry Gordy, and 'What's Going On' was given the green light for release, and the rest as they say, is history.

'What's Going On' was released on May 21, 1971, by the Tamla Records subsidiary of Motown Records.  Marvin's sweeping, street-level view of the horror of war and its impact on families, inner cities in turmoil, drug abuse, child welfare, and the environment in decline, made it one of the finest albums of the 20th century.

So what does the original Detroit mix sound like, you ask?
The mix captures a more immediate, studio-floor feel of Marvin’s legendary vocal performances, and has different often overlapping vocal takes, and additional unburied lyrics like in "Right On".

There's a more organic feel to everything, with more prominent drums, bass guitar, guitar, piano, and horns, and less prominent choral vocals and orchestra, which makes this record sound so different even though it's the same songs.  The bass lines by James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt are more prominent, featuring connecting passages that were either muted and or removed in the final L.A. mix. The bass also fills my music room with rich, full and warm bass on heard on the "L.A. mix".  

Overall The Detroit Mix's songs float wistfully on Marvin's socially conscious laments that almost bring the work closer to the singer-songwriter genre.

Freeload it, and play "spot the difference".

For the freeload, what are some of your favorite Marvin Gaye songs?

Before The Blues: The Early American Black Music Scene (Volumes 1-3)

'Before The Blues: The Early American Black Music Scene' is a three-volume compilation series released by Yazoo Records in 1996.  The series explores the diverse roots of African American music, featuring classic recordings from the 1920s and 1930s that preceded the standardization, of The Blues, e.g., 8-bar, 12-bar, 16-bar blues, 32-bar, and minor blues forms. 

Produced by Richard Nevins and Don Kent, this collection highlights an era when blues had not yet fully separated from related genres like ragtime, religious music, and breakdown dances. 

Historical aspects aside, this collection is ridiculously entertaining, and all things considered, the audio is pretty terrific.

Volume 1: Focuses on ragtime, modal songs, and early religious music. Key tracks include "Bamalong Blues" by Andrew and Jim Baxter, "Stack O'Lee Blues" by Mississippi John Hurt, and "Run Mollie Run" by Henry Thomas.

Volume 2: Explores jug bands and country blues roots. Key tracks include Charley Patton ("Mississippi Boweavil Blues"), Blind Willie Johnson ("Nobody's Fault But Mine"), and Geeshie Wiley ("Last Kind Words Blues").

Volume 3: Continues the exploration with key tracks from Memphis Minnie ("Frisco Town"), Blind Blake ("Champaign Charlie Is My Name"), and Barbecue Bob ("Black Skunk Blues").

For the freeload, tell us what music you listen to that isn't Blues, Jazz, or Rock.

Lee Morgan – 'Search For The New Land'

During summer break from Caltech in 1966, I was back home in Brooklyn Heights.  On a hot humid August Saturday, Denise "The Grease" and I were sitting on the stoop of "The Grease Family" home.

A white Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible, with a red interior pulls up, and out gets Denise's brother, Vinny aka "Vinny The One".  Denise tells him, "We saved you a parking space, Vin!"  Vinny smiled and said, "How's my favorite girls doin'?" and kissed Denise and me twice, once on each cheek.  He then asked us, "What are you ladies, doin' today?"  Denise told him, "We're goin' over to Gennaro's for slices (of pizza)." "Nice!" said Vinny, and then, said "The slices are on me", with that Vinny reach into front right pants pocket and pulled out a "wad" of cash held together with a thick and wide purple rubber band (the kind used to hold together bunches of broccoli and asparagus in grocery stores).  He thumbed through fifties until he reached the twenties and gave us twenty dollars each.  

In 1966, the median annual income for families in the U.S. was approximately $7,400, so twenty dollars back then was what we mathematicians commonly referred to as "A chunk of change".  Vinny went in the house, and Denise said, "Let's get some slices, and go shopping!".  So we headed over to Gennaro's.

Gennaro's was a pizza parlor in downtown Brooklyn, and a short bus ride away from Brooklyn Heights.  There was no "Gennaro", it was owned by a guy with the nickname of "Joey Apizza", who was part of Denise's father's crew. (Apizza is pronounced "Ah-beetz" in the archaic Neapolitan dialect for pizza)

My father used to joke, "Gennaro's is the most successful laundromat… I mean pizzeria, in the entire universe… .at least on paper, anyway."  Be that as it may, Gennaro's, had the best pizza around, and in Brooklyn that's saying something.

