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The Very Best of The Velvet Underground

There are Velvet Underground compilation albums with similar titles: The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed (1989) and The Best of The Velvet Underground: The Millennium Collection (2000).

The Very Best of The Velvet Underground
Greatest hits album by The Velvet Underground
Released	March 31, 2003
Recorded	1966–1970, New York City and Hollywood, United States
Genre	Rock, art rock, experimental rock, folk rock
Length	74:29
Language	English
Label	Polydor
Producer	Andy Warhol, Tom Wilson, The Velvet Underground, Geoff Haslam, Shel Kagan
The Velvet Underground chronology
Squeeze (1973) The Very Best of the Velvet Underground (2003)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

The Very Best of The Velvet Underground is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in Europe on March 31, 2003, by Polydor, the record label that oversees the band’s Universal Music Group back catalogue.

The Very Best of The Velvet Underground was released on the back of a successful Hyundai television advert, which featured the band’s 1970 recording “I’m Sticking with You” off Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition). The version included in this compilation is the 1969 VU take, however, despite the cover sticker’s claim to the contrary.

Track listing

All tracks performed by The Velvet Underground except † The Velvet Underground & Nico. All titles written by Lou Reed except as noted.

1. “Sweet Jane“
2. “I’m Sticking with You” (1969 version)
3. “I’m Waiting for the Man“
4. “What Goes On”
5. “White Light/White Heat“
6. “All Tomorrow’s Parties“†
7. “Pale Blue Eyes“
8. “Femme Fatale“†
9. “Heroin“
10. “Here She Comes Now” (Reed, Cale, Morrison)
11. “Stephanie Says“
12. “Venus in Furs“
13. “Beginning to See the Light”
14. “I Heard Her Call My Name“
15. “Some Kinda Love” (alternate take)
16. “I Can’t Stand It”
17. “Sunday Morning” (Reed, Cale)†
18. “Rock & Roll“

(1, 18) taken from Loaded; (2, 11, 16) taken from VU; (3, 6, 8–9, 12, 17) taken from The Velvet Underground & Nico; (4, 7, 13, 15) taken from The Velvet Underground; (5, 10, 14) taken from White Light/White Heat.

Personnel

The Velvet Underground

• John Cale – viola, bass guitar, keyboards, celesta (3, 5–6, 8–12, 14, 17)
• Sterling Morrison – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
• Lou Reed – vocals except as noted, guitar, piano
• Maureen Tucker – percussion (2–17), vocals on “I’m Sticking with You”
• Doug Yule – bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, drums, backing vocals (1–2, 4, 7, 13, 15–16, 18)

Additional musicians

• Nico – lead vocals on “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Femme Fatale”, backing vocals on “Sunday Morning”

Technical staff

• Andy Warhol – producer
• Tom Wilson – producer
• The Velvet Underground – producers
• Geoff Haslam, Shel Kagan and The Velvet Underground – producers

References

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the velvet undergound &nico – Femme Fatale

Femme Fatale (song)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2013)

“Femme Fatale”
Single b/w “Sunday Morning“
Single by The Velvet Underground and Nico
from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico
A-side	“Sunday Morning“
Released	December 1966 (single) March 1967 (album)
Recorded	April 1966, Scepter Studios, New York City
Genre	Pop[1]
Length	2:39
Label	Verve Records
Writer(s)	Lou Reed
Producer	Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground chronology “All Tomorrow’s Parties / I’ll Be Your Mirror” (1966) “Sunday Morning / Femme Fatale” (1966) “White Light/White Heat / Here She Comes Now” (1968)

“Femme Fatale” is a song by The Velvet Underground from their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, with lead vocals by Nico. At producer Andy Warhol‘s request, band frontman Lou Reed wrote the song about Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick.^[2] The song was released as a B-Side to “Sunday Morning” in December 1966. It is one of the gentler songs of the album, coming as a direct contrast to the previous, abrasive song, “I’m Waiting for the Man“.

