The Velvet Underground and Nico
Encyclopedia
The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album
by American rock
band The Velvet Underground
and vocal collaborator Nico
. It was originally released in March 1967 by Verve Records
. Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol
's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
multimedia
event tour, The Velvet Underground & Nico would gain notoriety for its experimentalist
performance sensibilities, as well as its focus on controversial subject matter expressed in many of their songs.
Though a commercial failure upon release, the record has since become one of the most influential and critically acclaimed rock
albums in history, appearing at number thirteen on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as well as being added to the 2006 National Recording Registry
by the Library of Congress.
, John Cale
, Sterling Morrison
and Maureen "Moe" Tucker
. For this record Nico
was included, who would occasionally sing lead with the band at the instigation of their mentor
and manager, Andy Warhol
. Nico sang lead on three of the album's tracks—"Femme Fatale
", "All Tomorrow's Parties
" and "I'll Be Your Mirror
"—and back-up on "Sunday Morning
". In 1966, as the album was being recorded, this was also the line-up for their live performances as a part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
.
The bulk of the songs that would become The Velvet Underground & Nico were recorded in mid-April, 1966, during a four-day stint at Scepter Studios, a decrepit recording studio
in New York City
. This recording session was financed by Warhol and Columbia Records
' sales executive Norman Dolph, who also acted as an engineer
with John Licata. Though exact total cost of the project is unknown, estimates vary from $
1500 to $3000.
Soon after recording, Dolph sent an acetate disc
of the recordings to Columbia in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they declined, as did Atlantic Records
and Elektra Records
. Eventually, the MGM Records
-owned Verve Records
accepted the recordings with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson, who had recently moved from a job at Columbia.
With the affirmation of a label, three of the songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man
", "Venus in Furs
" and "Heroin
", were re-recorded in two days at T.T.G. Studios during a stay in Hollywood later in 1966. As the record's release date was bumped back time after time because of production problems, Wilson also took them into a New York studio in November 1966 to add a final song to the track listing: the single "Sunday Morning
". The production on that song is far more professional and lush, aimed as it was at radio playtime.
Norman Dolph and John Licata are sometimes attributed to producing the Scepter Studios sessions, considering they were responsible for recording and engineering them (despite the fact that neither of the two was ever mentioned in the original album's credits). Dolph himself, however, admits John Cale as the album's rightful creative producer, as he handled the majority of the album's musical arrangements. And yet, Cale later recalled that it was Tom Wilson who actually produced nearly all the tracks on The Velvet Underground & Nico. "The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson", Cale told an interviewer. "Andy Warhol didn't do anything." Sterling Morrison described Warhol as the album's producer "in the sense of producing a film. We used some of his money and our money...Andy was the producer but we were the "executive producers" too. We made the record ourselves and then brought it around and MGM said they liked it."
However, others cite Warhol's lack of manipulation on the album itself a legitimate means of production. Lou Reed discussed the matter in an interview:
, prostitution
, sadism and masochism and sexual deviancy
. "I'm Waiting for the Man
" describes a man's efforts to obtain heroin while "Venus in Furs
" is a nearly literal interpretation of the nineteenth century novel of the same name
(which itself prominently features accounts of BDSM
). "Run Run Run" also has drug culture as its premise. One of the best-known tracks on the album is "Heroin
", a song that details an individual's use of the drug and the experience of feeling its effects.
Lou Reed
, who wrote the majority of the album's lyrics, never intended to write about such topics for shock value. Reed, a fan of poets and authors such as Raymond Chandler
, Nelson Algren
, William S. Burroughs
, Allen Ginsberg
, and Hubert Selby, Jr.
, saw no reason why the content in their works couldn't translate well to rock and roll
music. An English major, having studied for a B.A.
at Syracuse University
, Reed said in an interview that he thought joining the two (gritty subject matter and music) was "obvious". "That's the kind of stuff you might read. Why wouldn't you listen to it? You have the fun of reading that, and you get the fun of rock on top of it."
Though the album's dark subject matter is today considered revolutionary, several of the album's songs are concerned with other topics. Certain songs were written by Reed as observations of the members of Andy Warhol
's "Factory
Superstars
". "Femme Fatale
" in particular was written about Edie Sedgwick
at Warhol's request. "I'll Be Your Mirror
", inspired by Nico
, is a tender and affectionate song; in stark contrast to a song like "Heroin". A common mis-perception is that "All Tomorrow's Parties
" was written by Reed at Warhol's request (as stated in Victor Bockris
and Gerard Malanga
's Velvet Underground biography Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story). While the song does seem to be another observation of Factory denizens, Reed had written the song (and even recorded a demo version in 1965) before meeting Warhol.
