Watch Keith Richards recording The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting For The Man!”

Next week: Mr. Open G Five String covers “Kick Out The Jams” and “Personality Crisis!”

March 1st, Keith Richards’ YouTube channel premiered a black and white clip of Everybody’s Favorite Stone recording Everybody’s Favorite Velvet Underground Song, “I’m Waiting For The Man.” It’s apparently part of prestige reissue house Light In The Attic Records’ forthcoming tribute album, The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, issued this coming Record Store Day, April 20th.

“To me, Lou stood out,” Keith said in a statement. “The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog.”

Can’t say I met Lou’s dog, Lou or Keith. Sure do admire the latter two, however. And if anyone’s gonna interpret Lou’s epic tale of standing around with “$26 in mah hand,” searching out “sweet taste,” why not the guy who served as a magnificently bad example of the wonders of smack to Johnny Thunders and plenty of others?

Let’s face it: You hear a lotta Stones in The Velvets, to begin with, especially on things like “There She Goes Again.” Lou’s “Vicious” sounds like a Stones pastiche to me, as well. I can also recall a Reed interview in Musician magazine where he spoke of his admiration of Keith. But Mick Jagger also told Interview magazine back in 1977 that The Velvets influenced The Stones! He claimed “Stray Cat Blues” was their attempt at going VU, but it’s more apparent — at least to my ears — in “Shattered.” Well, that was at least The Stones’ attempt at making a Lou Reed record, especially in Jagger’s vocal delivery, though Lou would never have had a pedal steel part on his record if he’d written it.

Whatever the case, Keef’s take on “Waiting” hinges on drummer Steve Jordan thumping out a variant of the “Vicious” beat — minus cowbell — rather than attempting Moe Tucker’s idiosyncratic timekeeping on the original. Which works, alongside the raunchy, bluesy orchestra of guitars Keith weaves around a vocal a lot more expressive than Lou’s classic flat menace. Whoever’s playing electric piano is channeling the late Ian McLagan, which no one’s gonna complain about.

I’ve already seen cranky bastards of my acquaintance complaining that this recording is way too slick for its own good. I guess these people are expecting Keith to join Thee Headcoats or something. Look, it’s Keith Richards. He’s a long way from The Crawdaddy Club. Yes, it’s a big budget production, but it’s cool. It rocks like an uptempo R&B number with some thick, raunchy guitar. It works. And I love how Keith’s voice sounds singing those words.

The list of others populating the rest of The Power of the Heart’s grooves is impressive: 

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Rickie Lee Jones, Mary Gauthier, Bobby Rush, Automatic, The Afghan Whigs, and Rosanne Cash. Naw, there’s no one particularly cutting edge here. Was Thurston Moore or someone of that ilk unavailable? For that matter, why wasn’t Alejandro Escovedo approached? As many Velvets covers as I’ve seen/heard him do, he’s a natural.

We’re soon gonna have a review of Will Hermes’ excellent Lou Reed biography from this past Fall. Meantime, enjoy this surging piece of raunch ‘n’ roll Mr. Open G Five String coaxed outta this classic. Ciao!

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