Studio and home recordings

This list is unfortunately not exhaustive
many Velvet Underground recordings remain unknown.

--- unreleased --- bootleg only

1964 (?)
Recording location unknown

1. Loop

1 : flexi-disc included in Aspen Vol. 1, No. 3, December 1966.

Although the track is credited to The Velvet Underground, it could actually be the work of John Cale alone. The flexi credits state: "First half of a 15-minute recording made with 2 monaural tape recorders".

December 3, 1964
Walter De Maria's Bond Street loft, New York City, New York

John Cale - Tony Conrad - Walter De Maria - Lou Reed - Jimmie Sims

1. Won't You Smile (1st take)
2. The Ostrich (1st take)
3. The Ostrich (2nd take)
4. Won't You Smile (2nd take)
5. Johnny Won't Surf Anymore
6. Teardrops In The Sand
7. Sad Lonely Orphan Boy
8. Shame, Shame, Shame

A detailed description of this recording of Primitives' rehearsals can be found in Beyond The Dream Syndicate – Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage by Branden W. Joseph (page 213-225, Zone Books, 2008). Won't You Smile is an early version of Why Don't You Smile Now. Shame, Shame, Shame is a cover of Jimmy Reed song.

"Tony Conrad lives here in town. I met him once--he was picketing LaMonte Young's concert. LaMonte had been sitting on the Theatre of Eternal Music tapes for decades and Tony and John were still pissed at him for it. (I turned up and gave him the one TEM cassette I had, from a public radio broadcast.)
He told me he used to have a tape of The Primitives in rehearsal, presumably running through "Do The Ostrich." The quality wasn't great but it was listenable. He mentioned it to Cale, who freaked out and demanded that Tony send it to him. "And don't let anybody hear it!!!" So he did. We probably won't get to hear that for a while, but it does exist."
[posted in Madcapslaughin Yahoogroups, circa 2004]

"Tony still has a copy & parts were played at an event he did with Branden Joseph at Other Music in New York a couple of months ago. For decades he stored some boxes of Cale's tapes from the 60s at his house in Buffalo. I don't know what they contained but presumably there would be unheard Velvets material."
[posted in The Velvet Forum | The Primitives tape?, July 8, 2008]

Count Reeshard: "Tony Conrad was one of my professors when I attended grad school at SUNY Buffalo in '77. We became friendly and, as I was traveling with a mammoth record collection at the time, Tony thought I might be interested in hearing the contents of (literally) a shoebox of cassettes and other tapes he possessed, much of it relating to the Velvets. I enjoyed epic-length listening sessions at Tony's loft, hearing "Booker T' and many other pieces for the first time. One Velvets concert was recorded by Tony from a phone connection; someone at the gig left a lobby pay phone off the hook so that Tony could run tape.
Some years later, Tony told me that one of his students (who ran a record store in his home town) offered Tony some money for the box of tapes. John Cale, with whom Tony stayed in touch as they were (and are) two parts of the anti-LaMonte Young faction, heard about this and freaked, instilling Tony with fear of Lou's lawyers. Cale later collected the box of tapes."
[comment posted on The Houndblog |Velvet Underground Pre-Op, April 27, 2010]

May 11, 1965
Pickwick Studios, near Long Island City, New York

8-16 43rd Ave, Queens, NY 11101
Google Maps

John Cale - Lou Reed - Jerry Vance or Jimmie Sims

1. Buzz Buzz Buzz (one complete take + a couple of attempts breaking down)
2. Why Don't You Smile Now
3. Heroin (take 1)
4. Heroin (take 2)
5. Untitled Piano Piece 1
6. Untitled Piano Piece 1

The existence of this recording was reported by Bob Ragona, who was then the director of sales and promotion at Pickwick Records. Buzz Buzz Buzz is an original Lou Reed song, not a cover of the 1957 hit by The Hollywood Flames. The Untitled Piano Pieces are by John Cale alone.

Hal Willner played Heroin (take 2) during the memorial for Lou Reed on December 16, 2013 at the Apollo Theater in New York NY.

May 1965
Unknown location

John Cale - Lou Reed

Listed as "560539 Velvet Underground Lou Reed and John Cale [Demo] 1965" in Lou Reed papers 1958-2015 | The New York Public Library Music Division.

The five-inch reel-to-reel tape was discovered in a sealed packaged, hidden behind some CDs in Reed’s study. Lou Reed mailed the tape to himself on May 11, 1965, the reason for which is known as "the poor man's copyright."

Photos of the package were posted on Lou Reed's Facebook page on July 17, 2014.

Lou Reed archivist Don Fleming opened the tape early 2018 to discover that it contained what is believed to be the first recorded version of I’m Waiting For The Man, among other previously unheard tracks. On March 2, 2018 a short "Happy Birthday" video was published on Lou Reed's Facebook page, featuring a dozen of seconds of Never Get Emotionally Involved With Man, Woman, Beast Or Child.