At Gennaro's "Joey Apizza" greeted us, "Denise… Babs, 'hawaya'?, and told Denise, "Vinny called and said 'youse' were stoppin' by."  He then looked at me and asked, "You heard from your brother, Babs?" I told him, "We got a letter last week, he's good.", and "Joey Apizza" said "Next time you write to him, tell 'em I was asking about him, and tell him to watch his ass." (at the time, my brother was in Vietnam)

Denise ordered the slices,"Give us two slices with sausage, two with 'roni' (pepperoni) and two large cokes, please Joey".  Now here's what my father was talking about: when Joey rang up our order on his cash register, he said, "Lets see now you got two large cheese pies (pizzas), two large with roni, two large with anchovies, two large with sausage, three orders spaghetti marinara, three side orders of meatballs, four large salads, and two Caesar salads.  Will there be anything else?" Denise, who knew the deal, laughed and said "Yeah, you better give us some garlic bread, and a dozen cannoli, too Joey".   "Joey Apizza" said, "You got it, kid…OK, with New York City sales tax, that's gonna' be fifty-three dollars…outta' fifty-five, that's two dollars change.", and gave us a dollar each.  "Joey Apizza" winked, we laughed.

While we were sitting at a table eating our slices, four guys in their teens walked in.  One of them looked at Denise and made a "smooching" sound, another one looked at me, made the "thumbs up" hand gesture, and while rotating his thumb, said to me, "Hey baby, you want 'some-a-dis'?"  I told him, "Come back when you reach puberty, junior." "Yeah, when your friggin' balls drop." said Denise rolling her eyes.  Joey laughed and said to the four guys, "I guess they told you, and now I'm tellin' 'youse' guys, get the fuck outta my pizza parlor!" They left lickety-split.

Standing in front of his cash register "Joey Apizza" said to himself, "Let's see now, those four 'stunods' ordered two large cheese pies, two large with roni, two large with anchovies…" (Stunod is Italian-American slang for stupid, "numbnuts" and "idiot" etc.)

A few minutes later, Joey brought us some Tortoni (amaretto ice cream, topped with toasted coconut, and a maraschino cherry), and said, "The Tortoni is on me." and snickered as he walked away.

Across the street from Gennaro's was a drug store with a makeup counter, and next door to that, was a record store called "Sweetest Sounds".  Denise went into the drug store and came out with enough makeup for a Cecil B. DeMille epic, and I went into Sweetest Sounds, and came out with the recently released…

‘Search for the New Land,’ produced by Alfred Lion and recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was recorded on February 15, 1964.  However, it wasn’t released until August 1966.

All the "sidemen" are legends in their own right, along with Lee Morgan's trumpet are: Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Grant Green on guitar, Herbie Hancock on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums.

The album was recorded two months after 'The Sidewinder', which was a commercial success, and Lee Morgan enjoyed a hugely popular and lucrative chart hit in the form of the soulful, boogaloo-laden title track.  'Search for the New Land' finds Lee Morgan in a more meditative and exploratory mood, reflecting the social tension and disenchantment of the Civil Rights Movement era.  

In the music business, as in life, timing is everything.  Blue Note Records owner Alfred Lion was looking for a more commercial sound not unlike 'The Sidewinder', so priorities and release dates quickly changed.  'Search For The New Land' was shelved until 1966, when Alfred thought the climate was right for its release.

Search for the New Land is widely considered jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan’s most profound and artistically ambitious Blue Note Records statement.

Today's freeload is a Japanese 2024 limited edition reissue as part of the Blue Note 85 series.  This is a UHQCD, remastered by Kevin Gray. Needless to say, the sonics are sweet.

For the freeload, tells about friends (best or otherwise) you had as a teenager.

Janis Joplin - 'Joplin In Concert' & 'Pearl'

 

Janis Joplin was a legendary American singer-songwriter who was known for her raw, powerful mezzo-soprano vocals.

Her assertive, uninhibited stage presence and vulnerability redefined the role of women in rock and roll, influencing countless artists across generations.

Janis has been called "The best White blues singer in American musical history", but to my ears, she's one of the best blues singers in American musical history, end of story.  That said, Janis wasn’t a blues artist in the traditional sense, the same way that Billie Holliday was really a jazz singer, and Etta James was really an R'n'B singer, when you consider their entire musical repertoire.

