Loaded (Fully Re-Loaded Edition) [9LP & 4x7” Singles Box]

Lou Reed sang about the lifesaving powers of “Rock & Roll” on Loaded, his fourth and final studio album with The Velvet Underground. Since it arrived in November 1970, generations have been shaking to the album’s “fine, fine music,” experiencing their own kinds of musical salvation thanks to songs like “Sweet Jane,” “Head Held High,” and “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’.”

Loaded is spotlighted with a new vinyl boxed set that includes nearly all the music from its expansive 2015 CD reissue, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition. This collection features nine LPs with stereo, mono, and “Full-Length” mixes of the original album along with a generous selection of demos, studio outtakes, and live recordings. Several tracks from the set will be available on vinyl for the first time. 

The set 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-inches that reproduce the official singles and B-sides released from Loaded. “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, as 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 that boasts extended takes of “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll” and “New Age.”

More than two dozen recordings from the making of Loaded appear on vinyl for the first time in the new collection. The music explores the creative process behind the album with early versions of “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” and “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” and alternate mixes for “Rock & Roll” and “Train ’round The Bend.” Songs that would eventually appear on Reed’s 1972 solo debut make appearances as well, with 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 debuted in November 1970. A few weeks into making the album, on May 9, 1970, the band played at the Second Fret in Philadelphia. Bob Kachnycz, a fan, hitchhiked to the show and recorded the show on reel-to-reel. The band was down to a trio that night: Reed, Sterling Morrison, and Doug Yule, who alternated between bass and drums to fill in for Moe Tucker, who was pregnant then. This show, available for the first time on vinyl, uncovers early performances of several songs destined for the album: “Cool It Down,” “Rock & Roll,” and “New Age.”

The second performance was recorded in New York City at Max’s Kansas City nightclub on August 23, 1970, the day 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.”