Don Fleming: "The most fascinating thing of all is a package that was in his office on a shelf. It was a tape he had mailed to himself in 1965 to self-copyright some songs and it had never been opened. It was unopened on the shelf when we found it, and we didn’t open it until after the library acquired the collection because we weren’t sure really if we should, but eventually after talking it over with everyone we decided to carefully open it and make a transfer. It turned out to be eleven demos, where he is doing it for the purpose of copyright because before each one he says “Lyrics and music by Lou Reed.” I think four of the songs became Velvet Underground songs and then the rest of them didn’t and were unknown."
[in Lou Reed's Archive Holds Six Hundred Hours Of Mostly Unreleased Audio, And Other Revelations By His Archivist by Michael Shelley, at Please Kill Me, October 17, 2018]

About one minute of I'm Waiting For The Man demo has been broadcasted on March 2, 2019 by BBC Radio 4 during Archive on 4 | Walking the Wild Mind Lou Reed special.

Additional info:
Lou Reed demo of I'm Waiting For The Man discovered, Irish Examiner, February 25, 2019
New Lou Reed doc to premiere 1965 demo of “I’m Waiting For The Man”, UNCUT, February 27, 2019

Track 1:

1. Men Of Good Fortune
2. Heroin
3. Put your Money Down
4. Buttercup Song or Never Get Emotionally Involved With A Man, Woman, Beast, or Child
5. Walk Alone
6. I'm Waiting For The Man
7. Too Late
8. Pale Blue Eyes
9. Stockpile
10. Buzz Buzz Buzz
11. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (sung by John Cale)

Track 2:

1. I'm Waiting For The Man
2. Put Your Money Down On The Table
3. Put Your Money Down On The Table
4. Too Late
5. Pale Blue Eyes
6. [Electric Guitar Noise]
7. [Instrumental Jam]
8. [original audio that was taped over. Someone named Roz making a mix tape for "Jack"]

Music streaming services :
I'm Waiting For The Man (4:43) released on June 6, 2022.
Heroin (3:55) released on July 18, 2022.
Men Of Good Fortune (4:37) released on August 15, 2022.
11-track selection released on September 16, 2022

July 1965
John Cale's Ludlow Street loft, New York City, New York

56 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

1. Heroin
2. Venus In Furs
3. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
4. Black Angel's Death Song
5. Never Get Emotionally Involved With Man, Woman, Beast Or Child

Current status: LOST...

John Cale moved into 56 Ludlow Street in early 1964, invited by Tony Conrad, whom he had met in La Monte Young’s group. The apartment became the rehearsal space for the 1965 group featuring John Cale, Lou Reed, and Sterling Morrison.

Sterling Morrison: "The earliest tape that we put together ourselves (with Angus) was on the Wollensack in July 1965. It included 'Venus In Furs', 'Heroin', 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams', 'Black Angel's Death Song', etc. We sent it to someone Cale knew in England to see whether anyone would let us record them over there (there was no chance here, we figured). It was copied and passed around a lot in England (I don't have a copy; perhaps all are lost). It worked by the way; we had an offer to come over, but we decided to stay here with Andy."
[in The Velvet Underground (And So On) LP liner notes, 1982]

John Cale: "In July, we recorded a demo tape at Ludlow Street. It featured early versions of 'Heroin', 'Venus in Furs', 'The Black Angel's Death Song' and 'Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams', with me, at Lou's insistence, singing lead vocals. Lou was still insecure about his voice. Shortly thereafter, Sterling and I persuaded him that his voice best suited the material and he took the lead vocal spot for the most part ever since. 'Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams' is relentless. The tape also included a song recalled as 'Never Get Emotionally Involved With a Man, Woman, Beast or Child'. I took it to London in the hope of securing a recording contract with one of the more adventurous British companies. There was interest from, among others, Miles Copeland, with whom I would work in the seventies, and I managed to get a copy of the tape into Marianne Faithfull's hands but didn't get in her door. Anyway, nothing happened."
[in What's Welsh For Zen | The Autobiography of John Cale (p. 80), 1999]

John Cale: "When I moved into 56 Ludlow St. in early 1964, [Manhattan's] Lower East Side was a pretty bleak place. In the fifth-floor apartment in '65, Lou [Reed], Sterling [Morrison] and I combined the music of Erik Satie, John Cage, Phil Spector, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. The result was a new form of rock—more about art than commerce. We rehearsed, we experimented, and the six songs we taped in the apartment in July '65 on our Wollensak recorder wound up being the basis for our first album in '67—"The Velvet Underground & Nico.""
[in Incubator for the Velvet Underground: From a dingy apartment, an iconic band launched the downtown art-rock movement , Wall Street Journal online, January 20, 2013]

July 1965
John Cale's Ludlow Street loft, New York City, New York

56 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

1. Venus In Furs (15:33)
2. Prominent Men (4:53)
3. Heroin (13:34)
4. I'm Waiting For The Man (9:50)
5. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (15:50)
6. All Tomorrow's Parties (18:26)

1-6 : Peel Slowly And See 5-CD box set, 1995

This demo tape was discovered by John Cale in his basement. The discovery was announced in a news item in the April 15, 1995 issue of Melody Maker (p. 3).

