It truly is an epic Super Deluxe release of an influential and bold album that I hope will be remembered by future generations to come. “The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition)” is no doubt a snapshot of the era that Andy Warhol wanted to combine the art of music with his “Superstar Clique”. The collaboration may be shortlived but this album was no doubt ahead of its time.
Click here to purchase “The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition)
BAND: The Velvet Underground & Nico
ALBUM: The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition)
DURATION: 65 Songs (5 Hours and 51 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: March 12, 1967 (for original release) / October 1, 2012 (for Super Deluxe Edition)
Disc 1 – The Velvet Underground & Nico (stereo version newly remastered, plus alternate versions)
1-1 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Sunday Morning 2:55
1-2 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’m Waiting For The Man 4:39
1-3 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Femme Fatale 2:38
1-4 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Venus In Furs 5:12
1-5 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Run Run Run 4:23
1-6 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties 5:59
1-7 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin 7:13
1-8 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– There She Goes Again 2:41
1-9 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’ll Be Your Mirror 2:14
1-10 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– The Black Angel’s Death Song 3:12
1-11 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– European Son 7:47
1-12 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties (Alternate Single Voice Version) 5:57
1-13 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– European Son (Alternate Version) 9:06
1-14 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin (Alternate Version) 6:17
1-15 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties (Alternate Instrumental Mix) 5:51
1-16 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’ll Be Your Mirror (Alternate Mix)
Disc 2 – The Velvet Underground & Nico (mono version newly remastered, plus singles)
2-1 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Sunday Morning 2:55
2-2 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’m Waiting For The Man 4:46
2-3 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Femme Fatale 2:38
2-4 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Venus In Furs 5:13
2-5 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Run Run Run 4:24
2-6 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties 5:59
2-7 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin 7:14
2-8 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– There She Goes Again 2:41
2-9 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’ll Be Your Mirror 2:14
2-10 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– The Black Angel’s Death Song 3:13
2-11 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– European Son 7:57
2-12 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties (Mono Single) 2:49
2-13 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’ll Be Your Mirror (Mono Single – Alternate Ending) 2:17
2-14 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Sunday Morning (Mono Single – Alternate Mix) 2:56
2-15 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Femme Fatale (Mono Single) 2:37
Disc 3 – Nico: Chelsea Girl (newly remastered)
3-1 Nico (3)– The Fairest Of The Seasons 4:10
3-2 Nico (3)– These Days 3:34
3-3 Nico (3)– Little Sister 4:27
3-4 Nico (3)– Winter Song 3:20
3-5 Nico (3)– It Was A Pleasure Then 8:06
3-6 Nico (3)– Chelsea Girls 7:27
3-7 Nico (3)– I’ll Keep It With Mine 3:21
3-8 Nico (3)– Somewhere There’s A Feather 2:20
3-9 Nico (3)– Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams 5:10
3-10 Nico (3)– Eulogy To Lenny Bruce 3:46
Disc 4 – Scepter Studios Sessions (previously released as a bootleg) and the Factory Rehearsals (January 3, 1966, previously unreleased)
4-1 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– European Son (Alternate Version) 9:02
4-2 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– The Black Angel’s Death Song (Alternate Mix) 3:16
4-3 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties (Alternate Version) 5:53
4-4 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– I’ll Be Your Mirror (Alternate Version) 2:11
4-5 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin (Alternate Version) 6:16
4-6 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Femme Fatale (Alternate Mix) 2:36
4-7 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Venus In Furs (Alternate Version) 4:29
4-8 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Waiting For The Man (Alternate Version) 4:10
4-9 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Run Run Run (Alternate Mix) 4:23
4-10 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Walk Alone 3:27
4-11 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Crackin’ Up / Venus In Furs 3:52
4-12 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Miss Joanie Lee 11:49
4-13 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin 6:14
4-14 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– There She Goes Again 2:09
4-15 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– There She Goes Again 2:56
Disc 5 – Live At Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio, November 4, 1966 (previously unreleased)
5-1 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Melody Laughter 28:26
5-2 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Femme Fatale 2:37
5-3 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Venus In Furs 4:45
5-4 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– The Black Angel’s Death Song 4:49
5-5 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– All Tomorrow’s Parties 5:03
Disc 6 – Live At Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio, November 4, 1966 (previously unreleased)
6-1 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Waiting For The Man 4:50
6-2 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Heroin 6:42
6-3 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– Run Run Run 8:43
6-4 The Velvet Underground & Nico (3)– The Nothing Song 27:56
The year was 1964, when a young band known as Velvet Underground was formed in New York City and consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Angus MacLise (who would be replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965).