, who stressed the experimental qualities of the band. Cale, who was influenced greatly by his work with La Monte Young
, John Cage
and the early Fluxus
movement, encouraged the use of alternative ways of producing sound in music. Cale thought his sensibilities meshed well with Lou Reed's, who was already experimenting with alternative tunings. For instance, Reed had "invented" the ostrich guitar
tuning for a song he wrote called "The Ostrich" for the short-lived band The Primitives. Ostrich guitar tuning consists of all strings being tuned to the same note. The method was utilized on songs "Venus in Furs
" and "All Tomorrow's Parties
". Often, the guitars were also tuned down a whole step, which produced a lower, fuller sound that Cale called "sexy".
Cale's viola was used on several of the album's songs, notably "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin". The viola used guitar and mandolin strings, and when played loudly, Cale would often liken its sound to that of an airplane engine. Cale's viola technique usually involved drones
, or single notes sustained over long periods of time. He would, however, vary his attack, speed, or even add other notes on top to make the note have a different tone while maintaining the same pitch.
on the cover. Early copies of the album invited the owner to "Peel slowly and see"; peeling back the banana skin revealed a flesh-colored banana underneath. A special machine was needed to manufacture these covers (one of the causes of the album's delayed release), but MGM
paid for costs figuring that any ties to Warhol would boost sales of the album. Most reissued vinyl editions of the album do not feature the peel-off sticker; the original copies of the album with the peel-sticker feature are now rare collector's items. A Japanese re-issue LP in the early 1980s was the only re-issue version to include the banana sticker for many years. On the 1996 CD
reissue, the banana image is on the front cover while the image of the peeled banana is on the inside of the jewel case, beneath the CD itself. It is also notable that the original release featured only Warhol's signature and even the title of the album was not included until it had been reissued. The album was re-pressed onto heavyweight vinyl in 2008 and this edition also features the banana sticker.
performance) featured an image of actor Eric Emerson
projected upside-down on the wall behind the band. Emerson threatened to sue over this unauthorized use of his image, unless he was paid. Rather than complying, MGM recalled copies of the album and halted its distribution until Emerson's image could be airbrushed from the photo on subsequent pressings. Copies that had already been printed were sold with a large black sticker covering the actor's image. The image was restored for the 1996 CD reissue.
unless otherwise noted.
Side one
Side two
, who failed to promote or distribute the album with anything but modest attention.
The album first entered the Billboard album charts on May 13, 1967 at #199 and left the charts on June 10, 1967 at #195. It then re-entered the charts on November 18, 1967 at #182, peaked at #171 on December 16, 1967 and finally left the charts on January 6, 1968 at #193. When Verve recalled the album in June due to Eric Emerson's lawsuit, it disappeared from the charts for only five months.
The critical world also took little notice of the album. One of the few print reviews of the album in 1967 was a mostly positive review in the second issue of Vibrations, a small rock music magazine. The review described the music as "a full-fledged attack on the ears and on the brain" and took note of the dark subject matter to be found in the majority of the song's lyrics.
It was not until decades later that the album received almost unanimous praise by numerous rock critics, many of whom made particular note of its influence in modern rock music. In April 2003, Spin
led their "Top Fifteen Most Influential Albums of All Time" list with the album. On November 12, 2000, NPR included it in their "NPR 100" series of "the most important American musical works of the 20th century". Rolling Stone
placed it at number 13 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in November 2003, calling it "the most prophetic rock album ever made."
In 1997, Velvet Underground & Nico was named the 22nd greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll
conducted in the United Kingdom
by HMV Group
, Channel 4
, The Guardian
and Classic FM
. In his 1995 book, The Alternative Music Almanac, Alan Cross
placed the album in the #1 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'. In 2006, Q magazine readers voted it into 42nd place in the "2006 Q Magazine Readers' 100 Greatest Albums Ever" poll, while The Observer
placed it at number 1 in a list of "50 Albums That Changed Music" in the July of that year. Also in 2006, the album was chosen by TIME
magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
's relationship with Andy Warhol
grew tense until Reed finally fired Warhol as manager in favor of Steve Sesnick
. Nico
was also forced out of the group, though she would start a moderately successful career as a solo artist, releasing her debut solo album
, Chelsea Girl
, in October 1967. Chelsea Girl would feature five songs written by members of The Velvet Underground, including "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", a song Reed wrote and recorded earlier with the aid of John Cale and Sterling Morrison in 1965.