"There's still stuff down there that I just haven't had the heart to... rummage around in," Cale says. "I knew, kind of, which boxes had what in them. I picked one and took it to Polygram. I was wrong. What I was given back on a DAT was not what I thought was on that tape at all." Levenson says that the original 94-minute demo showed up unannounced at his office this spring [ed: 1995], after the rest of the box had been remastered. He says, "We decided to edit it down to 79 minutes to fit it on one CD – basically, the editing was taking a lot of space out – and go with it as the first disc."
[in Billboard, August 19, 1995]

Week of April 18-23, 1966
Scepter Studios, New York City, New York

254 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

Sound engineers: Norman Dolph & John Licata

1. European Son
2. Black Angel Of Death
3. All Tomorrow's Parties
4. I'll Be Your Mirror
5. Heroin
6. Femme Fatale
7. Venus In Furs
8. Waiting For The Man
9. Run Run Run
10. There She Goes Again (?)

Those tracks were originally issued on various bootlegs: Ultimate Mono And Acetates Album 3-CD Disc 1 2005 (1-9), The Velvet Underground & Nico Unripened CD & LP 2007 (1-9), Dispatches From The Dream Factory 3-CD Disc 1 2008 (1, 3, 5, 7-8).

The Scepter sessions were officially released in October 2012 as part of the "45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" of The Velvet Underground & Nico.

The versions of Heroin, I'm Waiting For The Man, and Venus In Furs are quite different from the ones available on The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Also some of the mixes are a little different than the album final versions.

European Son is a longer version with a one-minute extra guitar solo after the 'plate break', which was probably edited out for the final release.

All Tomorrow's Parties is the alternate 'single voice' version.

I'll Be Your Mirror is possibly the same take, but with an alternate Nico vocal track. Nico ends the second verse with "to show that you're home" instead of "so you won't be afraid", and it has quieter "reflect what you are" backing vocals at the end.

Sterling Morrison: "You see, Nico had two voices. One was a full-register, Germanic, gotterdammerung voice that I never cared for, and the other was her whispy voice that I liked. At that point, we said 'Oh, try it just one more time and then fuck it – if it doesn't work this time we're not going to do the song'."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981]

The version of Heroin has different lyrics starting with "I know just where I'm going" instead of "I don't know just where I'm going". It also has a shorter intro before the lyrics start, as well as a significantly different guitar line.

Femme Fatale seems to be the same take but with alternate 'falsetto' "she's a femme fatale" backing vocals.

Venus In Furs is an alternate take as well.

Waiting For The Man starts with the lyrics "waiting for the man" in N. Dolph's version but starts with "waiting for my man" as well near the end of the released version Lou Reed says "walk it on home" which is absent on the released version.

According to Norman Dolph There She Goes Again was on the original session, and may not be the same recording as can be heard on the album. Furthermore, the 45th Anniversary Edition credits list the song as part of the May 1966 sessions at T.T.G. Studios.

Norman Dolph: "There she goes again was on the original session."
[in Norman Dolph answers my geek questions by Mark in The Velvet Forum, April 17, 2007]

THE NORMAN DOLPH ACETATE

On April 25, 1966, a double-sided acetate was cut from sessions at Scepter Studios, intended for Norman Dolph. The information on the record labels (there is no cover) reads as follows:

Norman Dolph recalled the acetate being pressed at Columbia. He recognized the matrix number and, since he was working at Columbia at the time, he sent the master tapes upstairs to have an acetate cut. He submitted this acetate to Columbia executives to see if they were interested in releasing it. Apparently, he still has the rejection letter from them essentially saying, "Are you out of your fucking mind?" He thinks he may have given the acetate to either Warhol or Cale when Columbia sent it back to him.

Norman Dolph: "I suspect the original tape is on Columbia Record Productions shelf at Columbia Records Archive Storage in Iron Mountain. I know there will be a blue 5 x 7 index card there which will list all the facts about the tape and the disk and to whom the tape was returned if the tape is not there. If I am listed as the returnee of the tape, then I gave it back to Warhol – but I don't recall handling anything but the acetate after the fact. It is my belief that Warhol/VU kept the multitrack master and the reference acetate. The tape from which the reference was cut (John Licata's mix) could still be sitting in the vault at Iron Mountain. Filed under that XTV number."
[in Norman Dolph answers my geek questions by Mark in The Velvet Forum, April 17, 2007]

Norman Dolph: "I was the tape's original producer (see John Cale's remarks in Rolling Stone) and arranged for the studio. Warhol paid the bills directly and was in the control room with his cassette recorder most of the time, taping the proceedings. He paid me for my services as producer with a large silver, disaster-series painting. I got the job because I knew Warhol from the art world, and he needed somebody in the record business.
As a 'producer', there was not much to do but slate the takes and keep the tape rolling. Lou Reed was very clear about what he wanted and the playback either satisfied him or it didn't. There was very little (if any) intercutting. The takes were either bought whole, or done over. The project was completed in about four days, over a period of about a week.
It was cut in Scepter Records Studios on 54th Street in New York, the same room that was used for The Shirelles and Dionne Warwick at the time, and the half-inch, four-track master tape was engineered by John Licata, who mixed it down originally as well. A patient, talented and worthy contributor to the whole project, Licata had a deal with Scepter in which they allowed him to freelance sessions in the studio when it was not booked.
I had been working at Columbia Records for the previous seven years. We cut reference acetates and submitted them to Columbia, with one rejection note, as well as the lead sheets for 'Femme Fatale' and 'All Tomorrow's Parties' in Lou Reed's handwriting. At this point, the group got in touch with Tom Wilson, who remixed the tape, and it was released as the "Banana" album on MGM-Verve.
I think it's fair to say that no one in the room at the time, on either side of the glass, knew they were cutting one of the top ten rock albums of all time. Lou and John wanted to get out of the speakers pretty much the same raw energy that they put out to a live audience. In retrospect, I was very lucky to have been one of an audience of three on the other side of the glass to whom that energy was put out!
It wouldn't surprise me if there isn't a reel or two of out-takes still sitting in Columbia's vault, which was located at the time at 49 East 52nd Street."
[in a letter originally published in Vox 36, September 1993]

