Peel slowly and see

The Velvet Underground and Nico                                            1967

by The Velvet Underground
9.0/10

As proven on my previous post, I'm terrible with music reviews. Well, not terrible but I don't really have much to say except that I love listening to it and you should try it out. So from now on I'm going to focus on the cover design of my favourite albums.

Today I'm highlighting another universally acclaimed recording. I don't usually agree with these claims but this one is amongst my exceptions. Fronted by Lou Reed and produced by Andy Warhol (he just financed it, actually), this album along with other subsequent releases by the band were determinant in the genesis of a lot other musical directions, mainly punk rock and noise rock.

The Velvet Underground firstly appeared as a crucial element of Warhol's exhibition Exploding Plastic Inevitable where they performed along with Nico (guest vocals) presenting the album whose cover was conceived in the typical pop art style of the artist. The banana depicted on the cover can actually be peeled by removing the sticker. A special machine had to be built to produce this cover delaying the album's release. But the label figured that the connection to Warhol's reputed work wouldn't bring any losses.

This is how the peeled cover looks like:

Warhol also conceived other covers like the one for Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones and Aretha by Aretha Franklin, his final work. There's really no need for me to go on with this, talking about such an acknowledged artist. I'm sure no one, including the most recent generation, is ignorant about his legacy given that even Lady Gaga names him as a big influence.

And now my song choice for this album, Venus in Furs: