Angus MacLise

rare LP version, long deleted "Shadowy weirdo and adventurer Angus MacLise was a member of La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music and later, on the recommendation of his roommate John Cale, the first drummer for the Velvet Underground. MacLise was not present at any of the band's recording sessions, and he quit in late 1965 when the band got its first paying gig (because playing music for money was selling out). He tried to rejoin after the VU started getting some underground credibility, but Lou Reed wouldn't let him. MacLise traveled the world experimenting with percussion and religion and eventually found his home in Nepal, where he explored various elements of Tibetan mysticism through poetry, drum loops and droney textures made with organs and found sounds. He died of tuberculosis in Katmandu in 1979, having probably the second best life of any member of the Velvet Underground (the first being that of Sterling Morrison, who quit the band to get a doctorate in Medieval Studies and then spent a decade as a tugboat captain).

Although MacLise left behind a large body of recorded work, most of it remained unreleased until 1999. This album from 2003 is representative of some of his weirder outings; it begins with some of his Tibetan mystic beat poetry and contains some of the most beautiful drones ever.