The acetate was discovered (and purchased for just $0.75!) at a yard sale in Chelsea, New York, around 2004. An incomplete 'edited' version was released as bonus CDR with the 100 first copies of At The Factory | Warhol Tapes bootleg CD. Another copy belongs to Moe Tucker, and features a handwritten cover by Sterling Morrison. A more scratchy copy – from unknown source – was used for the Ultimate Mono And Acetates Album bootleg, which offers the complete recording.

The 'acetate' was officially released in 2012 as part of the 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico.Of the two original Scepter tapes, only one seems to have survived, including versions of European Son, The Black Angel's Death Song, All Tomorrow's Parties & Heroin.

THE ANDY WARHOL MASTER TAPE (November 9, 2022 update)

In a press release dated November 9, 2022, The Andy Warhol Museum announces the discovery and digitization of the rare master tapes of the Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967, Verve Records). Recently identified while processing Andy Warhol's archive at The Warhol, the nine initial tracks recorded by the band were the bedrock of the album that became one of the most jarring and influential albums in rock music. The monophonic reel-to-reel ¼" tapes feature alternate versions and mixes of songs later issued on the 1967 release.

At this time it is not clear if these are the same recordings as those on the Norman Dolph acetate. The photo of the tape presented on the Andy Warhol Museum website shows the same reference as the one indicated on side 1 of the acetate: "XTV-122402", suggesting that these are the same recordings. The press release also states that the acetate was produced from this master tape: "Although an acetate version, which was made from these master tapes, was released for the 45th anniversary of the album, it is of a different sonic quality, given the generation loss inherent in an analog copy". However, it is interesting to note that the duration of the titles indicated on the box of the tape is different from that of the acetate versions for "European Son" and "All Tomorrow's Parties".

Documentation in the museum’s possession indicates the two reels were shipped to Warhol himself in 1969, some two years after he and the band had severed ties. [Ben] Harrison [museum’s senior director of performing arts and programming] said the tapes likely just remained boxed up somewhere in New York all through the 1970s and beyond the death, in 1987, of Warhol, whose hundreds of cardboard-carton "time capsules" full of ephemera attest to his refusal to ever throw anything away.

There the tapes stayed until about 2014, when, Harrison said, the Andy Warhol Foundation (a separate entity from the Warhol Museum) gave the museum a couple boxes of material. Most of the contents were related to Warhol’s film work. But, apparently unknown to anyone, the tapes were in there, too. They were uncovered by the museum’s archivist, Matt Wrbican, who Harrison said seems to have "set them aside."

After Wrbican’s untimely death, in 2019, care of the tapes passed to director of archives Matt Gray. In late 2021 they were digitized, and late last year the Warhol announced its find.
[At the Warhol, rediscovered original Velvet Underground tapes anchor a new exhibit by Bill O'Driscoll, 90.5 WESA, May 15, 2023]

According to The MGM Labels | A Discography | Volume 2 | 1961-1982, compiled by Michel Ruppli and Ed Novitsky, (Greenwood Press, 1998, p. 252), All Tomorrow's Parties & I'll Be Your Mirror are registred on June, 16, 1966, and the other tracks later on July 21, 1966.

Photos of the recording session at Scepter Studios by Nat Finkelstein are available in the following publications: Up-tight | The Velvet Underground Story (p. 45), in Peel Slowly And See booklet (p. 20), in Warhol Live catalogue (p. 162, cat. 418 & #62-66), in UNCUT magazine, Take 151, December 2009 (p. 58). Although these photos are usually credited as being taken at T.T.G. Studios in Hollywood CA, they are actually from Scepter sessions, as confirmed by Norman Dolph himself.

Other photos by Steve Schapiro can be found in The Velvet Underground & Nico | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition 6CD (p. 24, 26-27), in Warhol Underground catalogue, published by the Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2015 (pp. 48-49), and also in the book Andy Warhol And Friends 1965-1966, also by Steve Schapiro and published by Taschen, 2024 (pp. 139-145).

