The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico is a debut album by American rock band Velvet Underground, released in March 1967 by Verve Records. It was recorded in 1966 when the band appeared on Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour, which gained attention to the sensitivity of experimental performance and controversial lyrical topics, including drug abuse, prostitution, sadomasochism and sexual aberrations.
Although it is a commercial failure and largely ignored by contemporary critics, The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico became one of the most famous and influential albums in popular music. In 2003, he was ranked 13th on the Rolling Stone's Biggest Album list of All Time Albums. [/I] It was added to the National Record Record 2006 by the Library of Congress. Many subgenres of rock music and alternative musical forms are significantly informed by the album.
Video The Velvet Underground & Nico
Recording
The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico was recorded with the first professional line-up from Velvet Underground: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker. German singer Nico also appeared, occasionally performing major vocals for the band. This is the result of the encouragement of their mentor and manager, Andy Warhol, and his collaborator, Paul Morrissey. Nico sang three songs on the album - "Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "I'll Be Your Mirror" - and a back-up on "Sunday Morning". In 1966, when the album was being recorded, it was also a line-up for their live performances as part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
Most of the songs that will be The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico was recorded in mid-April 1966, during a four-day stint at Scepter Studios, a decrepit studio in Manhattan. This recording session was financed by Warhol and Columbia Records sales executives, Norman Dolph, who also acted as engineer with John Licata. Although the total cost of the actual project is unknown, the estimates vary from $ 1,500 (US $ 11,314 in 2017 dollars) to $ 3,000 (US $ 22,628 in 2017 dollars).
Immediately after the recording, Dolph sends record acetate discs to Columbia in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they refused, as did Atlantic Records and Elektra Records - according to Morrison, Atlantic objected to references to drugs on Reed's Song while Elektra do not like Viola Cale. Finally, MGM's Recorded Recordings received the recording with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson, who recently moved out of work at Columbia.
With label confirmation, three songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man", "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", were re-recorded in two days on T.T.G. Studio while living in Hollywood, one month later in May 1966. When the album's release date was postponed, Wilson took the band to Mayfair Recording Studios in Manhattan in November 1966, to add the last song to the song list: single "Sunday Pagi".
Production
There is some confusion about who actually produced The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico . Although Andy Warhol is the only formally credited producer, he has very little direct influence or authority over the album beyond paying for recording sessions. In fact, some others who work on the album are often touted as the album's technical producer.
Norman Dolph and John Licata are sometimes associated with producing Scepter Studios sessions, considering they are responsible for recording and manipulating them (despite the fact that both are never mentioned in the original album credit). Dolph himself, however, recognizes John Cale as a creative producer who is entitled to the album, as he handles most of the album's music settings. However, Cale later recalled that it was Tom Wilson who actually produced almost all the tracks on The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico . "The band never again has a producer as good as Tom Wilson," Cale told an interviewer. "Andy Warhol did not do anything." Reed also said the original "producer" of the album was Tom Wilson.
However, other band members, Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed would call the lack of manipulation of Warhol as a legitimate means of production. Morrison portrays Warhol as an album producer "in the sense of producing a movie." Reed further discussed the issue in an interview:
He only allows for us to be yourself and go ahead with it because he is Andy Warhol. In a sense, he actually produces it, because he is an umbrella that absorbs all attacks when we are not big enough to be attacked... and as a consequence of him being a producer we just walk in and organize and do what we always do and not some will stop it because Andy is the producer. Of course he does not know anything about record production - but he does not need to do it. He just sat there and said "Oooh, that's amazing," and the engineer would say, "Oh yes! True! It's amazing, is not it?"
Maps The Velvet Underground & Nico
Music and lyrics
Themes
The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico is famous for his clear description of topics such as drug abuse, prostitution, sadism and masochism and sexual aberrations. "I'm Waiting for the Man" describes a man's attempts to gain heroin, while "Venus in Furs" is a nearly literal interpretation of a 19th century novel of the same name (which in itself highlights BDSM accounts). "Heroin" details the use of the drug by an individual and the experience senses its impact.
