According to legend, although the Velvet Underground's debut LP only sold about 100 copies when it was originally released, every one who did buy a copy were inspired enough to form their own band. Partly as a vehicle for native New Yorker Lou Reed's songwriting, and part pet art project for artist Andy Warhol (who designed the groundbreaking "peel slowly and see" banana album cover), the band also featured Welsh émigré John Cale, percussionist Mo Tucker, guitarist Sterling Morrison and teutonic, iconic chanteuse Nico.
Recorded in 1966 and issued a year later, it’s widely regarded as a precursor to punk and alternative music a decade later. Now rightly hailed as an undisputed classic, the dark subject matter and progressive sounds explored on "I'm Waiting For The Man", "Venus In Furs", "Heroin" and "The Black Angel's Death Song" did little to help propel this experimental group into the mainstream.
Q regarded the album as "a flickering, unforgettable band performance", while NME’s ranked it at No.6 among the ‘Greatest Albums Of All Time'.
All vinyl albums in the Back To Black range include a free MP3 version of the album. All you have to do is enter the unique code* which is included in the package to download the same album to your mp3 player.
*Download codes and digital files are not available in the US.