Steve Schapiro: "If only I had known how significant this recording session would become, I certainly would have shot more than one roll of film. I just came and went wanting to get a quick photo to add to my story on Andy and his endeavors."
[in Andy Warhol and Friends 1965-1966 by Steve Schapiro, Taschen, 2024]

May 1966
T.T.G. Studios, Los Angeles, California

1441 N McCadden Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

Sound engineer: Omi Haden

1. I'm Waiting For The Man
2. Femme Fatale (alternate backing harmonies)
3. Venus In Furs
4. Heroin
5. There She Goes Again
6. All Tomorrow's Parties (overdubs)
7. I'll Be Your Mirror (overdubs)

1-7 : The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967

According to the booklet in the Peel Slowly And See CD box set, I'm Waiting For The Man, Venus In Furs & Heroin were the three tracks re-recorded at T.T.G. for The Velvet Underground And Nico album. The 45th Anniversary edition credits add There She Goes Again, and All Tomorrow's Parties & I'll Be Your Mirror overdubs to this session. The different backing harmonies in Femme Fatale could also have been recorded at T.T.G.

April 1966
Scepter Studios, New York City, New York
May 1966
T.T.G. Studios, Hollywood, California
October 1966
Mayfair Sound Studios, New York City, New York

All of the songs, except for Sunday Morning, were supposedly originally recorded at Scepter Studios with Andy Warhol and Norman Dolph behind the board. According to the Peel Slowly and See booklet, some songs (Waiting for the Man, Venus in Furs and Heroin) were re-recorded during a two-day session at T.T.G. Studios with Tom Wilson. There She Goes Again, missing from the Scepter acetate, may have also been recorded at T.T.G. Some overdubs for All Tomorrow's Parties, Femme Fatale, and I'll Be Your Mirror may have been done during this session. Sunday Morning, written after the T.T.G. sessions, was recorded back in New York at Mayfair Sound with Tom Wilson. See below for more information.

Sterling Morrison: "I love the 'Banana album' so much. It's so innovent. Everyboday was saying this is the vision of all-time evil and I always said, well, we're not going to lie. It's pretty. 'Venus In Furs' is a beautiful song. It was the closest we ever came in my mind to being exactly what I thought we could be. Always on other songs I'm hearing what I'm hearing but I'm also hearing what I wish I were hearing."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 29]

Sterling Morrison: "The album says 'produced by Andy Warhol'. Well it was produced in the sense that a movie is produced. He put up some money. We made the album ourselves and then took it around, because we knew that no one was going to sign us off the streets. And we didn't want any A&R departement telling us what songs we should record."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 29]

Sterling Morrison: "Ahmet Ertegun liked it, but said 'No, no, no, none of this – no "Waiting For The Man", no "Venus In Furs". Then we took it over to Elektra, who said some of the content was unacceptable and the whole sound was unacceptable: 'This viola – can't Cale play anything else?'? So whenwe talked to Tom Wilson, who was still at Columbia. he told us to wait and come and sign with him when he moved to Verve (a subsidiary of MGM) because he swore that at Vervewe could do anything we wanted. And he was right. We gave something up of course, because there was no effective marketing on Verve; we were stuck there with The Mothers of Invention and Richie Havens."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 29]

Sterling Morrison: "The album was ready by April 1966, but I don't think it even made a '66 release, or at least not until the end of the year. We were going crazy wondering what was going on while things got lost and misplaced and delayed. I know what the problem was: it was Frank Zappa and his manager Herb Cohen. They sabotaged us in a nulber of ways, because they wanted to be the first with a freak release. And we were totally naive. We didn't have a manager who would go to the record company every day and just drag the whole thing through production."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 29]

Try to pick up a mono vinyl copy – according to Sterling Morrison, "mono was the only mix that we attempted to do. The stereo was done by, I imagine, Tom Wilson" (in Sterling Tape (says Joan Baez), interview conducted in the 80s).

The "Verve VK-10427" 45 offers an "alternate" 2:45 edited version of All Tomorrow's Parties with a hotter sonically-boosted mix.

The first 1986 CD release credited All Tomorrow's Parties as "previously unreleased". When the album's master tapes were unearthed for CD remastering, an alternate version of the song was included (actually an alternative mix, also known as the "single voice" version, with one vocal track instead of the double-tracked vocal on the original LP mix), which had only been given the thumbs in 1966 at the very last minute. Bill Levenson, the Polygram executive producer responsible for all their Velvet Underground CD releases, decided to include this alternate version on the CD as a surprise bonus for fans. It became less of a surprise, though, when, contrary to his instructions, the CD actually labelled this version as "previously unreleased".

The Best of The Velvet Underground (Verve 841 164-2, 1989) has an extented version of I'm Waiting For The Man which fades about 8–10 seconds later as compared with the other CD versions.

The Australian What Goes On 3-CD set (Raven Records RVCD-28, 1993) offers eight tracks in mono. The source of these mono versions has often been discussed. In 2002, Ian McFarlane at Raven Records got Raven director Kevin to pull out the VU file. According to paperwork on file and notes from that time, they were supplied by PolyGram with a DAT transfer from the mono master in their tape archives.

The CD reissues released in 1996 feature a remastered version.

The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released a 24-karat gold audiophile CD in 1997. The CD offers an alternative stereo rendition.

Nico's 1998 compilation CD, The Classic Years, features a version of "I'll Be Your Mirror" that does not fade out, unlike all other available versions until the 2002 Deluxe Edition.

