Comes on vinyl LP.
The Velvet Underground & Nico is a groundbreaking 1967 album that fused avant-garde experimentalism with raw, confessional rock. Produced by Andy Warhol, the album is widely regarded as one of the most influential records in the history of modern music, despite its initial commercial failure.
Fronted by Lou Reed’s sharp, poetic lyrics and John Cale’s unconventional, minimalist arrangements, the album explores themes of urban life, alienation, addiction, love, and sexuality. It blends gritty realism with a stark, almost brutal sound that was revolutionary at the time. Songs like “Heroin”, “I’m Waiting for the Man”, and “Venus in Furs” challenge societal norms and reflect the darker undercurrents of 1960s counterculture.
The addition of Nico, the German singer and model, provided an ethereal, haunting voice to the mix, particularly on tracks like “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “Femme Fatale”. At the instigation of their mentor and manager Andy Warhol, and his collaborator Paul Morrissey, German singer Nico was also featured; she had occasionally performed lead vocals for the band. She sang lead on three of the album’s tracks—”Femme Fatale”, “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror”—and back-up on “Sunday Morning”. In 1966, as the album was being recorded, this was also the line-up for their live performances as a part of Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