And while Velvet Underground would become known decades later as a legendary band, eventually taking No. 19 in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” and voted by The New York Times as “arguably the most influential American rock band of our time”.
When pop artist Andy Warhol became their manager in 1966, he would have the Velvet Underground perform at his art collective “The Factory” (Warhol’s aluminum foil-and-silver paint-lined studio on 47th street) and his traveling multimedia show, the “Exploding Plastic Inevitable”.
It was an era of literally drugs, sex and rock n’ roll. And Andy Warhol at this time and his circle of friends would have a circle of “superstar friends” who would participate in his Factory films and these friends which were part of the Bohemian culture or the counterculture (which were friends who were secretly gay or bisexual at the time). But among Warhold’s “Superstar” friends included model, singer and actress Nico, who was part of his inner circle.
At the time Nico, would work with Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones in 1965 and would release her first single “I’m Not Sayin” and with Jimmy Page who produced her B-side song “The Last Mile”.
But as Nico was introduced by Brian Jones to Andy Warhol, she would start on his experimental films such as “Chelsea Girls”. In fact, in 1967, she released her first album “Chelsea Girl” (recorded after she worked with The Velvet Underground) that featured her Bob Dylan written song “I’ll Keep It with Mine” (a cover by Judy Collins 1965 song).
And because Warhol was now working with Nico and Velvet Underground and was managing the band, he suggested that Nico be the band’s female singer. While the band accepted, they were reluctant for personal and music reasons. Nevertheless, The Velvet Underground & Nico would become Andy Warhol’s music project.
And the band would perform for Warhol’s “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” and Nico would sing the songs “Femme Fatale”, “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, “I’ll Be Your Mirror” and provide the backing vocals for “Sunday Morning”, as sung by Lou Reed.
The band would release their debut album “The Velvet Underground & Nico” in 1967 through Verve Records. Featuring a cover of a Warhol print of a banana. And early copies of the album allowed for the owner to peel the banana slowly and it would eventually lead to a flesh-colored banana underneath.
The album didn’t do well at all, and because the music in the album was about drug use, prostitution, sexual deviancy and sadomasochism, many stores did not want to promote or play it. Nor did radio stations want to play it.
To make matters worse, the back cover of the album featured an image of actor Eric Emerson projected upside down on the wall behind the band and because Emerson was arrested for drug possession, he threatened to sue over the unauthorized use of his image, unless he was paid and so MGM recalled copies of the album and halted its distribution. Emerson’s image was airbrushed out or a large black sticker covered his image.
Nevertheless, the album was unsuccessful and a financial failure. Considering the album was hoping to bank on Warhol’s popularity in order to sell albums, needless to say, because the music couldn’t get promoted in stores, it said between 30,000-60,000 copies of the album were sold in the next five years.
“The Velvet Underground & Nico” debuted at No. 199 on the May 13, 1967 Billboard album charts and was pulled in June 10, 1967 (due to Emerson’s threat of a law suit) when it was No. 195 on the charts.
To make matters worse, the relationship between Nico and her bandmates was not the greatest. Nico had long dressing room preparations, a pre-performance ritual of burning a candle which held up their performances and upset her bandmates.
But nevertheless, “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, despite its failures, would become regarded as a classic album because of its audacious music work and experimental style. It took about a decade before critics re-examined the album and realized that the music was far-out compared to anything they have heard before and people were fascinated on wanting to hear this sound that no one has really heard on an album.
Considered “the original art-rock record”, in 2003, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked it as No. 13 in its “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and in 2006. “Spin” magazine listed the album in their “Top Fifteen Most Influential Albums of All Time” in 2003. NPR included in their NPR 100 “the most important American musical works of the 20th century”.
HMV group in the UK held a pol of “Music of the Millennium” and the album was named 22nd greatest album of all time. Time Magazine chose the album as one of the best albums of all time in 2006. “Pitchfork” placed the album at No. 1 on its list of “The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s”, “The Observer” ranked it at No. 1 for their “50 Albums That Changed Music” and the album was inducted in the National Recording Industry by the Library of Congress.