Personnel

• Lou Reed – guitar, backing vocals
• John Cale – piano, bass
• Sterling Morrison – guitar, backing vocals
• Maureen Tucker – percussion
• Nico – lead vocals

Cover versions

The song has been covered by numerous artists, including:

• Big Star, on the 1978 album Third/Sister Lovers^[3]
• Skat (formerly The Chefs) as the A side of their 1982 single
• Tracey Thorn on her 1982 solo debut album A Distant Shore
• Propaganda, on the 1984 12″ single Dr Mabuse
• Dramarama, on the 1985 album Cinéma Vérité
• R.E.M., on the 1987 album Dead Letter Office
• Tom Tom Club, on the 1988 album Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom
• Duran Duran, on the 1993 album Duran Duran
• Pansy Division, on the 1995 album Pile Up
• FourPlay String Quartet, on the 2000 album The Joy Of…
• Jazzhole, on the 2000 album Blackburst
• Ours, on the 2002 album Precious
• Elisa, on the 2003 album Lotus
• Émilie Simon, on the 2003 album Émilie Simon (bonus disc)
• Owen, on the 2006 album At Home With Owen
• Smashing Pumpkins side project Spirits in the Sky, on their 2009 tour.^[4]
• Aloe Blacc, on the 2010 album Good Things
• Girl in a Coma, on their 2010 covers album Adventures in Coverland
• Genevieve Waite, as a bonus track on the 2005 CD re-release of her 1973 album Romance Is on the Rise
• Samuel Windmill of The Percolaters, in an unreleased solo cover from the same session as the band’s 2012 debut EP
• Concrete Blonde, While opening for Wall of Voodoo on their “Happy Planet” tour in Australia, they played the song in honor of Lou Reed’s birthday in Melbourne, on March 2, 1988

References

1. Jump up ^ A. Zak, The Velvet Underground Companion: Four Decades of Commentary (Music Sales Group, 22 Dec 2000), ISBN 0825672422, p. 78.
2. Jump up ^ Bockris, Victor (1994). Transformer: The Lou Reed Story. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 107. ISBN 0-684-80366-6. “Andy said I should write a song about Edie Sedgwick. I said ‘Like what?’ and he said ‘Oh, don’t you think she’s a femme fatale, Lou?’ So I wrote ‘Femme Fatale’ and we gave it to Nico. (Lou Reed)”
3. Jump up ^ Full Albums: The Velvet Underground & Nico. covermesongs.com. Retrieved 14 September 2012
4. Jump up ^ “Tour history – songs : Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)”. Spfc.org. Retrieved 2013-07-20.

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The Velvet Underground-Sunday Morning

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Velvet Underground-All Tomorrow’s Parties

Sunday Morning (The Velvet Underground song)

“Sunday Morning”
Single by The Velvet Underground
from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico
B-side	“Femme Fatale“
Released	December 1966 (single) March 1967 (album)
Recorded	November 1966 Mayfair Studios, New York City
Genre	Pop,[1] psychedelic rock,[2] art rock[3]
Length	2:56
Label	Verve
Writer(s)	Lou Reed, John Cale
Producer	Tom Wilson
The Velvet Underground singles chronology
“All Tomorrow’s Parties / I’ll Be Your Mirror” (1966) “Sunday Morning / Femme Fatale” (1966) “White Light/White Heat / Here She Comes Now” (1968)
The Velvet Underground & Nico track listing “Sunday Morning“ “I’m Waiting for the Man“ “Femme Fatale“ “Venus in Furs“ “Run Run Run“ “All Tomorrow’s Parties“ “Heroin“ “There She Goes Again“ “I’ll Be Your Mirror“ “The Black Angel’s Death Song“ “European Son“

“Sunday Morning” is a song by The Velvet Underground. It is the opening track on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was also released as a single in 1966 with “Femme Fatale“.

Recording

In late 1966, “Sunday Morning” was the final song to be recorded for The Velvet Underground & Nico. It was requested by Tom Wilson, who thought the album needed another song with lead vocals by Nico with the potential to be a successful single. The final master tape of side one of the album shows “Sunday Morning” only penciled in before “I’m Waiting for the Man“.

Wilson brought the band into a New York City recording studio in November. The song was written with Nico’s voice in mind by Lou Reed and John Cale on a Sunday morning. The band previously performed it live with Nico singing lead, but when it came time to record it, Lou Reed sang the lead vocal. Nico would instead sing backing vocals on the song.