The 2002 two-CD Deluxe Edition offers the same stereo mix as the 1996 remastered edition and the original mono mix. It also includes the single versions of All Tomorrow's Parties, I'll Be Your Mirror (which doesn't fade), Sunday Morning (with brief additional intro studio chatter), and Femme Fatale. The source used for the mono version was a production copy of the mono master. This was originally intended, and indeed used for overseas pressings. Although the tape was in good condition, some restoration was necessary. Sunday Morning was a considerable challenge (lots of noise and restoration of the first note which is missing in every other edition but this one). There are also edits in the master that are there to say.

The 2012 45th Anniversary Edition includes remastered stereo and mono versions, as well as the original Scepter recordings, which were originally cut on the renowed 'Norman Dolph' acetate. The Super Deluxe edition also offers the single versions. Notably, the single version of "Sunday Morning" is presented here for the first time at the proper slower speed, featuring an extended studio chatter intro.

August 6, 1966
RLA Sound Studios, New York City, New York

1. Noise

1 : The East Village Other - Electric News Paper - Hiroshima Day, ESP 1034, 1966

One-and-a-half minute of instrumental improvisation over a radio report of the wedding of Luci Johnson. According to Richard Alderson, the owner/engineer at RLA, the radio was there in the studio with the band, and the track was recorded direct to 2-track with just a couple of ambient mics.

Richard Alderson: "I was told to tune in the Luci Johnson wedding on a small radio, and the performers would just do whatever they were going to do; that's all there was to it. Andy Warhol was there and didn't say one word. He just walked in with shades on, stodd still for twenty minutes, and left. That was his perfomance. There were a lot of people. I'm not really sure who all was there. Some members of the Velvet Underground, and Marion Brown, Tuli was there. This was unscripted as anything I've ever heard of. It was truly a happening. The only planning was that they were all invited and that was to coincide with Luci's wedding broadcast on the radio."
[in Always In Trouble | An Oral History Of ESP-DISK', The Most Outrageous Record Label In America by Jason Weiss, p.157]

October 1966
Mayfair Sound Studios, New York City, New York

701 7th Ave, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. Sunday Morning (2:53)

1: Sunday Morning/Femme Fatale single, 1966; The Velvet Underground And Nico, 1967.

The track is registered as number 101592 in the Verve Records catalog and on the Sunday Morning | Femme Fatale 45. The single was released in November 1966.

Recent reissues of The Velvet Underground & Nico (2002 Deluxe and 2012 45th Anniversary) credit Sunday Morning as having been recorded in November 1966 at Mayfair Sound Studios.

However, Sunday Morning was handwritten in as the opening track on the box of the master tape for The Velvet Underground & Nico, suggesting that it was a late addition to the album. The tape is dated "10-25-66" – see the insert for Peel Slowly And See | Disc Two or The Velvet Underground & Nico | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (p. 58).

The original recording has a little static noise at the beginning. The 2002 two-CD Deluxe Edition attempts to correct this defect. It also includes the single version of Sunday Morning with an additional intro of studio chatter among the bonus tracks.

Sunday Morning was sped up slightly for its release on both the single and the banana album. The 2012 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico includes an alternate mix of the track running at its proper slower speed with a longer intro of studio chatter.

"Winter of 1966, probably in November or December"
New York City, New York

1. There Is No Reason (2:13)
2. Sheltered Life [take 1] (2:51)
3. Sheltered Life [take 2] (2:54)
4. It's Allright (The Way That You Live) (2:48)
5. I'm Not Too Sorry (Now That You're Gone) (2:18)
6. Here She Comes Now [take 1, with false start] (2:47)
7. Here She Comes Now [take 2] (2:27)

1, 3-6 : Peel Slowly And See 5-CD box set, 1995.
2,7: remain officially unreleased but are available on bootlegs – Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2 CD has both missing takes.

The six tracks come from an unlabeled acetate, with a “TRANSCO” sleeve featuring a handwritten track list by Sterling Morrison.

The actual place and date for these recordings remain unclear.

"According to Sterling Morrison, these songs were recorded in an unheated studio on Broom St. in New York City in the winter of 1966, "probably in November or December." They were recorded on a wobbly Wollensack tape machine, intented as demos to copyright the songs. Maureen Tucker had already joined the group, but did not play with them when these tapes were made."
[And So On LP (Plastic Inevitable Records SECOND-1) liner notes, Philip Milstein, 1982]

The liner notes for the Peel Slowly and See (Polydor, 1995) box set state that these tracks were "recorded in early 1967 at John Cale's loft on Ludlow Street in Lower Manhattan".

The timeline published in the book The Velvet Underground – New York Art (Rizzoli New York, 2009, p. 148) dates the recording to 56 Ludlow Street in December 1965.

December 17-18, 1966
Unidentified apartment

John Cale - Lou Reed - Nico

1. Ondine – December

An unreleaded demo marked "Ondine – December" and dating from 1966 (or possibly 1967) captured Reed, Cale and Nico experimenting with a new song.