Tom Wilson remained working with the group through 1967, producing their 1968 album White Light/White Heat
and Nico's Chelsea Girl.
edition of the album was released in 1986 and featured slight changes. The title of the album was featured on the cover, unlike the original LP release. In addition, the album contained an alternate mix of "All Tomorrow's Parties" which featured a single track of lead vocals as opposed to the double-tracked vocal version on the original LP. Apparently, the decision to use the double-tracked version on the original LP was made at the last minute. Bill Levenson, who was overseeing the initial CD issues of the VU's Verve/MGM catalog, wanted to keep the single-voice version a secret as a surprise to fans, but was dismayed to find out that the alternate version was pointed as such on the CD's back cover (and noted as "previously unreleased").
The subsequent 1996 remastered CD reissue removed these changes, keeping the original album art and mixes found on the LP.
, in 1995. The album was featured on the second disc of the set along with the single
version of "All Tomorrow's Parties", two Nico
tracks from Chelsea Girl
and a live song. Also included in the set (on the first disc) are the band's 1965 Ludlow Street loft demos. Among these demos are early versions of "Venus in Furs", "Heroin", "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "All Tomorrow's Parties".
released a two-disc "Deluxe Edition" set containing both stereo
and mono
mixes of the entire album, along with five songs taken from Nico's Chelsea Girl
("Little Sister", "Winter Song", "It Was a Pleasure Then", "Chelsea Girls", and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", all these tracks have been written or co-written by members of the Velvet Underground) and single versions of "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror", "Sunday Morning", and "Femme Fatale". One critic wrote that the set was "somewhat disappointing in that it fails to offer any previously unreleased material", but many agree that the inclusion of the mono version makes it a must-have for long-time fans. A studio demo of the unreleased track "Miss Joanie Lee" had been planned for inclusion on the set, but a dispute over royalties between the band and Universal canceled these plans. This contractual dispute apparently also led to the cancellation of further installments of the band's official Bootleg Series. A limited edition release of the set featured a reproduction of the original cover's peelable banana sticker. In April 2010, Universal
re-released the second disc of the "Deluxe Edition" as a single CD "Rarities Edition".
Norman Dolph's original acetate
recording of the Scepter Studios material contains several recordings that would make it onto the final album, though many are different mixes of those recordings and three are different takes entirely. The acetate was cut on April 25, 1966, shortly after the recording sessions. It would resurface decades later when it was bought by collector Warren Hill of Montreal
, Canada in September 2002 at a flea market in the Chelsea
neighborhood of New York City for $0.75. Hill put the album up for auction on eBay
in November. On December 8, 2006, a winning bid for $155,401 was placed, but not honored. The album was again placed for auction on eBay and was successfully sold on December 16, 2006 for $25,200.
It is important to note that ten songs were recorded during the Scepter sessions and only nine appear on the acetate cut. Dolph recalls "There She Goes Again" being the missing song (and, indeed, the version of "There She Goes Again" that appears on the final LP is attributed to the Scepter Studios session).
Though rumors have circulated concerning an eventual official release of this version of the album, this has yet to be confirmed or announced by any major record label. However, a ripped
version of the acetate began circulating the internet in January 2007. Bootleg versions of the acetate tracks have also become available on vinyl and CD.
All arrangements are by The Velvet Underground
.
Technical staff
recorded a track-for-track cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico and released it online in video form on his website, as part of a project called Record Club
. Musicians involved in the recording include Beck plus Nigel Godrich
, Joey Waronker
, Brian LeBarton
, Bram Inscore, Yo, Giovanni Ribisi
, Chris Holmes
, and Thorunn Magnusdottir.
Also in 2009, various artists from Argentina's indie scene collaborated to produce a track-for-track cover of the record. Artists such as Javi Punga, Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado and Woodie Alien got together to record the disc, which they made available to download for free. In addition they played a number of concerts in Buenos Aires to celebrate the release.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
and vocal collaborator Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
. It was originally released in March 1967 by Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
. Recorded in 1966 during Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
event tour, The Velvet Underground & Nico would gain notoriety for its experimentalist
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
performance sensibilities, as well as its focus on controversial subject matter expressed in many of their songs.
Though a commercial failure upon release, the record has since become one of the most influential and critically acclaimed rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
albums in history, appearing at number thirteen on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time as well as being added to the 2006 National Recording Registry
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording...
by the Library of Congress.