Aiming to create a hit for the album, “Sunday Morning” features noticeably more lush and professional production than the rest of the songs on the album. The song’s prominent use of celesta was the idea of John Cale, who noticed the instrument in the studio and decided to use it for the song.

Personnel

• Lou Reed – lead vocals, lead guitar
• John Cale – celesta, viola, piano
• Sterling Morrison – bass guitar
• Maureen Tucker – percussion
• Nico – backing vocals

Cover versions

“Sunday Morning” has been covered by various bands, including Rusty, Villagers, Bettie Serveert, Beck, Chris Coco & Nick Cave, Nina Hagen, James, Oh-OK, Elizabeth Cook, NY Loose, The Feelies, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Queers, Strawberry Switchblade, and Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs.^[4] The song has also been covered by Belle & Sebastian during live shows. A live version recorded by Oh-OK is compiled on The Complete Recordings.

A cover of the song by the Doug Anthony All Stars was used in a season 1 episode of DAAS Kapital, but did not appear on the DVD set of the sci-fi sitcom due to “contractual reasons… and because we never paid to use it in the first place,” according to Paul McDermott. In its place is the newly recorded original song “Saturday’s The Day For Leaving”.^[5] During the song, the DVD displays text to this effect, before mentioning the original version “is still on YouTube“.^[6]

The chord progression is used in Kramer‘s “Don’t Come Around“, which includes the lyric, “I love this song,” presumably referring to the Velvet Underground song rather than the Kramer song.

Notes

1. Jump up ^ The Velvet Underground & Nico: Review. allmusic.com. Retrieved 04 July 2012.
2. Jump up ^ DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 79. ISBN 1617802158. Retrieved August 1, 2013. “…psychedelic rock masterpiece…”
3. Jump up ^ DeRogatis, Jim (February 14, 2003). “Gettin’ Your Groove On”. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 26. Retrieved August 1, 2013. “…this enduring art-rock masterpiece…”
4. Jump up ^ Full Albums: The Velvet Underground & Nico. covermesongs.com. Retrieved 14 September 2012
5. Jump up ^ All Star secrets revealed – Doug Anthonys share anecdotes, Chortle.co.uk, 13 April 2013.
6. Jump up ^ DAAS Kapital DVD, S1E3 “Gluttony” (DVD). ABC. 2013.

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Velvet Underground-All Tomorrow’s Parties

Uploaded on Jun 28, 2010

All Tomorrow’s Parties

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For other uses, see All Tomorrow’s Parties (disambiguation).

“All Tomorrow’s Parties”
Single by The Velvet Underground
from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico
B-side	“I’ll Be Your Mirror“
Released	July 1966 (single) March 1967 (album)
Recorded	April 1966 at Scepter Studios in New York City
Genre	Experimental rock, art rock, psychedelic rock[1]
Length	2:49 (single version) 6:00 (album version)
Label	Verve (VK10427)
Writer(s)	Lou Reed
Producer	Andy Warhol
The Velvet Underground singles chronology
“All Tomorrow’s Parties” / I’ll Be Your Mirror (1966) “Sunday Morning” / “Femme Fatale” (1966)
The Velvet Underground & Nico track listing “Sunday Morning“ “I’m Waiting for the Man“ “Femme Fatale“ “Venus In Furs“ “Run Run Run“ “All Tomorrow’s Parties“ “Heroin“ “There She Goes Again“ “I’ll Be Your Mirror“ “The Black Angel’s Death Song“ “European Son“

“All Tomorrow’s Parties” is a song by The Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed and released on the group’s 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Inspiration for the song came from Reed’s observation of the Warhol clique; according to Reed, the song is “a very apt description of certain people at the Factory at the time. … I watched Andy. I watched Andy watching everybody. I would hear people say the most astonishing things, the craziest things, the funniest things, the saddest things.”^[2] The song was Andy Warhol’s favorite by The Velvet Underground.^[3]

The song has notably lent its name to a music festival, a William Gibson novel, and a Yu Lik-wai film. The song also appears prominently in the horror film The Lords of Salem.

