The Velvet Underground - Found in All the Nicest Homes - Non-Album Tracks (1969)

So far, I've posted two stray tracks albums for the Velvet Underground. I have two more to go, and I'm going to post them now. If you like the band at all, I strongly suggest you get all four.

This album deals with songs the Velvet Underground recorded in 1969 that weren't released at the time. But they were so prolific that year, that in addition to the album they did release in March, cleverly titled "The Velvet Underground," the composed and recorded all the songs here, as well as half of the songs on the next stray tracks album.

Most of these songs were officially released in the 1980s on the albums "VU" and "Another View." But I'm not a fan of those albums because they're a hodge-podge chronologically (including some 1968 songs from the John Cale era), and there's no real logic as to what got on "VU" compared to "Another View." Instead, I've carefully organized all the songs here by the month they were recorded. I've also added one song, "I'm Sticking with You," that isn't on either of those official albums.

Pretty much all the songs here were recorded in May or June of 1969. The exceptions are "I'm Gonna Move Right In" and "One of These Days," which were recorded in September 1969. Plus, I'm not sure what month that year "Countess from Hong Kong" was recorded. I've put "I'm Sticking with You" at the end of the album even though that messes with the chronological order a bit, because it's a Maureen Tucker-sung song that's ideal to close the album, in the exact same way her vocals on "After Hours" closes the 1969 "Velvet Underground" album.

These are a strong bunch of songs, and every VU fan should have them. It's a real puzzler why they weren't released at the time. They had signed a two-record deal with a record company, and "The Velvet Underground" released in early 1969 was the first album for that deal. As the months passed, the record company soured on them due to low sales, and dropped them from the label. The bummer is that instead of simply recording these songs for their new record company, they gave up on all but two of them. Only "I'm Sticking with You" and "Ocean" were rerecorded in 1970 for possible included on the "Loaded" album, and neither of them made the final cut.

This album is 43 minutes long, not including the bonus track.

UPDATE: On May 24, 2023, I added the bonus track, "I'm Gonna Move Right In." This is a very obscure original. It was probably only played a handful of times in concert, and apparently was never recorded in the studio. This unreleased version, from a concert in Boston in January 1969, is the only half-decent sounding version of it. I cleaned it up a lot, boosting the lead vocals especially, but it still sounds rough.

01 Foggy Notion (Velvet Underground)
02 Andy's Chest (Velvet Underground)
03 Coney Island Steeplechase (Velvet Underground)
04 I Can't Stand It (Velvet Underground)
05 She's My Best Friend (Velvet Underground)
06 Ocean [Early Version] (Velvet Underground)
07 Ferryboat Bill (Velvet Underground)
08 I'm Gonna Move Right In (Velvet Underground)
09 One of These Days (Velvet Underground)
10 Countess from Hong Kong (Velvet Underground)
11 I'm Sticking with You (Velvet Underground)

I'm Gonna Move Right In (Velvet Underground)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15264651/TVelvtUnd_1969b_FoundinAllNicstHomes_atse.zip.html

The album title I've chosen needs some explanation, since it has nothing to do with any of the song titles or even the song lyrics in general. I was looking for something good for the cover art, and didn't find anything. Then I luckily stumbled across an ad the band's record company made to sell their records in Australia in 1970. It's basically exactly the cover as presented here. I did a little touching up and cropped out some text below the band name that described and promoted their albums. I don't know who came up with this artwork and if any band members were involved, but it seems perfect for an album cover. I'm also happy because I was struggling to come up with a good name for the album, and the artwork made that a no-brainer.