Lou Reed, who wrote most of the album's lyrics, never intended to write on such topics for a surprise score. Reed, poet enthusiasts and writers like Raymond Chandler, Nelson Algren, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Hubert Selby, Jr., see no reason why the content in their work can not be translated well into rock and roll music. An English majors studying for B.A. at Syracuse University, Reed said in an interview that he thought joining the two (subject matter and music) became "clear". "That's the kind of thing you might read, why do not you listen to it? You have fun reading it, and you're having fun with rock on it."
Although the dark subject matter of the album is currently considered revolutionary, some of the album's songs center on themes more typical of popular music. Certain songs were written by Reed as observations from the members of "Superstar Factory" Andy Warhol. "Femme Fatale" is especially written about Edie Sedgwick at Warhol's request. "I'll Be Your Mirror", inspired by Nico, is a gentle and affectionate song; in stark contrast to songs like "Heroin". A common misconception is that "All Tomorrow's Party" was written by Reed at Warhol's request (as stated in the Velvet Underground biography of Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story ). While the song appears to be another observation from Factory inmates, Reed wrote the song before meeting Warhol, after recording a demo in July 1965 in Ludlow Street. That's the sound of folk music, which may be inspired by Bob Dylan.
Instrumentation and performance
Most of the album's sound was conceived by John Cale, who emphasized the band's experimental quality. Cale, heavily influenced by his work with La Monte Young, John Cage, and the early movements of Fluxus, encourage the use of alternative means of producing sound in music. Cale thought his sensitivity was at one with Lou Reed, who had experimented with an alternate barrel. For example, Reed has "discovered" an ostrich guitar tuning for a song he wrote entitled "The Ostrich" for the short band the Primitives. Ostrich guitar tuning consists of all strings tuned to the same tone. This method is used in the songs "Venus in Furs" and "All Tomorrow's Parties". Often, the guitar also sets the whole step, which results in lower and fuller sounds that Cale considers to be "sexy".
Viola Cale is used on several album tracks, especially "Venus in Furs" and "Black Angel's Death Song". The Viola uses guitar and mandolin strings, and when played hard, Cale will equate his voice with the sound of an aircraft engine. Cale technique usually involves drone, detuning and distortion. According to Robert Christgau, "narcotic drones" not only support the sadomasochism "Venus in Furs" but also "identify and unify music albums." From her vocal show, she believes "Nico contains chantoozy sexuality" completes "leaving Reed's song song".
Artwork
Album art for The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico is recognizable for displaying Warhol banana prints. The initial copy of the album invites the owner to "Peel slowly and look"; peeling back the banana skin showing a banana colored under the meat. A special machine is required to produce this cover (one of the causes of the pending release of the album), but MGM pays a fee to find out that any relationship with Warhol will increase album sales. Most reprinted vinyl editions do not display peel off stickers; the original copy of the album with the peel-sticker feature is now a rare collector's item. A Japanese re-issue LP in the early 1980s was the only re-issue version that included banana stickers for years. On the 1996 CD release, a banana image was on the front cover while a peeled banana image was inside the jewelry box, under the CD itself. The album was again pressed into heavyweight vinyl in 2008, featuring banana stickers.
Back cover demands
When the album was first published, the main back cover photo (taken on Warhol Exploding Plastic Inevitable show) featured a picture of actor Eric Emerson projected upside down on the wall behind the band. Having recently been arrested for possession of illegal drugs and in desperate need of money, Emerson threatened to sue the use of his illegitimate image unless he was paid. Instead of fulfilling, MGM pulls out a copy of the album and stops its distribution until Emerson's image can be airbrushed from a photo in the press. A printed copy is sold with a large black sticker covering the actor's image.
Front cover demands
In January 2012, the business partnership "Velvet Underground" (where John Cale and Lou Reed are common partners) sued Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York after the Foundation licensed banana cover design for Incase Design for use on the iPhone and iPad case lines. The complaint involves copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and unhealthy competition.
Ignoring that the Foundation previously claimed "may" own the design copyright, the partnership asked the court for a declaration decision that the Foundation has no such right. In response, the Foundation provides partnership "Covenant Not Demanded" - a written and binding promise that, even if partnerships and other specific parties continue to use commercial design, the Foundation will never appeal to the recognized copyright ownership of them. in the court.