Contents

• 1 Recording
• 2 Personnel
• 3 Alternate versions
  • 3.1 Ludlow Street Loft, July 1965
  • 3.2 Single version, July 1966
• 4 Cover versions
• 5 Sample
• 6 References

Recording

The song was recorded at Scepter Studios, New York, during April 1966. It features a piano motif played by Cale (initially written as an exercise) based largely on tone clusters. It was one of the first pop songs to make use of prepared piano^[4] (a chain of paper clips were intertwined with the piano strings to change their sounds). The song also features the ostrich guitar tuning by Reed, by which all of the guitar strings were tuned to D.^[3]

Nico provides lead vocals. The song was originally recorded with only one track of her vocals; they were later double-tracked for the final album version. Most versions of the album use this version of the song, though the initial 1987 CD release uses the original mix without the double-tracking.

Personnel

• Lou Reed – guitar
• John Cale – piano, bass
• Sterling Morrison – rhythm guitar
• Maureen Tucker – percussion
• Nico – lead vocals

Alternate versions

Ludlow Street Loft, July 1965

The earliest known recorded version of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” was recorded on reel to reel tape by Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in a New York apartment loft on Ludlow Street. With Reed on acoustic guitar, the song features a strong folk music sound—particularly in Cale and Morrison’s harmony vocals—which critic David Fricke^[5] suggests demonstrates Reed’s fondness for Bob Dylan. This version, released on the Peel Slowly and See box set, is composed of multiple takes, which add up to a time of 18:26.

Single version, July 1966

An edited version of the song was released in July 1966 as a single with “I’ll Be Your Mirror” as a B-side. The song cuts out about half of the studio version at just under three minutes. It did not chart.

This version later became available in 2002 on the “Deluxe Edition” of The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Cover versions

Both Nico and Lou Reed have recorded solo versions of the song. Other artists who have covered it include Jun Togawa, Apoptygma Berzerk,^[6] the Ass Ponys, Buffalo Tom, Japan,^[7] Bauhaus, Jeff Buckley, Icehouse,^[8] Los Tres,^[9] The Method Actors, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,^[10] the Oysterband, Tom Robinson, Kikka Sirén, Simple Minds,^[11] Siouxsie and the Banshees,^[12] Rasputina, Kendra Smith, Bryan Ferry,^[13] June Tabor, Johnette Napolitano, Iron and Wine, Deerhoof, Hole, The Music Tapes, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio and Black Tape for a Blue Girl. Les Rita Mitsouko covered the song for the Velvet Underground tribute album Les Enfants du Velvet in 1985.

Sample

	“All Tomorrow’s Parties” Menu     0:00   The sixth track from The Velvet Underground & Nico, featuring Nico’s double-tracked lead vocals. This sample contains the beginning of the third verse.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

References

1. Jump up ^ J. DeRogatis, Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock (Milwaukie, Michigan: Hal Leonard, 2003), ISBN 0-634-05548-8, p. 80.
2. Jump up ^ Fricke, David (1995). Peel Slowly and See liner notes, p.22
3. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Harvard, Joe (2007) [2004]. The Velvet Underground & Nico. 33⅓. New York, NY: Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 107 / 109–110. ISBN 0-8264-1550-4.
4. Jump up ^ Mitchell, Tim Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale, 2003, ISBN 0-7206-1132-6
5. Jump up ^ David Fricke, liner notes for the Peel Slowly and See box set (Polydor, 1995)
6. Jump up ^ “Apoptygma Berzerk’s All Tomorrow’s Parties cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico’s All Tomorrow’s Parties”. WhoSampled.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
7. Jump up ^ “Japan’s All Tomorrow’s Parties cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico’s All Tomorrow’s Parties”. WhoSampled.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
8. Jump up ^ Kelvin Hayes. “The Berlin Tapes review on Allmusic”. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
9. Jump up ^ “Los Tres’s All Tomorrow’s Parties cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico’s All Tomorrow’s Parties”. WhoSampled.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
10. Jump up ^ “Full Albums: The Velvet Underground & Nico » Cover Me”. Covermesongs.com. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
11. Jump up ^ MacKenzie Wilson. “Neon Lights review on Allmusic”. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
12. Jump up ^ “O Baby, Pt. 1 review on Allmusic”. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
13. Jump up ^ Ned Raggett. “Taxi review on Allmusic”. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 18 July 2013.