Exhibit at the Warhol looks back on groundbreaking Velvet Underground album
Recording session tapes for the album "The Velvet Underground and Nico" were recently found in Andy Warhol's archives.
The German singer Nico, from one of Andy Warhol's filmed "screen tests."
Photo by Steve Schapiro
The Velvet Underground and Nico at Scepter Studios in New York in 1966, recording their self-titled album.
Lou Reed in one of Andy Warhol's "screen tests."
Andy Warhol with the Velvet Underground and Nico.
The cover of "The Velvet Underground and Nico," designed by Andy Warhol.
PITTSBURGH 鈥� In 1967, the Monkees held down the top spot on Billboard鈥檚 Top 200 album chart for 29 weeks with four different albums, the Beatles were at No. 1 for 15 weeks with their blockbuster 鈥淪gt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band,鈥� and the remaining weeks were divvied up between Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Bobbie Gentry and the Supremes.
The Velvet Underground and Nico were not competitors in this fight at all.
The band鈥檚 Andy Warhol-produced, self-titled debut crept quietly into record stores in March 1967, and made nary a ripple, stalling out at No. 171 on Billboard. It received no radio play in middle America and its two singles went nowhere. For most albums, this would have been a fast-track to cut-out bin obscurity.
鈥淚t stumbled out of the gate,鈥� in the words of Ben Harrison, senior director of performing arts and programming at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico鈥� may have stumbled out of the gate, but it didn鈥檛 stumble into oblivion. Anything but.
With the possible exception of Miles Davis鈥� 鈥淜ind of Blue,鈥� there鈥檚 probably been no other album in the history of pop music that鈥檚 been so influential and was so little appreciated in its own time. The musician and producer Brian Eno has famously observed that 鈥渢he first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.鈥� Its minimalism and dark undertones ran counter to the sunny 鈥渇lower power鈥� spirit that pervaded popular music 56 years ago, but it鈥檚 now considered a forerunner of punk and grittier forms of music that followed. On Rolling Stone鈥檚 most recent tally of the greatest albums of all time, 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico鈥� is at No. 23.
鈥淚t was at least a decade ahead of its time,鈥� Harrison said.
The Warhol is taking a closer look at the 11-song disc in the exhibit 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico: The Scepter Studio Sessions鈥� through Monday, Sept. 25. It was prompted by the discovery of original tapes from the first recording sessions for the album at Scepter Studios in New York in April 1966. The mono, reel-to-reel tapes contain alternate versions and mixes of the songs that ended up on 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico,鈥� and though the material on it was made available in a 2012 box set commemorating the 45th anniversary of the album, the sonic quality of what鈥檚 on the tapes is a distinct step up. The tracks from the tapes play continuously in the gallery while the exhibit is going on.
鈥淭he sound is like they could have been recorded yesterday,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not that folks don鈥檛 have access to this. They don鈥檛 have it in this quality.鈥�
鈥淭he Scepter Studio Sessions鈥� also has a selection of photos of the band taken in 1966 and 1967 by photojournalist Steve Schapiro, who died in January and snapped images of a diverse array of figures from Martin Luther King Jr., to David Bowie. In addition, the exhibit has footage of the Velvet Underground and Nico playing live, 30 of Warhol鈥檚 鈥渟creen tests鈥� with five members of the band filmed in 1966, and 100 copies of the recognizable peel-away album cover along a wall, all from the collection of Mark Satlof, a New York sight-seeing guide who owns more than 800 copies of the disc.
Harrison points out that the 鈥淪cepter Sessions鈥� is not an all-encompassing history of the band, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. After 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico,鈥� the German chanteuse Nico embarked on a solo career and ultimately died in a bicycle accident in 1988. Additional albums with different lineups followed through 1973, though Warhol was not a part of them. A brief reunion of the core members in 1992 resulted in a live album. Along with Nico, Velvet Underground bandmates Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison have since died. John Cale, one of the two surviving members of the original lineup, has carried on with a career in music.
On Saturday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. guitarist and songwriter Steve Gunn will appear for a tribute performance celebrating 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico,鈥� and on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m., film footage of the band will be screened in the Warhol鈥檚 theater.
Additional information on 鈥淭he Velvet Underground and Nico: The Scepter Sessions鈥� can be found at warhol.org.