“Loaded (Fully Re-loaded Edition)” is a new vinyl box set that includes nearly all of the music from its expansive 2015 CD reissue but comes with nine LPs boasting stereo, mono and “full-length” mixes of the original album. Demos, studio outtakes and live recordings also feature in the box set and several tracks will be available on vinyl for the first time.
Loaded (Fully Re-loaded Edition) comes in a deluxe, foil-wrapped slipcase containing the vinyl, a poster of the album’s cover art, and an illustrated booklet with liner notes by Lenny Kaye that appeared in Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition.
In addition to the nine LPs, the set also comes with four 7″s that reproduce the official singles and B-sides released from Loaded.
The songs “Rock & Roll” and “Who Loves The Sun” both come in the generic record sleeves used at the time by Cotillion, the band’s label. The former is being reissued for the first time ever because the original release was cancelled in 1970, while the latter is being reissued for the first time since 1970. The other two singles come in picture sleeves originally released in Europe: “Head Held High” in France and “Sweet Jane” in Germany.
Loaded (Fully Re-loaded Edition) opens with three different versions of the original studio album: remastered stereo and mono mixes, plus a “full-length” version featuring extended takes of “Sweet Jane”, “Rock & Roll” and “New Age”.
Early versions of “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” and “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” as well as alternate mixes for “Rock & Roll” and “Train ’Round The Bend” feature, as do songs that eventually appeared on frontman Lou Reed’s 1972 solo debut (early versions of “Ocean”, “I Love You” and “Ride Into The Sun”).
Those studio recordings are bolstered by a selection of live performances recorded before Loaded was released in November 1970, including a show at Second Fret in Philadelphia in May 1970.
A fan, Bob Kachnycz, who hitchhiked to the gig recorded it on reel-to-reel as The Velvet Underground played just as a trio that night: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison. and Doug Yule. The three band members alternated between bass and drums to fill in for Moe Tucker, who was pregnant at the time. The show recording is available for the first time ever on vinyl and uncovers early performances of several songs destined for the album: “Cool It Down”, “Rock & Roll” and “New Age”
Meanwhile, the second performance was recorded in New York City at Max’s Kansas City nightclub on August 23, 1970, the day that Reed left The Velvet Underground.
Several songs from the show were released in 1972 as the live album, Live At Max’s Kansas City. In 2004, Rhino released a remastered version of the live album that was expanded to include both sets the band played that night.
Featured on two LPs in the new collection, the recordings touch on all the band’s past albums with live versions of “I’m Waiting For The Man”, “White Light/White Heat”, “Pale Blue Eyes” and “Sweet Jane”.
Limited to 1,970 numbered copies, the set features nine 180-gram LPs plus four 7-inch singles and comes in a deluxe, foil-wrapped slipcase containing the vinyl, a poster of the album’s cover art, and an illustrated booklet with liner notes by Lenny Kaye.
The Fat Angel Sings 