She first gained prominence as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company before launching a successful solo career with the Kozmic Blues Band and the Full Tilt Boogie Band.  Tragically, her meteoric rise was cut short when she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27, cementing her place as a tragic icon of the counterculture era.

Today's freeloads are:

'Joplin In Concert' was originally released in 1972, as a double-LP record.

The first record contained performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company and the second with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, recorded at various locations in 1968 and 1970.

The freeload is a 2 x CD, remastered limited edition 2008 reissue from Sony Music Japan, with excellent sonics.  The packaging is a mini LP that replicates its original textured US gatefold LP jacket design. 

'Pearl' remains Joplin's finest hour. 

Janis truly poured her heart into this record, so much so that the performer and the song seemed to merge.  She wove her own life into every song on 'Pearl', giving them a deeply personal and emotional feel.  She did this so well during her brief career, but 'Pearl' stands out because of how she balances perfect timing with raw emotion.  Songs like "A Woman Left Lonely" are heart-wrenching anthems that show a wonderful mix of strength and control, and they are both subtle and powerful.  This mix makes for songs that are unique, full of personality, and come from a place of genuine passion.

Janis' swan song is not so much about a masterpiece that she never lived to see finished.  Rather, it's about a once-in-a-lifetime vocalist realizing mammoth potential and wringing passion out of every note. This, in my eye, is not a tragedy, but a triumph.

The freeload is Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's 2016 reissue, and is up to their usual audio standards.

For both freeloads, who are some of your favorite musicians who died young, but not in the "27 Club"?

Living Chicago Blues Volumes 1 - 4

The 'Living Chicago Blues' series, was curated by Living Blues magazine and distributed by the Alligator Records label, in 1978 and 1979, with the intent to record and bring attention to the city's overlooked or undiscovered authentic Chicago blues artists.

Living Chicago Blues Volumes 1 through 4 follow the template of the absolutely essential 'CHICAGO/THE BLUES/TODAY!' series of three albums released by Vanguard in 1966 (featured here this past November), showing that the Chicago blues scene was still vital and thriving during the Disco era,

In Jim O'Neal's excellent liner notes, originally written in 1978, it is interesting to observe how little some things have changed.  He writes, "The powerful recording conglomerates show little interest in blues".

Each album in the series presents a captivating fusion of soulful vocals, electrifying guitar riffs, and the distinctive sound that characterizes Chicago blues.

Simply stated, Alligator Records' Living Chicago Blues series Volumes 1 through 4 are the gold standard for 1970s Blues.

For the freeload, tell us about recordings from a decade and genre, that to you are the gold standard.

Jimmy Smith - 'Cool Blues'

 

 'Cool Blues' was recorded live at Small's Paradise in New York City on April 7, 1958, but not released until 1980 on the Blue Note Records label.  The original sessions were produced by Alfred Lion, with Rudy Van Gelder engineering the proceedings.  Michael Cuscuna produced the 1980 release.  In 1990, 'Cool Blues' was released on CD with three additional tracks from the same evening at Small's Paradise.

This album is a quintessential example of soul-jazz, a genre that Jimmy Smith helped pioneer.  It showcases his remarkable ability to effortlessly blend gospel and blues influences with high-energy bebop improvisation. ‘Cool Blues’ truly encapsulates the raw energy of Jimmy’s early soul-jazz era, and his exceptional mastery of the Hammond B3 organ.

The recordings feature an elite lineup of Lou Donaldson on alto sax, Tina Brooks on tenor sax, (the criminally underrated and underappreciated) Eddie McFadden on guitar, and legendary drummers Art Blakey and Donald Bailey.

Donald Bailey Jimmy Smith and Eddie McFadden 
during the Smalls Paradise gig

Tracklist and players:
1. "Groovin' At Small's
"

Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ

Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Tina Brooks —tenor saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Art Blakey —drums

2. "Dark Eyes
"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Tina Brooks —tenor saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Art Blakey —drums

3. "Cool Blues
"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Tina Brooks —tenor saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Donald Bailey —drums


4. Announcement  —Babs Gonzales



5. "A Night In Tunisia
"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Tina Brooks —tenor saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Art Blakey —drums

6. "What's New
"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Donald Bailey —drums

7. "Small's Minor
"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Donald Bailey —drums

8. "Once In A While"
Jimmy Smith —Hammond B-3 organ
Lou Donaldson —alto saxophone
Eddie McFadden —guitar
Donald Bailey —drums


A few words about Small's Paradise

Small's Paradise was located in the basement of 2294 Seventh Avenue (today’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard north of Central Park) at the corner of 134th Street.  It was opened in 1925 and was owned by Ed Smalls, and was the only one of the well-known Harlem nightclubs to be owned by an African-American and integrated.