Recording
The Velvet Underground & Nico was recorded with the first professional line-up of The Velvet Underground, including Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
, Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
and Maureen "Moe" Tucker
Maureen Tucker
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
. For this record Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
was included, who would occasionally sing lead with the band at the instigation of their mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
and manager, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. Nico sang lead on three of the album's tracks—"Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (song)
"Femme Fatale" is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. At producer Andy Warhol's request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick...
", "All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (song)
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
" and "I'll Be Your Mirror
I'll Be Your Mirror
"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966....
"—and back-up on "Sunday Morning
Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground song)
"Sunday Morning" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was also released as a single in 1966 with "Femme Fatale".-Recording:...
". In 1966, as the album was being recorded, this was also the line-up for their live performances as a part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
.
The bulk of the songs that would become The Velvet Underground & Nico were recorded in mid-April, 1966, during a four-day stint at Scepter Studios, a decrepit recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. This recording session was financed by Warhol and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
' sales executive Norman Dolph, who also acted as an engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
with John Licata. Though exact total cost of the project is unknown, estimates vary from $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1500 to $3000.
Soon after recording, Dolph sent an acetate disc
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
of the recordings to Columbia in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they declined, as did Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
and Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
. Eventually, the MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
-owned Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
accepted the recordings with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson, who had recently moved from a job at Columbia.
With the affirmation of a label, three of the songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man
I'm Waiting for the Man
"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the American rock band The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed. It was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
", "Venus in Furs
Venus in Furs (song)
"Venus in Furs" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and...
" and "Heroin
Heroin (song)
"Heroin" is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse...
", were re-recorded in two days at T.T.G. Studios during a stay in Hollywood later in 1966. As the record's release date was bumped back time after time because of production problems, Wilson also took them into a New York studio in November 1966 to add a final song to the track listing: the single "Sunday Morning
Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground song)
"Sunday Morning" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was also released as a single in 1966 with "Femme Fatale".-Recording:...
". The production on that song is far more professional and lush, aimed as it was at radio playtime.
Production
There is some confusion as to who actually produced The Velvet Underground & Nico. Although Andy Warhol was the only formally credited producer, he had very little direct influence or authority over the album beyond paying for the recording sessions. In fact, several other individuals who worked on the album are often mentioned as the album's technical producer.Norman Dolph and John Licata are sometimes attributed to producing the Scepter Studios sessions, considering they were responsible for recording and engineering them (despite the fact that neither of the two was ever mentioned in the original album's credits). Dolph himself, however, admits John Cale as the album's rightful creative producer, as he handled the majority of the album's musical arrangements. And yet, Cale later recalled that it was Tom Wilson who actually produced nearly all the tracks on The Velvet Underground & Nico. "The band never again had as good a producer as Tom Wilson", Cale told an interviewer. "Andy Warhol didn't do anything." Sterling Morrison described Warhol as the album's producer "in the sense of producing a film. We used some of his money and our money...Andy was the producer but we were the "executive producers" too. We made the record ourselves and then brought it around and MGM said they liked it."
However, others cite Warhol's lack of manipulation on the album itself a legitimate means of production. Lou Reed discussed the matter in an interview:
- He just made it possible for us to be ourselves and go right ahead with it because he was Andy Warhol. In a sense, he really did produce it, because he was this umbrella that absorbed all the attacks when we weren't large enough to be attacked... and as a consequence of him being the producer, we'd just walk in and set up and do what we always did and no one would stop it because Andy was the producer. Of course he didn't know anything about record production—but he didn't have to. He just sat there and said "Oooh, that's fantastic," and the engineer would say, "Oh yeah! Right! It is fantastic, isn't it?"
Music
Subject matter
The Velvet Underground & Nico was notable for its overt descriptions of topics such as drug abuseDrug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, sadism and masochism and sexual deviancy
Paraphilia
Paraphilia is a biomedical term used to describe sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are not part of normative stimulation and that may cause distress or serious problems for the paraphiliac or persons associated with him or her...
. "I'm Waiting for the Man
I'm Waiting for the Man
"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the American rock band The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed. It was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
" describes a man's efforts to obtain heroin while "Venus in Furs
Venus in Furs (song)
"Venus in Furs" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and...
" is a nearly literal interpretation of the nineteenth century novel of the same name
Venus in Furs
Venus in Furs is a novella by Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the best known of his works. The novel was part of an epic series that Sacher-Masoch envisioned called Legacy of Cain. Venus in Furs was part of Love, the first volume of the series...
