Maps of Music

Live at Max's Kansas City (1972)

Where the lyrics of Live at Max's Kansas City take you, and where it was really made.

The tapes were made by an Andy Warhol associate on a portable cassette recorder, and Atlantic released them as an album in 1972.

Key places

Where the tapes were made (1970)

Recording site Max's Kansas City — The album was recorded at the Max's Kansas City nightclub, 213 Park Avenue South. The date is the day the tapes were made. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Live at Max's Kansas City: live album by the Velvet Underground
• Recorded at the Max's Kansas City nightclub and restaurant, 213 Park Avenue South, New York City
• Originally released May 30, 1972 by Cotillion, a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records
• Originally issued as a single album, with one side for the band's louder material and the other for its quieter material
• Captures the band's last live performance with Lou Reed

Background

• The Velvet Underground signed a two-album deal with Atlantic in early 1970
• Fourth studio album Loaded came out in November 1970, after Reed had left the band
• Doug Yule moved from bass to guitar and became full-time lead vocalist
• Walter Powers was brought in on bass
• Nine-week engagement at Max's Kansas City, 24 June to 28 August 1970, two sets per night
• Loaded's disappointing chart showings led Atlantic to lose faith in the band's commercial prospects
• Atlantic chose to release an archival live recording instead of another studio album
• Atlantic A&R employee Danny Fields heard the tapes and passed them to his superiors
• Brigid Polk habitually recorded what happened around her, so her tapes caught the band's last show with Reed

Recording

• Recorded on August 23, 1970 by Brigid Polk on a portable cassette recorder
• Mono recorder using a simple ferro musicassette
• Tape hiss and audience noise often audible during the quieter parts of the music
• Lou Reed and Atlantic staff producer Geoff Haslam selected and edited songs from both sets

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in New York City in 1964; took the name The Velvet Underground in November 1965, from a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior.
• Classic lineup: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker.
• Andy Warhol became the band's manager in 1966 and they were the house band at The Factory.

Members

• Lou Reed (singer, guitarist) and John Cale (multi-instrumentalist, Welsh) were the core partnership.
• Sterling Morrison (guitar) and Moe Tucker (drums) completed the classic four-piece.
• Doug Yule replaced Cale in 1968 and later led the band's final lineups.

Career

• Performed with Warhol's multimedia show Exploding Plastic Inevitable from 1966 to 1967.
• Debut The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) sold poorly at release but is now widely hailed as one of the greatest albums.
• Ranked 19th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (2004).
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Atlantic A&R employee Danny Fields heard the tapes and submitted them to his superiors
• Superiors accepted the recordings and decided in 1972 to make an album out of them
• The label accepted the tapes despite their relatively poor fidelity
• The tapes were recorded on a mono recorder using a simple ferro musicassette
• Tape hiss and audience noise are audible during the quieter parts of the music
• Atlantic had lost faith in the band's commercial prospects after Loaded's disappointing chart showings
• The label chose an archival live recording instead of another studio album
• The album was released May 30, 1972 by Cotillion, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records
• It was originally issued as a single album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jim Carroll can be heard on the album ordering drinks and asking about drugs between songs, because he was the one holding the recording microphone.
• Brigid Polk recorded almost everything happening around her, so her tapes captured the band's last live performance with Reed.
• The recording was made on a mono cassette, which explains the lo-fi sound and the audible audience noise.
• Lou Reed and Geoff Haslam picked and edited the songs from both sets for the single-album release.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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