Now, Velvet Underground has no doubt inspired many bands and artists and Lou Reed and the band members are considered music legends. Many give credit to the Velvet Underground for their punk and even New Wave influence in the ’70s and ’80s.
It has been 55 years since the release of the album (I am writing this in 2022), but the album I am reviewing is the Super Deluxe Edition of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (digital version) which was released in 2012.
This is the ultimate release as the original album featured eleven tracks.
This 45th anniversary Super Deluxe release has 65 tracks with many unreleased material.
First, let me preface that as a person who grew up listening to my father playing ’60s and ’70s music, I would not come to appreciation of the Velvet Underground until I became older.
I started to get heavily into Bob Dylan’s music which was popular from the Greenwich Village in the early ’60s but what attracted me to Bob Dylan’s music were lyrics and while his music was labeled as protest music and topics which concerned many Americans at the time, Velvet Underground was different.
As mentioned, they were part of that party and glamorous atmosphere of Andy Warhol and friends, and Velvet Underground was managed by Warhol and performed at his art events. Drugs were rampant in their circle of friends and some of the members, and the people the songs are about had struggled with major drug issues throughout their lives. Interesting enough, Warhol would be shot and nearly died by one of the writers who submitted a script to him and also started in his film
So, through the times of sex and drugs it became part of rock n’ roll. And the subject matter sung in their debut album with Nico was truly bold and I can see why radio and stores were afraid to promote it. Which many people who are younger and listening to the music may be shocked about, but not many companies wanted to take the financial risk. But record labels and music artists, they were ready to push the envelope.
In fact, 1967 was a year of criticism of music, while “The Velvet Underground & Nico” was released in March 1967, The Beatles who were doing a lot of drug experimentation which reflected int heir music, especially for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Band”, tracks were banned from radio stations. Even the album cover was censored when it was released in 1967.
But of course, there was a difference in the fact that the Beatles were already a household name, the Velvet Underground were considered as deviant music.
They were experimental, avant-garde and their music was blatant with its songs about drugs and sex. People called them “weird”. People criticized Nico’s voice, Lou Reed’s writing as too raw, revealing and showing what was no doubt what was happening in the world.
It was a time of drugs, sex and rock n’ roll and Velvet Underground epitomized that and they were a band ahead of its time.
And because it has been ranked high in top albums of all time lists, many people are discovering the music and trying to find out for themselves of why this album is special? Some can’t get into it, while some fall in love with it.
I didn’t know what to expect when I first discovered “The Velvet Underground & Nico”. Thinking “why would people love these songs with Nico’s voice lacking of energy” and while Nico would gain appreciation from her fans, after she was fired from the group, one can look at this album of “this is where it all starts”.
For those listening to this album, many music artists and bands would say they were inspired by the music, the lyrics, by Lou Reed, by Nico but if anything an appreciation of what the music meant to them.
Listening to the remastered version of the album, “Sunday Morning” introduced the world to Lou Reed and a song about paranoia which Andy Warhol suggested. You have to love the catchy pop aspect to the song.
“I’m Waiting for the Man” is considered a proto-punk classic about a man trying to find ways to purchase heroin. Featuring cool rhythm guitars, blues piano, it’s a rocking track about scoring drugs in Harlem. The song is considered one of the greatest songs of all time in various ranking articles.
“Femme Fatale” is a song written by Lou Reed about Warhol “superstar” Edie Sedgwick. A song requested by Warhol who felt model Sedgwick was a femme fatale. The song was the B-side of “Sunday Morning”.
“Venus in Furs” is a Lou Reed song about S&M, bondage and submission and inspired by the book by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Many polls rank this track as one of the best Velvet Undergrounds songs ever made.
“Run Run Run” is about a group of people in New York doing drugs and looking for more drugs. Best known for Lou Reed’s guitar playing.
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” is Lou Reed’s song observing Andy Warhol’s clique at the Factory. The song was Andy Warhol’s favorite song from the band and would later inspire a cover by new wave group, Japan and also by Siouxsie and the Banshees and many more.