(which itself prominently features accounts of BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
). "Run Run Run" also has drug culture as its premise. One of the best-known tracks on the album is "Heroin
Heroin (song)
"Heroin" is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse...
", a song that details an individual's use of the drug and the experience of feeling its effects.
Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, who wrote the majority of the album's lyrics, never intended to write about such topics for shock value. Reed, a fan of poets and authors such as Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren
Nelson Algren was an American writer.-Early life:Algren was born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Goldie and Gerson Abraham. At the age of three he moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois where they lived in a working-class, immigrant neighborhood on the South Side...
, William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, and Hubert Selby, Jr.
Hubert Selby, Jr.
Hubert "Cubby" Selby, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His best-known novels are Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream . Both novels were later adapted into films within his lifetime....
, saw no reason why the content in their works couldn't translate well to rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music. An English major, having studied for a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, Reed said in an interview that he thought joining the two (gritty subject matter and music) was "obvious". "That's the kind of stuff you might read. Why wouldn't you listen to it? You have the fun of reading that, and you get the fun of rock on top of it."
Though the album's dark subject matter is today considered revolutionary, several of the album's songs are concerned with other topics. Certain songs were written by Reed as observations of the members of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's "Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
Superstars
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
". "Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (song)
"Femme Fatale" is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. At producer Andy Warhol's request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick...
" in particular was written about Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
at Warhol's request. "I'll Be Your Mirror
I'll Be Your Mirror
"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966....
", inspired by Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, is a tender and affectionate song; in stark contrast to a song like "Heroin". A common mis-perception is that "All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet UndergroundAll Tomorrow's Parties may also refer to:* All Tomorrow's Parties , an annual festival in England...
" was written by Reed at Warhol's request (as stated in Victor Bockris
Victor Bockris
Victor Bockris is an English-born, U.S.-based author, primarily of biographies of artists, writers, and musicians.He has written about Lou Reed , Andy Warhol, Keith Richards, William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, Blondie, Patti Smith, and Muhammad Ali...
and Gerard Malanga
Gerard Malanga
Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
's Velvet Underground biography Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story). While the song does seem to be another observation of Factory denizens, Reed had written the song (and even recorded a demo version in 1965) before meeting Warhol.
Instrumentation and performance
Much of the album's sound was conceived by John CaleJohn Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
, who stressed the experimental qualities of the band. Cale, who was influenced greatly by his work with La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
and the early Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
movement, encouraged the use of alternative ways of producing sound in music. Cale thought his sensibilities meshed well with Lou Reed's, who was already experimenting with alternative tunings. For instance, Reed had "invented" the ostrich guitar
Ostrich guitar
Ostrich guitar is an alternative guitar tuning in which all the guitar strings are tuned to the same pitch class . The term was coined by The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed after the pre–Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and The Primitives, on which this tuning was first used...
tuning for a song he wrote called "The Ostrich" for the short-lived band The Primitives. Ostrich guitar tuning consists of all strings being tuned to the same note. The method was utilized on songs "Venus in Furs
Venus in Furs (song)
"Venus in Furs" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and...
" and "All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (song)
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
". Often, the guitars were also tuned down a whole step, which produced a lower, fuller sound that Cale called "sexy".
Cale's viola was used on several of the album's songs, notably "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin". The viola used guitar and mandolin strings, and when played loudly, Cale would often liken its sound to that of an airplane engine. Cale's viola technique usually involved drones
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
, or single notes sustained over long periods of time. He would, however, vary his attack, speed, or even add other notes on top to make the note have a different tone while maintaining the same pitch.
Album cover
The album cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico is recognizable for featuring a Warhol print of a bananaBanana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
on the cover. Early copies of the album invited the owner to "Peel slowly and see"; peeling back the banana skin revealed a flesh-colored banana underneath. A special machine was needed to manufacture these covers (one of the causes of the album's delayed release), but MGM
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
paid for costs figuring that any ties to Warhol would boost sales of the album. Most reissued vinyl editions of the album do not feature the peel-off sticker; the original copies of the album with the peel-sticker feature are now rare collector's items. A Japanese re-issue LP in the early 1980s was the only re-issue version to include the banana sticker for many years. On the 1996 CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
reissue, the banana image is on the front cover while the image of the peeled banana is on the inside of the jewel case, beneath the CD itself. It is also notable that the original release featured only Warhol's signature and even the title of the album was not included until it had been reissued. The album was re-pressed onto heavyweight vinyl in 2008 and this edition also features the banana sticker.