Don Flemming: "It's just the three of them in an apartement. there are a whole group of songs Lou has written on the piano, that he's showing to John. And Nico is on the tape: partway thought someone cracks a joke, and you just hear Nico say, 'Naughty!"
Try For The Kingdom by Tom Pinnock, UNCUT, Take 346, March 2026, p. 95-96

April/May 1967
Mayfair Sound Studios, New York City, New York

701 7th Ave, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps

Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. Little Sister (4:22)
2. Winter Song (3:17)
3. It Was A Pleasure Then (8:02)
4. Chelsea Girls (7:22)
5. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (5:07)

1-5 : Nico, Chelsea Girl, 1967

September 1967
Mayfair Recording Studio, New York City, New York

701 7th Ave, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

Producer: Tom Wilson
Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. White Light/White Heat (2:45)
2. The Gift (8:17)
3. Lady Godiva's Operation (4:54)
4. Here She Comes Now (2:02)
5. I Heard Her Call My Name [new version] (4:36)
6. I Heard Her Call My Name [old version] (4:05)
7. Sister Ray (17:27)

1-5, 7 : White Light/White Heat, 1968
6: unreleased

The original title for Sister Ray was Searchin' — this is also how it is credited on the original 8-track and Ampex cassette releases.

Sterling Morrison: "We didn't want to lay down separate tracks, we wanted to do it studio live with a simultaneous voice, but the problem was that the current state of studio art wouldn't let us do it. There was fantastic leakage because everyone was playing so loud and we had so much electronic junk with us in the studio — all these fuzzers and compressors. Gary Kellgren the engineer, who is ultra-competent, told us repeatedly: 'You can't do it — all the needles are on red'. And we reacted as we always reacted: 'Look, we don't know what goes on in there and we don't want to hear about it. Just do the best you can'. And so the album is all fuzzy, there's all that white noise..."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 30]

Sterling Morrison: "No producer could over-ride our taste. We'd do a whole lot of takes, and then there would be a big brawl over which one to use. Of course everyone would opt for the take where they sounded best. It was a tremendous hassle, so on 'Sister Ray', which we knew as going to be a major effort, we stared at each other and said 'This is going to be one take. So whatever you want to do, you better do it now'. And that explains what is going on in the mix. There is a musical struggle — everyone's trying to do what he wants to do every second, and nobody's backing off. I think it's great the way the organ comes in. Cale starts to try and play a solo. He's totally buried and there's a sort of surge and then he's pulling out all the stops until he just rises out of the pack. He was able to get louder than Lou and I were. The drums are almost totally drowned out."
[in The Lost History of the Velvet Underground by Marry Harron, New Musical Express, April 25, 1981, p. 30]

John Cale: "White Light/White Heat was recorded quickly. It had to be. We were barely able to be in the same room for more than five minutes... Even by ou standards we were pretty unstable, and there were a lot of drugs. So it was very different to the first album; which we'd really prepared ourselves."
[in Try For The Kingdom by Tom Pinnock, UNCUT, Take 349, March 2006, p. 96]

December 5, 1967

1. Guess I'm Falling In Love (instrumental version) (3:35)

1 : Another View, 1986

December 17 & 18, 1967?
unknown location

Listed as "560541 Work on New Song Called "Ondine" - Piano Ballad - Dec 17+8 0-20 [Velvet Underground] circa 1967-1968" in Lou Reed papers 1958-2015 | The New York Public Library Music Division.

1. [Piano Ballad]
2. [Delay effect sounds with piano]
3. [Piano Ballad]
4. [Piano Ballad]
5. [Jam]

February 13, 1968
A&R Studios, New York City, New York

112 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

1. Stephanie Says (2:48)
2. Stephanie Says [original mix] (2:48)

1 : VU, 1985
2: Gold, 2005

This song originally surfaced in a rough mix version from acetate in 1982 on And So On bootleg LP. This mono mix is also available on Collector's Dream CD and A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD (both run too fast however).

The VU version was mixed and engineered in June 1984 by Michael Barbiero at MediaSound Studios in NYC.

The original mix was previously unreleased until it surfaced on the 2005 Gold 2CD collection. The main difference is that left and right channels are inverted.

February 14, 1968
A&R Studios, New York City, New York

112 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

1. Temptation Inside Your Heart (2:30)
2. Temptation Inside Your Heart [original mix] (2:30)

1 : VU, 1985
2: Gold, 2005

The original "rough mix" demo of Inside Your Heart originally surfaced in 1976 on the White Heat EP. It's also available on Etc LP, Everything You've Ever Heard About 3-LP, A Young Person's Guide CD, Collector's Dream CD, Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2 CD, A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD.

The VU version was mixed and engineered in June 1984 by Michael Barbiero at MediaSound Studios in NYC - it has 4 additional seconds of studio chatter at the end.

The original mix was previously unreleased until it surfaced on the 2005 Gold 2CD collection.