“Heroin” is another song which became popular over a decade later. The song about heroin use and abuse and is known for Reed’s guitar, Morrison’s rhythm guitar and drums by Maureen Tucker and you can hear the electric viola courtesy of John Cale. Nico is not featured on this song. But the song is best known for the media declaring the band was glorifying drug use because of the song, when in actuality, the song was never the band’s intention.
“There She Goes Again” is known for its syncopated guitar riff and a song about a woman who became a prostitute.
“I’ll Be Your Mirror” was written by Lou Reed, when Nico approached her after a show and said “Oh Lou, I’ll be your mirror” and is one of Lou Reed’s favorite songs. While Lou wrote this song for Nico, it was a song that was frustrating for her because the band kept making her sing the song over and over again and she broke down in tears. When the group said they were going to try it one more time and if it doesn’t work, they won’t do it. And the final version, Nico got it right.
“The Black Angel’s Death Song” is a song that is no doubt experimental with the John Cale’s electric viola being more prominent.
“European Son” is the final song of the original album release and the longest at over seven minutes. The song is a dedication to Delmore Schwartz, a pole and literary mentor of Lou Reed at Syracuse University and features frenetic guitar playing with a walking bass line. This song was covered by Simple Minds and also Japan.
Now what makes this “45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” appealing for me is the addition of the alternate versions of the songs and then you also get the mono versions. Many prefer to listen to classic music in mono before they were mixed in stereo and the fact you get both versions on this release is a plus.
For disc 3, you get Nico’s debut solo album “Chelsea Girl” released in October 1967. The music for this album is part folk and part ’60s baroque pop (combining rock music with classic guitar). Something that Nico was not too happy when string and flute arrangements were added to various songs. The songs also feature no percussion or bass instruments.
Produced by Tom Wilson (who had worked with Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground), the songs featured instrumental work and songwriting credits from the Velvet Underground, “I’ll Keep It with Mine” written by Bob Dylan and three songs by Jackson Browne, who also played guitar.
While many will love her debut album, Nico did not have much love for it, saying in a 1981 interview, “I still cannot listen to it, because everything I wanted for that record, they took it away. I asked for drums, they said no. I asked for more guitars, they said no. And I asked for simplicity, and they covered it in flutes! … They added strings and – I didn’t like them, but I could live with them. But the flute! The first time I heard the album, I cried and it was all because of the flute”
Contrary to what Nico may feel about the album, many do enjoy the music and songs from the album have been featured in films such as Wes Anderson’s 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums”, Gus Van Sant’s 2011 film “Restless” and Andrew Dominik’s 2012 film “Killing Them Softly”.
By disc 4, the album features the Scepter Studios acetate version. Norman Dolph’s original acetate features records that would make it onto the final album, but many songs are featured with different mixes of those recordings or different takes.
Nine of the ten songs from the acetate version are featured on this album, with the missing song being “There She Goes Again”. Also included is the band’s rehearsals of the songs done at The Factory on January 3, 1966.
And the fifth disc is the live performance at Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio recorded in 1966. It’s not in the best audio quality and sometimes the audio is sometimes hard to listen to (due to distortion) but considering the rarity of live records, you take what you can get.
For disc 6, we get a much better live recording as part 2 at Valleydale Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio featuring the band and Nico performing “Waiting For the Man”, “Heroin”, “Run Run Run” and “The Nothing Song”.
Overall, this entire album is epic. It’s a wonderful collection featuring The Velvet Underground & Nico’s debut.
You get the remastered tracks, the mono tracks, the alternate versions, Nico’s debut album “Chelsea Girls”, the alternate versions and the factory rehearsals taken from the acetate version and the live performances from 1966.
While I do recommend this album for those who love classical music, those who enjoy The Velvet Underground, I do recommend listening to samples before investing.
The Super Deluxe of “The Velvet Underground & Nico – 45th Anniversary” is also one of the more affordable Super Deluxe editions that have been released. Rarely can you find 65 tracks, let alone nearly six hours of music sold for under $40.
It truly is an epic Super Deluxe release of an influential and bold album that I hope will be remembered by future generations to come. “The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition)” is no doubt a snapshot of the era that Andy Warhol wanted to combine the art of music with his “Superstar Clique”. The collaboration may be shortlived but this album was no doubt ahead of its time.
Click here to purchase “The Velvet Underground & Nico (45th Anniversary/Super Deluxe Edition)