Interior view of Small's Paradise, 
with inset portrait of owner Ed Smalls

The entertainment at Smalls Paradise was not limited to the stage; waiters danced the Charleston or roller-skated as they delivered orders to customers.  Waiters were also known to vocalize during the club’s floor shows.  Unlike most of the Harlem clubs which closed between 3-4 am, Smalls was open all night, offering a breakfast dance which featured a full floor show beginning at 6 am.

Many well known musicians, both white and African-American, appeared at the club over the years, and often came to Smalls after their paying evening gigs for late night jams with the Smalls Paradise band.

After 30 years Ed Smalls sold the club to popular disc jockey Tommy Smalls (no relation) in late 1955. Tommy Smalls, known as "Dr. Jive", was an early enthusiast of rock 'n' roll.  Like his contemporary, Alan Freed, Smalls also organized rock 'n' roll shows held at New York area theaters.  Tommy Smalls held a grand opening gala at the club on December 13, 1955, which was attended by many prominent people in the music industry.  However, the majority of shows were still Jazz

In 1961 Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain purchased it with business partner Pete McDougall, and renamed the venue Big Wilt's Smalls Paradise.

At some point in the late 1970s, it became a Disco club, and then morphed into a Roller Disco establishment.

When Smalls Paradise closed in 1986, I remember thinking to myself, "I always wanted to go there", but somehow and for whatever reason, I never made it…

One more thing (so much for a few words, I know).  Smalls also featured a "Psychic Mind Reader" who one night robbed the cash register, and absconded.  The next day a newspaper headline read:
"Smalls Medium at Large".

Be that as it may…

Today's freeload is a 2012 Japanese reissue of a 2001 mono Rudy Van Gelder remaster, that corrected original pitch errors, delivering a crisp, high-quality listen.  Also included is four pages of 2012 liner notes in English and Japanese.  An additional fold out insert includes the original 1980 LP liner notes in English backed by a Japanese translation.

For the freeload tell us about clubs, music venues, bars or pubs, perhaps a restaurant (you get the idea), you wanted to go to, but permanently closed before you could.

The Good Ol' Grateful Dead - Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings

 

'Winterland June 1977: The Complete Recordings' is a 9CD box set, released on October 1st, 2009 on the Grateful Dead Records label.

Captured on June 7th–9th, 1977, the three-show run took place during what is widely regarded as one of the Dead’s strongest periods.  This was one year after the band returned from a 19-month hiatus, one month after the famous Cornell 5/8/1977 show which was part of the same spring tour and shortly before the release of 'Terrapin Station' in July 1977.

The shows were recorded by the Dead's sound engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson, and remastered Jeffrey Norman from the original master analog tapes.  Betty Cantor-Jackson's recordings are known for their high quality sound, and referred to by Dead Heads as "Betty Boards".

The box has 28-page booklet (included in the freeload) with an essay by David Fricke, it also features lots of great photographs of the shows, by noted Grateful Dead "shutterbugs" Ed Perlstein and Bruce Polonsky.

Also included in the box are two little pieces of period memorabilia; a button badge and a postcard.

But wait, there's more!

If you pre-ordered this box set (which I did), you also received a bonus CD Grateful Dead show in Chicago on May 12, 1977, which is also in the freeload.

For the freeload, tell us what you were doing in 1977?

Lead Belly

Huddie William Ledbetter (January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an iconic American folk and blues musician renowned for his powerful vocals, exceptional guitar skills, and the folk standards he popularized.

Huddie Ledbetter, best known as Lead Belly, spelled his name "Lead Belly" himself, despite many releases listing it as "Leadbelly".  This spelling is also used on his tombstone and by the Lead Belly Foundation. 

 
Lead Belly, a performing musician before the 1920s commercial boom for the blues, showcased his talent beyond the genre.  Like many early blues players, he was equally known as a "Songster", a versatile musician capable of becoming a one-man show.  While an effective multi-instrumentalist, his exceptional 12-string guitar playing was complemented by his powerful voice and ability to convey the essence of his songs, many of which were passed down orally.