On the basis of the Foundation movement, Judge Alison J. Nathan resolved and denied the partnership's copyright suit. According to Judge Nathan, the Constitution allows the federal court to decide only "Cases" or "Controversies", meaning an ongoing or immediate dispute concerning legal rights, involving concrete facts and specific actions, requiring court intervention to protect the plaintiff from danger. or interference with his rights. The judge believes that the partnership complaint is less than the standard because even if the Foundation continues to claim ownership of design copyright - and even if its claim is invalid - it will not damage the partnership legally or prevent it from making legitimate design uses. This partnership does not claim that it owns design copyright, it's just not . Because, according to the court, the Foundation promises not to challenge any partnership for any "use of Potentially infringing copyright Design Bananas", the partnership may continue to use the design and no legal action can be taken by the Foundation (under copyright legal) to stop it. And if, the court concludes, the partnership can continue with business as usual (as far as copyright is concerned) regardless of whether the Foundation really owns the design copyright, the court's decision will have no consequences practical for partnership; it will be a pure (or "advice") academic opinion, which federal courts may not matter. Therefore, the court "refuses without prejudice" at the request of a partnership that decides whether the Foundation has a design copyright. The remaining trademark claims are settled out of court by secret agreement, and the partnership suit is terminated at the end of May 2013.
Receipts and sales
Contemporary reception
Once released, The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico mostly unsuccessful and financially failed. The controversial content of the album caused an almost instantaneous ban from various record stores, many radio stations refused to play it, and the magazine refused to bring ads for it. The lack of success can also be attributed to Verve, who failed to promote or distribute the album with anything but modest attention. However, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic also notes that:
... the music is too daring to enter commercial radio; The "underground" rock radio has just started at this point, and in any case may have overlooked the notes as psychedelic music approached its peak.
The album first entered the Billboard album chart on May 13, 1967, at number 199 and left the charts on June 10, 1967, at number 195. When Verve recalled the album in June due to Eric Emerson's lawsuit, disappeared of the charts for five months. Then re-entered the charts on November 18, 1967, at number 182, peaking at number 171 on December 16, 1967, and finally left the charts on January 6, 1968, at number 193.
Critical world initially did not pay attention to this album. One of the few album printing reviews in 1967 was mostly positive reviews in the second edition of Vibration , a small rock music magazine. The review describes music as "a full strike in the ears and in the brain" and notes the dark lyrics.
Reappraisal
A decade later after it was released, The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico began to attract much praise from rock critics. Christgau wrote in his retrospective review in 1977 for The Village Voice that the notes were difficult to understand in 1967, which may be why people still learn from them, sounding occasionally rough, thin and majestic at first, but never stop being better. "In 1982, musician Brian Eno stated that while his initial album only sold about 30,000 copies," everyone who bought one of the 30,000 copies was starting a band. "
In the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1998), Colin Larkin calls it a "powerful collection" that "introduces the typical fanatic of the city of Reed, a fascination for street culture and immorality bordering voyeurism." In April 2003, Spin led their "Fifteen Most Popular Albums of All Time" list with the album. On November 12, 2000, NPR entered it in their "NPR 100" series "the most important American musical work of the 20th century". In 2003, Rolling Stone placed it at number 13 on the Biggest 500 Album list of All Time, calling it "the most prophetic rock album ever made".
In his 1995 book Alienak Alternative Music, Alan Cross placed the album at number 1 on the list of â € Å"10 Classical Alternative Albumsâ €. In 1997, The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico was named the 22nd greatest album of all time in the "Music of the Millennium" poll held in the United Kingdom by the HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 2006, magazine readers voted him 42nd in the "Most Favorite Album readers" poll, while The Observer placed him at number 1 on the list of "50 Album That Changed Music "in July of that year. Also in 2006, the album was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time. In 2017, Pitchfork placed the album at number 1 on the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s" list.
cover version
In April 1967, one month after the album's release, a band called Banana Elektrik may have recorded the first cover version of "There She Goes Again". According to Bandmember Dean Ellis Kohler, they recorded him in a tent in Vietnam in April 1967 and sent a master record to a company in California to have 45 RPM records pressed.