Back cover lawsuit controversy
When the album was first issued, the main back cover photo (taken at an Exploding Plastic InevitableExploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
performance) featured an image of actor Eric Emerson
Eric Emerson
Eric Emerson was an American musician, dancer, and actor. Emerson is best known for his roles in films by pop artist Andy Warhol, and as a member of the seminal glam punk group, the Magic Tramps.-Career:...
projected upside-down on the wall behind the band. Emerson threatened to sue over this unauthorized use of his image, unless he was paid. Rather than complying, MGM recalled copies of the album and halted its distribution until Emerson's image could be airbrushed from the photo on subsequent pressings. Copies that had already been printed were sold with a large black sticker covering the actor's image. The image was restored for the 1996 CD reissue.
Track listing
All songs written by Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
unless otherwise noted.
Side one
- "Sunday MorningSunday Morning (The Velvet Underground song)"Sunday Morning" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was also released as a single in 1966 with "Femme Fatale".-Recording:...
" (Reed, CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
) – 2:54 - "I'm Waiting for the ManI'm Waiting for the Man"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by the American rock band The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed. It was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico....
" – 4:39 - "Femme FataleFemme Fatale (song)"Femme Fatale" is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. At producer Andy Warhol's request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick...
" – 2:38 - "Venus in FursVenus in Furs (song)"Venus in Furs" is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the song includes sexual themes of sadomasochism, bondage and...
" – 5:12 - "Run Run Run" – 4:22
- "All Tomorrow's PartiesAll Tomorrow's Parties"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by The Velvet UndergroundAll Tomorrow's Parties may also refer to:* All Tomorrow's Parties , an annual festival in England...
" – 6:00
Side two
- "HeroinHeroin (song)"Heroin" is a song by The Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song is one of the band's most celebrated compositions, overtly depicting heroin use and abuse...
" – 7:12 - "There She Goes AgainThere She Goes Again"There She Goes Again" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It first appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. The syncopated guitar riff is taken from the 1962 Marvin Gaye song, "Hitch Hike", but is most likely influenced by The Rolling Stones' cover version, from their...
" – 2:41 - "I'll Be Your MirrorI'll Be Your Mirror"I'll Be Your Mirror" is a song by The Velvet Underground. It appeared on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It also surfaced as a single a year earlier with "All Tomorrow's Parties" in 1966....
" – 2:14 - "The Black Angel's Death SongThe Black Angel's Death Song"The Black Angel's Death Song" is a song by The Velvet Underground, from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was written by Lou Reed and John Cale...
" (Reed, Cale) – 3:11 - "European SonEuropean Son"European Son" is a song written and performed by the American experimental rock band The Velvet Underground. It appears as the final track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It is also the album's longest song at more than seven and a half minutes."European Son" is dedicated...
" (Reed, Cale, MorrisonSterling MorrisonHolmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
, TuckerMaureen TuckerMaureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
) – 7:46
Reception and sales
Upon its original release, The Velvet Underground & Nico was largely unsuccessful by popular music standards and was a financial failure. The controversial content of the album led to its almost instantaneous ban from various record stores. Many radio stations refused to play the album and magazines refused to carry advertisements for it. Its lack of success can also be attributed to VerveVerve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, who failed to promote or distribute the album with anything but modest attention.
The album first entered the Billboard album charts on May 13, 1967 at #199 and left the charts on June 10, 1967 at #195. It then re-entered the charts on November 18, 1967 at #182, peaked at #171 on December 16, 1967 and finally left the charts on January 6, 1968 at #193. When Verve recalled the album in June due to Eric Emerson's lawsuit, it disappeared from the charts for only five months.
The critical world also took little notice of the album. One of the few print reviews of the album in 1967 was a mostly positive review in the second issue of Vibrations, a small rock music magazine. The review described the music as "a full-fledged attack on the ears and on the brain" and took note of the dark subject matter to be found in the majority of the song's lyrics.
It was not until decades later that the album received almost unanimous praise by numerous rock critics, many of whom made particular note of its influence in modern rock music. In April 2003, Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
led their "Top Fifteen Most Influential Albums of All Time" list with the album. On November 12, 2000, NPR included it in their "NPR 100" series of "the most important American musical works of the 20th century". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
placed it at number 13 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in November 2003, calling it "the most prophetic rock album ever made."
