As new Velvet Underground tribute albums seemed to be released at the rate of one or two a year at the moment, this is one of the ones played by one band rather than a compilation, it's far better than last years Some Kinda Love by The Feelies that for me was a little bit dead, as they should have used the covers they recorded in the 80's. Although it doesn't grab me in quite the same was as Fiction's Neverending Party did or the very first Velvets tribute I owned Les Enfant Du Velvet, even if that one now sounds a little bit dated.
Galvezton are an American band based around Robert Kuhn who has enlisted the help of Rob Bastien, Jahrel Pickens, Dave Jacoby, Victhor Resindez and Justine St. Cyr
The album opens with a swirling organ led version of Temptation Inside Of Your Heart that sets out the bands stall, that they at least want to play the odd deeper cut, this is a very cool version of this outtake that I originally heard on a bootleg single, this is it's first appearance as far as I know on a tribute album and I checked 10 other Velvets tribute albums in my collection..
Waiting For The Man has some low slung guitars and the insistent organ set against the steady as can be beat, as the classic lyrics about going and copping heroin in you mums car unfolds, as the song progresses and the singer starts clucking in need of that hit this gets nicely wild.
Run Run Run has the proper garage rock sound with plenty of echo and reverb and the insistent beat that everything else is built around.
I'm Set Free is slowed down a bit with a nice sun dappled psychedelic edge to it. Sweet Jane sadly doesn't come close to Talking Drums incredible Hi-Life version, but is still a good, spirited version, that makes sure the organ really powers things along, this is more garage rock that the early country rock versions of the song, it also doesn't have the heavenly wine and roses bridge.
Pale Blue Eyes gives the classic Quinn & Collins cover a run for its money, this is wistful and laden with longing and hope as it needs to be, on what is still one of the loveliest love songs around.
White Light White Heat has the amphetamine rush pushing it along, as it should with some good almost ad-libbed parts, but of course the guitar isn't anywhere near as good as Mick Ronson's solo on the very first version of the song I owned by David Bowie.
Some Kinda Love is a bit quicker than the Velvets own version and nowhere near as sleazy, the tune is all there, but the vocals are no where near as sleaze ridden as they need to be.
The album closes with an 8 minute version of Sister Ray that like every cover I've ever bought of this song from Joy Division to Wasted Youth to Badgeman's version, none of them ever has the intensity of the original one take recording, this is good and the guitars frying over the keyboards and never varying beat work really well, as everything goes off, bringing to a close a really good Velvet Underground tribute album that will make many Velvets obsessives like myself pretty happy ahead of the next All star tribute due out later this April.
Find Out More https://orcd.co/galveztonskol https://www.galvezton.com/ https://www.facebook.com/galveztontheband
