Listen to the long-lost Lou Reed songs recorded for Andy Warhol
“I was a product of Andy Warhol’s Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.” – Lou Reed
Andy Warhol and Lou Reed shared a strong bond for a number of years, a relationship that was formed shortly after the pioneering pop artist discovered The Velvet Underground in the gutter of New York City. The meeting of two fiercely innovative minds later resulted in Warhol becoming the band’s manager and advancing their social standing by mere connection alone. However, the relationship between Warhol and Reed was never plain-sailing. Given the sheer artistic drive that both withheld, it was inevitable that the friendship would undergo its fair share of firey moments.
The Velvet Underground was formed in 1964, but it would take a solid 12 months before the whispers of a hot new group began circulation around NYC. For a period of time, any murmurings of a trend bubbling away in the city inevitably found their way to Warhol. For Reed and the group, it was a no-brainer to work under the artist’s wing. They were borderline nonentities, and the Factory offered a haven of artistic expression.
While the introduction of singer Nico would prove to be Warhol’s smartest decision, it was his finances that helped get the band off the ground and into the studio. While Reed famously had his issues with the line-up change – something that would prove to be a problem in his relationship with Warhol – he eventually moved on. Later, having allowed any tension to dissipate, Reed sat down to record 12 previously unheard tracks.
The Reed recordings were discovered on an old cassette tape dating back to 1975 and are thought to be written for Warhol. The rough demos, which were found stored on an old cassette in the archives of the Warhol Museum, were labelled ‘The Philosophy Songs (From A to B and Back)’, which is a direct reference to Warhol’s book. Judith Peraino, a professor of music at Cornell University, is responsible for the discovery after conducting archival research at the Museum in Pittsburgh.
“It sounds like he recorded them in his apartment with an open-air microphone, just voice and acoustic guitar,” Judith Peraino told the Cornell Chronicle. Given her discovery, Peraino has detailed the find as part of her study I’ll Be Your MixtapeLou Reed, Andy Warhol, and the Queer Intimacies of Cassettes in which she explains the “disbelief and uncertainty” after finding tapes.
“The sound of Reed’s voice on ‘The Philosophy Songs’ is very different from his live concert performances on Side 1,” Peraino said. However, while she remained in shock, a staff member at the Warhol Museum commented that Peraino had found an unreleased Lou Reed album, “That’s when the excitement really hit. Such a discovery is rare, and it is certainly a highlight of my career,” Peraino added.
“What makes this rare is the gift aspect of the tape,” she said, “That Lou Reed intentionally created both a curated set of songs and a composed set of songs on tape meant only for Warhol. This is a harbinger of the mixtape culture and gift-giving that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s.”
Peraino writes that the records display “the entangled passions and psychologies of [Warhol and Reed’s] decade-long relationship”.
“Reed brought an experimental and literary sensibility to his songs, composing vivid and sometimes brutal portraits of complex characters in sound and words,” Peraino added. “This tape from 1975 reveals an intimate side of Reed’s musical portrait-making through a story that is his own, touching on his ongoing involvement with Andy Warhol and exploring the expressive potential of the medium of the cassette tape.”