In 1997, Velvet Underground & Nico was named the 22nd greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
conducted in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by HMV Group
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
. In his 1995 book, The Alternative Music Almanac, Alan Cross
Alan Cross
' is a Canadian radio broadcaster and a writer on music. Alan’s obsession with music began at age six when his grandmother gave him a transistor radio—an old Lloyds—which spawned an all-consuming fascination with things that came over airwaves...
placed the album in the #1 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'. In 2006, Q magazine readers voted it into 42nd place in the "2006 Q Magazine Readers' 100 Greatest Albums Ever" poll, while The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
placed it at number 1 in a list of "50 Albums That Changed Music" in the July of that year. Also in 2006, the album was chosen by TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
Aftermath
Frustrated by the album's year-long delay and unsuccessful release, Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
's relationship with Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
grew tense until Reed finally fired Warhol as manager in favor of Steve Sesnick
Steve Sesnick
Stephen Sesnick was a club owner who served as manager of The Velvet Underground after the band ended their association with Andy Warhol in 1967....
. Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
was also forced out of the group, though she would start a moderately successful career as a solo artist, releasing her debut solo album
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
, Chelsea Girl
Chelsea Girl (album)
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album by Nico. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records, also home to The Velvet Underground. The name of the album is a reference to Andy Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, which Nico starred in...
, in October 1967. Chelsea Girl would feature five songs written by members of The Velvet Underground, including "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", a song Reed wrote and recorded earlier with the aid of John Cale and Sterling Morrison in 1965.
Tom Wilson remained working with the group through 1967, producing their 1968 album White Light/White Heat
White Light/White Heat
The album briefly appeared on the Billboard 200, although only peaking at number 199. Despite its poor sales, the distorted, feedback-driven, and roughly recorded sound on White Light/White Heat became a notable influence on punk and experimental rock...
and Nico's Chelsea Girl.
Album reissues
Compact disc
The first CDCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
edition of the album was released in 1986 and featured slight changes. The title of the album was featured on the cover, unlike the original LP release. In addition, the album contained an alternate mix of "All Tomorrow's Parties" which featured a single track of lead vocals as opposed to the double-tracked vocal version on the original LP. Apparently, the decision to use the double-tracked version on the original LP was made at the last minute. Bill Levenson, who was overseeing the initial CD issues of the VU's Verve/MGM catalog, wanted to keep the single-voice version a secret as a surprise to fans, but was dismayed to find out that the alternate version was pointed as such on the CD's back cover (and noted as "previously unreleased").
The subsequent 1996 remastered CD reissue removed these changes, keeping the original album art and mixes found on the LP.
"Peel Slowly and See"
The Velvet Underground & Nico was released in its entirety on the five-year spanning box set, Peel Slowly and SeePeel Slowly and See
Peel Slowly and See is a five-disc box set of material by The Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor.-Compilation:...
, in 1995. The album was featured on the second disc of the set along with the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
version of "All Tomorrow's Parties", two Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
tracks from Chelsea Girl
Chelsea Girl (album)
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album by Nico. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records, also home to The Velvet Underground. The name of the album is a reference to Andy Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, which Nico starred in...
and a live song. Also included in the set (on the first disc) are the band's 1965 Ludlow Street loft demos. Among these demos are early versions of "Venus in Furs", "Heroin", "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "All Tomorrow's Parties".
Deluxe Edition
In 2002, UniversalUniversal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
released a two-disc "Deluxe Edition" set containing both stereo
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
and mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
mixes of the entire album, along with five songs taken from Nico's Chelsea Girl
Chelsea Girl
Chelsea girl may refer to:* Chelsea Girl , a 1967 record by Nico** Chelsea Girls , the title track from the Nico album* Chelsea Girls, a 1966 film, by Andy Warhol featuring Nico...
("Little Sister", "Winter Song", "It Was a Pleasure Then", "Chelsea Girls", and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", all these tracks have been written or co-written by members of the Velvet Underground) and single versions of "All Tomorrow's Parties", "I'll Be Your Mirror", "Sunday Morning", and "Femme Fatale". One critic wrote that the set was "somewhat disappointing in that it fails to offer any previously unreleased material", but many agree that the inclusion of the mono version makes it a must-have for long-time fans. A studio demo of the unreleased track "Miss Joanie Lee" had been planned for inclusion on the set, but a dispute over royalties between the band and Universal canceled these plans. This contractual dispute apparently also led to the cancellation of further installments of the band's official Bootleg Series. A limited edition release of the set featured a reproduction of the original cover's peelable banana sticker. In April 2010, Universal
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
re-released the second disc of the "Deluxe Edition" as a single CD "Rarities Edition".
