Remembering producer Tom Wilson on his birthday

Remembering important but unjustly overlooked producer Tom Wilson with a discussion of his work, some Sun Ra outtakes from 1956 and more. 

Writes Irwin Chusid...

Tom Wilson was a legendary record producer in the '50s and '60s. He produced four Dylan albums, and the first Simon & Garfunkel, which was a commercial failure. So Wilson added a rock backing track to the duo's acoustic recording "Sounds of Silence," and helped invent folk-rock. 

He signed and produced the first two albums by the Mothers of Invention and the Velvet Underground. A decade earlier, after graduating  Harvard in 1955, he founded Transition Records and produced the first albums by Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, and Donald Byrd. He later produced Nico's first, and co-produced the Soft Machine's debut. In 1978, at age 47, he died of a heart attack. 

In 1967 and '68 the charismatic Wilson hosted a free-form radio program called "The Music Factory," sponsored by MGM-Verve. The debut episode of that series, gone from radio since 1967, will be aired on my WFMU program... listen here: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/68065 

More info about Wilson at ProducerTomWilson.com. 

Listen to a Tom Wilson Jazz Sampler put together by Marshall Crenshaw who, despite setbacks due to the pandemic of 2020 and the passing of director Sacha Jenkins last May, is continuing work on his Tom Wilson documentary – right here. Watch a discussion of Tom Wilson's work with Richie Unterberger, an Rock's Back Pages interview with Marshall Crenshaw talking about his Tom Wilson research, followed by some Transition-era Sun Ra studio outtakes and a couple of 1967 clips from Tom Wilson's short-lived radio show The Music Factory. Read the Tom Wilson feature "The Man Who Put Electricity Into Dylan" by Michael Watts (Melody Maker, January 31, 1976) right here. 

Al Green vs. The Velvet Underground

Al Green just cut a cover of Velvet Underground's Loaded gem "I Found A Reason" for his new To Love Somebody EP. Get it here.

STERLING. The Velvet Warrior – new fan doc on Velvet Underground guitarist

Cam Forrester put together a Sterling Morrison documentary in three parts kicking off Saturday (June 22) at 8 am EST.  

Here's the scoop...

A preview trailer for the brand new three-part documentary feature, in which independent artist Cam Forrester explores the career of Sterling Morrison - guitarist of The Velvet Underground - paying a long-overdue tribute to one of the most underrated rock guitarists in music history, and taking a detailed look into his background, his style of playing, his intuitive contributions to the music, and the turbulent story - from his perspective - of one of the most important bands of the 1960s.

Sterling was highly intellectual, and an articulate speaker, with a sharp tongue and dry wit.

He gave numerous interviews over the years, where he covered his experiences during the band years in great depth. These have been compiled into one cohesive timeline, and all of his quotes are read aloud by voice actor Wyatt Markus - bringing the late musician's words back to life, in addition to actual audio/video of Sterling himself where available.

Also included are personal accounts from Sterling’s widow, Martha Morrison, as well as music industry executive Bill Bentley (who was a close friend of Sterling’s and played with him in a band called The Bizarro’s during the 1970s), and musician Dean Wareham (frontman of the band Luna, who supported The Velvet Underground during their reunion tour of Europe, in 1993) who have all contributed audio interviews, offering their memories of the guitarist. Plus several demonstration/reconstruction scenes performed by Cam Forrester, using the same guitar models as Sterling originally used on recordings.

Sterling was quoted saying that he intended to write a book of his memories of the band years, to be titled ‘The Velvet Underground Diet’, but tragically died one day after his 53rd Birthday, of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, on August 30th 1995, before ever getting around to doing so.

The aim of the documentary is to tell as many of Sterling’s recollections that were written down over the years, to as many people as possible all over the world.

RELEASE SCHEDULE:

PART I: 'SLOW INITIATION' - 22.06.2024

PART II: 'CRUSADING' - 29.06.2024

PART III: 'ENTROPY' - 06.07.2024

- ALL AT 12PM NOON [GMT]

Check out STERLING. The Velvet Warrior – Part I: Slow Initiation followed by Cam Forrester's previous Velvets doc "Foundation Velvet: The Drumming of Maureen 'Moe' Tucker" below. 

Of course Todd Haynes' Velvet Underground doc comes with a soundtrack album

The 2CD soundtrack for the new Velvet Underground doc – out October 15 – includes a few unexpected tracks. 

Here's the scoop...

Even before the complete track listing had been announced for the soundtrack of Todd Haynes' much-anticipated new Velvet Underground documentary, the debate amongst longtime fans of the group regarding what should and shouldn't be included had already begun. Whether the focus should be on the music recorded by the group's classic line-up with Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker and Nico or if there should be any post-Cale material at all. And what about Lou Reed's pre-Velvets studio forays on behalf of Pickwick? 

Well, the serious discussions are about to begin as the official track listing has been released by Republic Records/Universal Music for the selections made by director Todd Haynes with his music supervisor Randall Poster for the 2CD package entitled The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film By Todd Haynes – Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack set for release on October 15th, the same day the film premieres globally on Apple TV+.  

Along with the expected studio cuts of such Velvets classics as "I'm Waiting For The Man," "All Tomorrow's Parties," "Pale Blue Eyes," "Sweet Jane," "Venus In Furs," "Foggy Notion," "Ocean" and "Heroin" (mono), there are also live versions of "Sister Ray" and "After Hours." There's one Nico showcase "Chelsea Girls" and one pre-Velvets track "The Ostrich" cut by Reed using the studio alias of The Primitives circa 1964. 

The soundtrack also features a few tunes by artists which inspired the group. There's a live version of "Road Runner" by Bo Diddley, a Fortune label doo-wop gem "The Wind" by Nolan Strong & The Diabolos (credited to simply The Diablos") and perhaps most intriguing, a previously unreleased recording of a LaMonte Young composition "17 XII 63 NYC The Fire Is A Mirror (excerpt)" attributed to The Theatre of Eternal Music.  Check the full track listing following a few song clips from The Primitives, Nolan Strong & The Diablos and The Velvet Underground below. 

The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film By Todd Haynes – Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack

Disc 1

Venus In Furs - The Velvet Underground  5:12

The Wind - The Diablos  3:05

17 XII 63  NYC  The Fire Is A Mirror (excerpt) - The Theatre of Eternal Music  6:21

Heroin [mono] - The Velvet Underground  7:14

Road Runner (Live) - Bo Diddley  4:14

The Ostrich - The Primitives  2:25

I'm Waiting For The Man - The Velvet Underground  4:40

Chelsea Girls - Nico  7:27

Sunday Morning - The Velvet Underground  2:56                

Disc 2             

Sister Ray (Live) - The Velvet Underground  19:03

Pale Blue Eyes - The Velvet Underground  5:40

Foggy Notion - The Velvet Underground  6:59

After Hours (Live) Version 1 - The Velvet Underground  2:56

Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground  4:09

Ocean - The Velvet Underground  5:14

All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground  5:53

Watch the trailer for Todd Haynes' Velvet Underground doc

Here's the two-minute trailer for the new documentary, cleverly titled The Velvet Underground, coming October 15th.