Written by Lou Reed, a Brooklyn-born (1942) son of “unaccommodating” Jewish parents, doing music in high school, along with drugs in high school and college, emotionally fragile (briefly committed for electroshock treatment), musical genius who, while with Velvet Underground, wrote “I'll Be Your Mirror” for German chanteuse, Nico. In 1967 for band's debut album. Nico (fashion model, actress, singer/songwriter, composer, seen as arrogant, difficult to work with, racist and very talented.) was being mentored by Andy Warhol who introduced her to band. Her intense, aggressive delivery consumed many takes; finally she was told to get it right (soft and delicate) or they'd drop the song. She burst into tears and did it perfectly! She left legacy of early goth influence on many who followed. Lived nomadic life throughout Europe and U.S., several well-known lovers, died at 50 from cerebral hemorrhage in cycling accident
. Although “The Velvet Underground & Nico” was not received well (Brian Eno said that everyone who bought one of the 30,000 that sold were so inspired they started their own band.), it was later called by Rolling Stone, No. 13 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. After leaving the Underground, Lou went with a solo career for 5 decades. His first solo album, Transformer, 1972, was the pinnacle of his success and he became resentful of the way it overshadowed all that followed. Along the way he worked with an array of very successful musicians. During these years, however, he continued to receive critical acclaim for his voice, his lyrics and his amazingly influential contributions to the continuation of the roots of rock and roll. In 1990 after a 20 year hiatus, Velvet Underground reunited and toured Europe. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The depth and breadth of his creative genius continued up until his death from liver disease in 2013. A fascination with Poe led to a 2 CD production of spoken word readings by a host of actors, singers and musicians backed by Reed's original compositions of electronic music and later became a book – and the list could go on. He definitely marched to his beat of his own drummer and left our musical landscape undeniably richer.
Looking back at Carla Bozulich's debut solo album, a complete re-imagining of the Willie Nelson classic that the man himself played on. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jul 8, 2016
This 26-track compilation of jittery electronic music & folk-inspired compositions is a brief history of the label A Future Without. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 18, 2018
Experimental pop artist and WFMU radio personality Abbie from Mars re-introduces herself on this playful, idiosyncratic album. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 14, 2022