Pitchfork

Just short of the Beatles cashing in that check Lorne Michaels once offered for a reunion gig on "SNL", a Velvet Underground resurrection was once considered the near-holy grail of rock comebacks. That is, however, until they actually laid past grudges to rest and reconvened in 1993 for a series of underwhelming gigs in Europe.

Although it proved that you can only spark a revolution one time per career, the reunion was justly documented, spawning both single- and double-disc live CDs, as well as a concert video. The latter, previously only available on good ol' VHS tape, will receive the DVD treatment courtesy of Rhino on January 24.

Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII features new liner notes and remastered audio of footage recorded during a trio of performances at the Olympia Theatre in Paris on June 15, 16, and 17, 1993. All four original VU members were present: John Cale, Moe Tucker, the late Sterling Morrison, and Lou muthafuckin Reed. Alas, Nico couldn't make it, as she died in 1988.

A disappointingly mixed bag in terms of quality, the film reveals a strangely bored Lou Reed sleepwalking his way through most of the tunes, with only a gorgeous "Pale Blue Eyes" and spirited "Beginning to See the Light" really catching fire. But the rest of the band is still sharp and if nothing else, at least the document is historically significant. Now if only Rhino had re-inserted John Cale's creepily sexy reading of "The Gift", which graces the 2xCD version, we would have already pre-ordered the thing.

European songs:

01 Venus in Furs
02 White Light/White Heat
03 Beginning to See the Light
04 Some Kinda Love
05 Femme Fatale
06 Hey Mr. Rain
07 I'm Sticking With You
08 I Heard Her Call My Name
09 I'll Be Your Mirror
10 Rock 'n' Roll
11 Sweet Jane
12 I'm Waiting for the Man
13 Heroin
14 Pale Blue Eyes
15 Coyote

Reed and Cale will both head out on European tours in a few weeks, unfortunately not together. Reed will play a pair of February dates in New York before jetting to Turin, Italy to play a gig at-- we kid you not-- the Winter Olympics. Hopefully he'll wear a gigantic dress, just like Björk. A 15-date trek follows. Dates:

02-11 Poughkeepsie, NY - Bardavon Opera House
02-13 New York, NY - Crobar
02-23 Turin, Italy - Piazza Castello (Winter Olympics)
02-24 Florence, Italy - Teatro Verdi
02-25 Mantua, Italy - PalaBam
02-27 Milan, Italy - Teatro Nazionale
02-28 Piacenza, Italy - Palabanca
03-01 Rome, Italy - Parco della Musica
03-03 Perugia, Italy - Teatro Comunale
03-04 Ravenna, Italy - Pala De Andrè
03-05 Teramo, Italy - Teatro Comunale
03-07 Catania, Italy - Teatro Metropolitan
03-09 Naples, Italy - PalaPartenope
03-11 Crans-Montana, Switzerland - Caprices Festival
03-12 Pordenone, Italy - Teatro Verdi
03-13 Ljubljana, Slovenia - Hala Tivoli
03-15 Belgrade, Serbia - Sava Centre
03-17 Prague, Czech Republic - Concert House

Cale will support his solid 2005 solo album blackAcetate with a tour kicking off Wednesday in peaceful Tel Aviv, Israel. Organizers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are advised to book Cale early, as he's a busy man. Or they could always get Moe Tucker to accompany the torch lighting with a drum solo.

Cale dates:

01-18 Tel Aviv, Israel - Zappa Club
01-19 Tel Aviv, Israel - Hanger 11 *
01-20 Thessaloniki, Greece - Mylos #
01-21 Athens, Greece - Gagarin #
01-24 Manchester, England - Academy 3
01-25 London, England - The Garage
01-27 Bristol, England - Academy
01-28 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
01-29 Gateshead, England - The Sage
01-30 Leicester, England - De Montfort Hall
02-01 Eindhoven, Holland - Club Effenaar
02-02 Gent, Belgium - De Handelsbeurs
02-03 Turnhout, Belgium - De Warande
02-05 Cologne, Germany - Prime Club
02-06 Leipzig, Germany - Werk 2
02-07 Munich, Germany - Backstage
02-09 Verona, Italy - Teatro Camploy
02-10 Florence, Italy - Teatro Aurora
02-11 Bologna, Italy - Link Club
02-13 Rome, Italy - Auditorium
02-15 Barcelona, Spain - Apollo
02-17 Vitoria, Spain - Azkena
02-18 Madrid, Spain - Arena Club

* with Minimal Compact
# with Bob Mould

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