In 2009, American musician, Beck, recorded track-to-track cover The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico and released online in the form of a video on its 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 ÃÆ'žÃÆ'³runn MagnÃÆ'ºsdÃÆ'³ttir.
Also in 2009, various artists from Argentina collaborated to produce cover track-for-track recordings. They played a number of concerts in Buenos Aires to celebrate the release of the album, which is available online for free.
Aftermath
Frustrated by a year's delayed album and a failed release, Lou Reed's relationship with Andy Warhol became tense. Reed fired Warhol as the manager who supported Steve Sesnick, who convinced the group to move in a more commercial direction. Nico was forced out of the group, and began his career as a solo artist. His debut solo album, Chelsea Girl , was released in October 1967, featuring some songs written by Velvet Underground members.
Tom Wilson continues to work with Velvet Underground, producing their 1968 album White Light/White Heat and Nico's Chelsea Girl.
Track list
All songs written by Lou Reed except recorded.
Reissues
Compact disc
The first CD edition of the album was released in 1986 and featured little change. The album title is displayed on the cover, unlike the original LP release. In addition, the album contains an alternate mix of "All Tomorrow's Feast" featuring one main vocal track as opposed to a double-tracked vocal version on the original LP. Apparently, the decision to use the double-track version of the original LP was made at the last minute. Bill Levenson, who oversees the initial CD issue of VU's Verve/MGM catalog, wants to keep the single-voice version of the secrets a surprise to the fans, but is disappointed to learn that an alternative version is revealed on the back cover of the CD (and recorded as "unreleased previous").
After 1996 the remastered CD re-deleted this change, keeping the original album art and double-track mix of "All Tomorrow's Parties" found in LP.
Peel Slowly and View set box
The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico was released entirely in the five-year span of the set box, Peeled Slowly and View , in 1995. The album was featured on the second disc of the set along with a single version of "All Tomorrow's Parties", two Nico's song from Chelsea Girl and a ten-minute footage of the "Melody Laughter" show for 45 minutes. Also included in the set (on the first disc) was Ludlow Street loft demo in 1965. Among these demos were early versions of "Venus in Furs", "Heroin", "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "All Tomorrow's Parties ".
Deluxe Edition
In 2002, Universal released a two-piece "Deluxe Edition" set containing a stereo version of the album along with five songs from Nico's Chelsea Girl written by band members on a single disc, and a mono version of the album along with a single mono "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "Sunday Morning" and their B-sides "I'll Be Your Mirror" and "Femme Fatale" on disk two. A studio demo of an unreleased song "Miss Joanie Lee" was planned to be included on the set, but a royalty dispute between the band and Universal canceled this plan. The contract dispute apparently also led to the cancellation of further installments from the official series of Bootleg bands. However, the song was included in the next re-release, 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition. In April 2010, Universal re-released the second disc of "Deluxe Edition" as a CD "Rarities Edition".
45th Super Deluxe Birthday Edition
On October 1, 2012, Universal released a set of 6-CD album boxes. It features mono and stereo blends available previously as one and two discs. The one disc contains as an additional bonus track of the alternate versions of "All Tomorrow's Party", "European Children", "Heroin", "All Tomorrow's Party" (alternative instrumental version), and "I'll Be Your Mirror". The two discs contain the same bonus track as the second disk of the previous deluxe version. The three discs are Nico's Chelsea Girls overall and Scepter Studios acetate (see below) overall occupy discs 4. Discs 5 and 6 contain unreleased live performances from 1966. According to an essay by critics music and historian Richie Unterberger is contained in the set, the source for the show is the only audio recording of acceptable quality footage during the Nico singer's tenure in the band. This essay also explains that the absence of DVD material in box sets is due to the fact that none of the band's performances are filmed, regardless of their dependence on visual multimedia.