Scepter Studios acetate version
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
recording of the Scepter Studios material contains several recordings that would make it onto the final album, though many are different mixes of those recordings and three are different takes entirely. The acetate was cut on April 25, 1966, shortly after the recording sessions. It would resurface decades later when it was bought by collector Warren Hill of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada in September 2002 at a flea market in the Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
neighborhood of New York City for $0.75. Hill put the album up for auction on eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
in November. On December 8, 2006, a winning bid for $155,401 was placed, but not honored. The album was again placed for auction on eBay and was successfully sold on December 16, 2006 for $25,200.
It is important to note that ten songs were recorded during the Scepter sessions and only nine appear on the acetate cut. Dolph recalls "There She Goes Again" being the missing song (and, indeed, the version of "There She Goes Again" that appears on the final LP is attributed to the Scepter Studios session).
Though rumors have circulated concerning an eventual official release of this version of the album, this has yet to be confirmed or announced by any major record label. However, a ripped
Ripping
Ripping is the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media. The word is used to refer to all forms of media. Despite the name, neither the media nor the data is damaged after extraction....
version of the acetate began circulating the internet in January 2007. Bootleg versions of the acetate tracks have also become available on vinyl and CD.
Acetate track listing
- "European Son" – 8:49†
- "The Black Angel's Death Song" – 3:13†
- "All Tomorrow's Parties" – 5:51†
- "I'll Be Your Mirror" – 2:07†
- "Heroin" – 6:12‡
- "Femme Fatale" – 2:36†
- "Venus in Furs" – 4:35‡
- "I'm Waiting for the Man" – 4:11‡
- "Run Run Run" – 4:23†
- † - denotes track as same take, but different mix from album version
- ‡ - denotes track as different take from album version
Personnel
The Velvet Underground & Nico- John CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
– electric violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, celestaCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
on "Sunday Morning", bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Sterling MorrisonSterling MorrisonHolmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass guitar, backing vocals - NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
– chanteuse, lead vocals on "Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "I'll Be Your Mirror"; backing vocals on "Sunday Morning" - Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
– vocals, guitar and ostrich guitarOstrich guitarOstrich guitar is an alternative guitar tuning in which all the guitar strings are tuned to the same pitch class . The term was coined by The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed after the pre–Velvet Underground song "The Ostrich" by Lou Reed and The Primitives, on which this tuning was first used... - Maureen TuckerMaureen TuckerMaureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
– percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
All arrangements are by The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
.
Technical staff
- Ami Hadami (credited as Omi Haden) – T.T.G. Studios engineer
- Gary KellgrenGary KellgrenGary Kellgren was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone.-Engineering:...
, Norman Dolph and John Licata – Scepter Studios engineers (uncredited) - Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Tom Wilson – post-productionPost-productionPost-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
supervisor, "Sunday Morning" producer - Gene Radice and David Greene – post-production editors, remixers
Covers by other artists
In 2009, the American musician BeckBeck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
recorded a track-for-track cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico and released it online in video form on his website, as part of a project called Record Club
Record Club
Record Club is a musical project initiated by Beck Hansen in June 2009.The purpose of the project is to cover an entire album by another artist in one day, using an informal and fluid collective of musicians...
. Musicians involved in the recording include Beck plus Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
, Joey Waronker
Joey Waronker
Joseph "Joey" Waronker is an American drummer and music producer. He is the son of record producer Lenny Waronker and singer/actress Donna Loren; his younger sister is musician Anna Waronker; and his grandfather is record executive and professional violinist Simon Waronker. He has three other...
, Brian LeBarton
Brian LeBarton
Brian Manuel LeBarton is a keyboardist, composer, and electronic musician from Los Angeles, California.-Work with Beck:Brian LeBarton is the keyboardist and musical director for Beck...
, Bram Inscore, Yo, Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi
Giovanni Ribisi is an American actor. His film credits include Gone in 60 Seconds, Boiler Room, Saving Private Ryan, The Mod Squad, The Gift, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Lost in Translation and more recently, Public Enemies and Avatar...
, Chris Holmes
Chris Holmes
Chris Holmes may refer to:* Chris Holmes , US musician and member of the band W.A.S.P.* Chris Holmes , British Paralympian* Chris Holmes, American musician and producer who toured with The Smashing Pumpkins...
, and Thorunn Magnusdottir.
Also in 2009, various artists from Argentina's indie scene collaborated to produce a track-for-track cover of the record. Artists such as Javi Punga, Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado and Woodie Alien got together to record the disc, which they made available to download for free. In addition they played a number of concerts in Buenos Aires to celebrate the release.