If you’re a Velvet Underground fan, you know how their debut album starts: a string of bell-like celesta notes that draw you into Lou Reed’s husky vocals about a slow and hungover “Sunday Morning.” Devotees of the band will be surprised to find out that the original nine-track listing, from the band’s 1966 recordings at Scepter Studios in New York City, had “European Son,” the last track on the final album version, as the first song.
Now, fans and new listeners alike will get the chance to hear that version, which reveals an alternative mix of what would become the band’s debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.
The original audio tape for that recording session, as well as other Velvet Underground artifacts, will be on view at The Andy Warhol Museum’s forthcoming exhibition, The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studio Sessions. Opening Fri., May 12, and running through Sept. 25, the show allows the public to experience, for the first time, rare master tapes discovered in the museum’s archives in 2022.
Although the Scepter Studios sessions were previously available in 2012 in acetate disc form, the poor sound quality of that analog version hid the intricate differences between the studio recordings and final album. When The Warhol archivists discovered the same recordings on high-quality, monophonic reel-to-reel ¼” tapes, untouched since 1967, in the museum’s extensive archive, they began the process of incorporating them into an exhibition.
The museum’s namesake is well-known as the creator behind the Velvet Underground’s iconic banana album cover, but the exhibition aims to highlight his role as an unconventional producer for the band, says Ben Harrison, senior director of performing arts and programming for The Warhol.
“He’s not a producer in the traditional sense — at that point in his life, he doesn’t have a music industry background, he retires from painting in ‘65, and wants to get connected with musicians, like Bob Dylan and his crossover into mainstream success,” Harrison tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
He adds, “What Warhol brings to the table . . . is that he’s Andy Warhol at the peak of his pop art fame. One of the things that allows a lot of creative freedom for the band is because Warhol is behind them, and he really understood the band. He wanted them to be raw; he wanted them to make the album they wanted to make.”
The nine songs from the tapes (“Sunday Morning” and “There She Goes Again” were added to the final track list later) will play continuously at the exhibit. The audio will be accompanied by a selection of photographs of the Velvet Underground by Steve Schapiro, unseen footage from live performances, Warhol’s Screen Tests featuring the band members, and 100 different versions of The Velvet Underground & Nico cover art, all with varying degrees of the banana peeled, from the collection of Velvet Underground enthusiast Mark Satlof.
The ashtray with a banana insignia believed to be Warhol’s inspiration for the album art will also be on display.
To complement the exhibition, The Warhol will, beginning in June, present a number of public programs, including a talk by Velvet Underground biographer Richie Unterberger, a tribute performance by Steve Gunn and his band, and screenings of 16mm footage featuring the band performing at the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque and hanging out at the Warhol’s famed Silver Factory.
The exhibit focuses on the short but creative window of collaboration between Warhol and the Velvet Underground leading up to the album’s release, Harrison says.
“The idea was to focus on the 16 months. It’s not a Velvet Underground retrospective, it’s not A-to-Z or their whole career,” Harrison says. “It’s December ‘65 to March ’67 at the album’s release.”
Matt Gray, The Warhol’s manager of archives, says that he hopes it will provide a different perspective that is closest to the band’s artistic vision.
“It’s not a friendly kind of approach,” Gray tells City Paper. “They are making their music as they want to make it. Leading with ‘Sunday Morning,’ it’s a very sweet, melodic kind of song. And comparing that to ‘European Son,’ it’s night and day. For the seasoned Velvet listeners, it creates a new context to hear that album.”