Scepter Studios acetate version
Original acknowledgment of Norman Dolph from Scepter Studios material contains some recordings that will go into the final album, although many different mixtures of the recording and three different ones require entirely. Acetate was cut on April 25, 1966, shortly after the recording session. It will reappear decades later when it was purchased by Warren Hill collector from Montreal, Quebec, Canada in September 2002 at a flea market in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood for $ 0.75. Hill put the album to auction on eBay in November. On December 8, 2006, a winning bid for $ 155,401 was placed, but was not honored. The album was again placed for auction on eBay and successfully sold on December 16, 2006, for $ 25,200.
Although ten songs were recorded during the Scepter session, only nine appear on acetate pieces. Dolph recalled "There She Goes Again" became a lost song (and, indeed, the "There She Goes Again" version that appeared in the final LP was associated with the Scepter Studios session). In 2012, acetate was officially released as disc 4 of the "45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition" box from the 'omnic comprehensive' album (see above). The disc also includes six previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded during the band's rehearsal at The Factory on January 3, 1966. However, a ripped version of acetate began circulating on the internet in January 2007. The boot version of the acetate track was also available on vinyl and CDs. Acetate is released on vinyl in 2013 as a limited edition for Record Store Day. In 2014, he returned to the auction.
Set box, disk 4 track list
- "European Children" (Alternative version) Ã, - 9: 2
- "The Black Angel's Death Song" (Alternative Blend) Ã, - 3:16
- "All Tomorrow's Party" (Alternative Version) Ã, - 5:53
- "I Will Be Your Mirror" (Alternate mix) Ã, - 2:11
- "Heroin" (Alternate version) Ã, - 6:16
- "Femme Fatale" (Alternative blend) Ã, - 2:36
- "Venus in Furs" (Alternate versions) Ã, - 4:29
- "I'm Waiting for the Man" (Alternate version, here titled "Waiting for the Man") Ã, - 4:10
- "Run Run Run" (Alternative blend) Ã, - 4:23
- "Walk Alone" Ã, - 3:27
- "Crackin 'Up/Venus in Furs" Ã, - 3:52
- "Miss Joanie Lee" Ã, - 11:49
- "Heroin" Ã, - 6:14
- "There She Goes Again" (with Nico) Ã, - 2:09
- "There She Goes Again" Ã, - 2:56
Note
- Tracks 1-9 are the original Scepter Studios assets. Tracks 1, 2, 3, and 5 are sourced from the tape; tracks 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are from actual acetate.
- The 10-15 track is a rehearsal factory of January 3, 1966, also of an unreleased tape.
Personnel
On original album:
- Lou Reed - main vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11), backing vocals (3), lead guitar (1-5, 7-11), ostrich guitar (4, 6), sound effects (11)
- John CaleÃ, - electric viola (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), bass guitar (2, 3, 5, 8-11), backing vocals (8 ), celesta (1), hiss (10), sound effects (11)
- Sterling Morrison - rhythm guitar (2, 5, 7, 8, 9), lead guitar (3, 10, 11), bass guitar (1, 4, 6), backing vocals (3, 5, 8)/li>
- Maureen TuckerÃ, - percussion (1, 3, 7-8, 10-11), drums (2, 5), snare drum, (3), tambourine (2, 3, 4, 6, 9), bass drum (4, 6)
- NicoÃ, - vocals (3, 6, 9), backing vocals (1)
Production
- Andy WarholÃ, - producer
- Tom Wilson - post production supervisor, producer of "Sunday Morning"
- Ami Hadami (credited as Omi Haden) Ã, - T.T.G. Studio engineer
- Gary KellgrenÃ, - Scepter Studios engineer (unidentified)
- Norman DolphÃ, - Scepter Studios engineer (unidentified)
- John LicataÃ, - Scepter Studios engineer (unidentified)
- Gene Radice - post-production editor, remixer
- David Greene - post production editor, remixer
Graphics and certification
According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks sales, The Velvet Underground & amp; Nico has sold 560,000 copies since 1991.
Note
References
Bibliography
External links
- Velvet Underground & amp; Nico on Discogs (release list)
- 800 Copies: Meet the World's Most Obsessive Fan from Velvet Underground and Nico from NPR
- Velvet Underground & amp; Nico at 50: Monumental or Just "Good" Album? from The A.V. Club
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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