Lead Belly’s unique combination of attributes made him a perfect fit for the early US folk scene.  However, it was his connection to the pre-recording roots of folk tradition that truly solidified his place in history.  He was an eight-year elder to Blind Lemon Jefferson, which placed him in the company of legendary musicians like Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, and Lightnin’ Hopkins.  What set Lead Belly apart was that he wasn’t rediscovered after a brief period with record labels.

'Leadbelly' was released in 1970, on the Columbia Records label.

This album compiles Lead Belly's first commercial recordings, done in 1935, after he had sung himself out of a jail sentence for the second time in his life, or so the story goes…  The term: "The stuff of legends" has never been more appropriate.  Blues songs dominate completely, on these recordings, and there is a strong influence from Blind Lemon Jefferson, certainly not a bad thing in itself.  The recordings were issued by the American Record Corporation the same year, but they didn’t sell well, as by this point Lead Belly’s style of blues was somewhat out of vogue.  

If you asked Lead Belly, who wrote these songs, he would have told you, they were passed down to him.  And yet, the folklore collecting brothers Alan and John Lomax whom never wrote a song in their entire lives, manage to get themselves listed as songwriters on many of the tracks [What…the…actual…fuck? - Ed].

This collection of songs may not have all of his well-known songs.  If you know him from songs like "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," "Midnight Special," "Cotton Fields," "Boll Weevil," and "Goodnight, Irene," you may be disappointed to find out they're not here.  And yet, as an album, it strikes me as his definitive work.  

I remember when I was in the fourth grade [and Broadway was a prairie - Ed] at PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights.  The song book we sang from had "Pick a Bale of Cotton" in it, which along with songs that were subtitled "Negro Spirituals" were my favorites, and little did I know at the time, would influence my future taste in music. 

The freeload is a 24bit/48kHz vinyl rip of the original (Terre Haute pressing) 1970 release.

Also included in the freeload is

American Epic: The Best Of Lead Belly, was released in 2017 on the Third Man Records label.  This has unprecedented sound quality, thanks to Nicholas Bergh's reverse engineering techniques.  If you freeloaded my post: 'American Epic: The Best Of Mississippi John Hurt' from this past September, you know what I'm talking about.

The freeload is a 24bit/88.2kHz vinyl rip.

For both freeloads, tell what were some of your favorite songs that you sang in school as a "little kid"?

Dexter Gordon - 'Sophisticated Giant'

 

'Sophisticated Giant' was recorded at Sound Ideas studios in New York City on June 21 & 22, 1977.  It was produced by Michael Cuscuna, and released on the Columbia Records label in November 1977.

This album is a masterclass in large-ensemble jazz, with exceptional arrangements by Slide Hampton, a top-tier backing band, and Dexter's signature sound.

Along with Dexter on both tenor and soprano saxophone, he’s joined by what fans of this album affectionately refer to as “The Dextette.”  The ensemble includes Woody Shaw and Benny Bailey on tenor saxophone, Frank Wess on alto saxophone and flute, trombonists Slide Hampton and Wayne Andre, Howard Johnson on tuba, vibes master Bobby Hutcherson, and the rhythm section consisting of George Cables on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums.

Long Tall Dex in 1977

Dexter Gordon spanned and evolved over several eras and went from big band to bebop to bop to his own art.  'Sophisticated Giant' is where he was at one point in time, with all of that depth and experience behind him.

'Sophisticated Giant' is a great album with a not so great cover.

For the freeload, let’s discuss albums we bought solely based on their covers, and albums we didn’t buy for the same reason, only to later discover that they were actually great albums, or vice versa.

Bab's Bootleg Bonanza - Velvet Underground Edition

 Here's two very nice Velvet Underground Boots.

'A Walk With The Velvet Underground' is a 5 CD set that was released in 1997, from our friends at the Midnight Beat label in Luxembourg.  It's beautifully packaged, and has a 20-page booklet (included in the freeload).

'Vulgar Absurdity' was released in 2020 on the Assblaster label [classy name —Ed].  All things considered, this is a great sounding collection of Velvet Underground outtakes, demos and live tracks.  Everything here is 100% unreleased and not on deluxe editions. There might be some overlap with 'A Walk With The Velvet Underground', but I'm too lazy to figure it all out.

Be that as it may, for the freeload, post a verse or two from a favorite Velvet Underground song.