The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studio Sessions @ The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh will be playing a resurfaced reel-to-reel ¼” mono tape of the recording sessions of The Velvet Underground at Scepter Studio in New York in 1966 during an exhibition that opens on May 12. An acetate was used for the 45th anniversatry box the of The Velvet Underground & Nico, but this one is supposed to sound a lot better:

The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studio Sessions highlights the Velvet Underground and the music from their first recording sessions in April 1966 at Scepter Studios in New York City. Recently identified while processing Andy Warhol’s archive at The Warhol, the nine initial tracks recorded by the band were the bedrock of their debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967, Verve Records), which became one of the most jarring and influential albums in rock music. These monophonic reel-to-reel ¼” tapes feature alternate versions and mixes of songs later issued on the 1967 release, which was produced by Warhol, and often referred to as the “banana album”, as it featured a peel-away banana on the cover designed by Warhol.

Billy Name: The Silver Age

Another addition to the Factory library. Billy Name: The Silver Age collects the black and white photographs that were made by Billy Name during his stay at Andy Warhol's HQ:

This is the definitive and comprehensive collection of Billy Name’s black and white photographs from Warhol’s Factory. Billy’s photographs from this period (1964-68) are one of the most important photographic documents of any single artist in history.

Billy lived in a tiny closet at the Factory. He was responsible for the legendary ‘silverizing’ of the space using aluminium paint and aluminium foil to complete the instillation. When Andy gave Billy a Pentax Honeywell 35mm camera, he took on the role of resident photographer and archivist.

Foreword by John Cale plus contributions from Factory alumnae, including Brigid Berlin, Diane di Prima, Danny Fields, Bibbe Hansen, Robert Heide, Gerard Malanga, Allen Midgette, Viva, and Mary Woronov.

Billy Name: The Silver Age will be published in November as a limited edition via Reel Art Press.

ISBN: 978-1-909526-17-4
448pp; Hardback; 400 b/w photographs
290 x 245 mm / 11.4 x 10 in.
$60.00