May 29, 1968
T.T.G., Inc. Sunset-Highland Recording Studios, Hollywood, California

1441 N McCadden Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Google Maps

John Cale - Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker

1. Hey Mr. Rain [Version I] (4:40)
2. Hey Mr. Rain [Version II] (5:25)
3. I'm Beginning To See The Light (4:39)

1, 2 : Another View, 1986
3 : White Light/White Heat 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, 2013

November/December 1968
Sunset and Highland Sound, Hollywood, California

Sterling Morrison - Lou Reed - Maureen Tucker - Doug Yule

1. Candy Says (4:02)
2. What Goes On (4:52)
3. Some Kinda Love (3:39)
4. Some Kinda Love [alternate take] (4:00)
5. Pale Blue Eyes (5:38)
6. Jesus (3:22)
7. Beginning To See The Light (4:38)
8. I'm Set Free (4:01)
9. That's The Story Of My Life (1:56)
10. The Murder Mystery (8:53)
11. Afterhours (2:07)

1-11 : The Velvet Underground, 1969. Track 3 is available on Lou Reed's "closet" mix; track 4 appears on Val Valentin's mix.

The mono acetate "extended" version of Beginning is available on several bootlegs (Ride Into The Sun EP, Ultra Rare Trax Vol. 1 CD).

Mono acetate versions of Jesus, Set Free, Beginning and After Hours are available on Ultimate Mono And Acetates Album 3-CD bootleg. The acetate version of After Hours is also officialy available on The Velvet Underground - New York Art - Deluxe Edition 7inch & CD (titled as If You Close The Door).

Recording session photos are available in What Goes On Issue 4 (p. 11, 28, 42-43, 44 & 46), and The Velvet Underground Handbook (p. 28-29).

Doug Yule: "It's my favourite album out of all the recordings we did, because we recorded the tracks with all four people, then overdubbed vocals and harmonies. It's really the closest to the band sounding like playing live."
in The Velvet Underground - 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition by Michael Bonner, UNCUT, Take 212, January 2015 (p. 83).

Moe Tucker: "I remember recording "After Hours". Oh, yeah! I was a nervous wreck. Took about eight takes, 'cause I kept forgetting the words or laughing! Finally I had the sense to make everybody leave the studio. I'd never sung anything. I wanted to do a good job!"
in The Velvet Underground - 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition by Michael Bonner, UNCUT, Take 212, January 2015 (p. 83).

May 6, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps | Wikipedia

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. Foggy Notion (6:58)
2. Coney Island Steeplechase (2:26)

1 : VU, 1985
2 : Another View, 1986

The original "rough mix" version of Foggy Notion originally surfaced in 1976 on the White Heat EP. This rough mix is also available on many other bootlegs: the Etc. LP, The Black Side Of The Street LP,the Collector's Dream CD, the A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD. The rough mix version fades out a few seconds before the VU version does.

Foggy Notion was officially released in 1985 on the VU collection. it was remixed in June 1984 by Michael Barbiero at MediaSound Studios in NYC. The vinyl version album (and its promotional cassette version) has an introductory coda which is missing from all other known versions (until the 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition). Hence, it's listed as 6:58 on the label. The 1995Peel Slowly And See version (6:46) is the longest available – it fades out five seconds later as compare with the VU CD version (6:41), but it also lacks the introductory coda. The 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition [6:59] has an additional studio intro and a longer introductory coda.

Coney Island Steeplechase is released on the 1986 collection Another View, remixed in March 1986 at Sigma Sound Studios. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2:33) is a new mix.

Photos by William "Popsie" Randolph. Eighteen are available in The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side (Jim DeRogatis, Voyageur Press, 2009, pp. 132–133).

May 13, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps - Wikipedia

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. Andy's Chest (2:50)
2. I'm Sticking With You (2:26)

1-2 : VU, 1985

The rough mix version of Andy's Chest is available on the Orange Disaster LP, the NYC LP, the Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2 CD, and the A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD. The rough mix fades out a few seconds earlier than the VU version. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2:56) is the original 1969 mix.

The rough mix of "I'm Sticking with You" first appeared in 1976 on the White Heat EP. It is also available on the Etc. LP, the Everything You've Ever Heard About 3-LP, and the A Walk with the Velvet Underground 5-CD. The 1985 VU version fades out 17 seconds later than the rough mix, and the Peel Slowly version has two extra seconds at the end. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2:25) is the original 1969 mix.

May 14, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps - Wikipedia

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. She's My Best Friend (2:46)

1 : VU, 1985

The VU promo cassette offers the same mix as the final release but fades out almost 20 seconds later with 21 "falling down", instead of 11/12.

The rough mix version is available on the Orange Disaster LP, the NYC LP, the A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD. It fades out later than the VU version with 18 "fallin' down". The different available rough mix versions have a defect after 1:15, which seems to have been restored on the A Walk version.

The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (3:27) is the original 1969 mix.

May 20, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps - Wikipedia

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. I Can't Stand It (3:21)

1 : VU, 1985

The 3:27 version of The Velvet Underground's 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2014) is a new mix with Lou's additional countdown in the middle of the song.

June 19, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps - Wikipedia

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. Ocean (5:10)
2. Ferryboat Bill (2:11)
3. Rock And Roll [original version] (5:15)

1 : VU, 1985
2, 3 : Another View, 1986.

The "rough mix" version of Ocean is available on the Everything You've Ever Heard About 3-LP box set and the A Young Person's Guide CD. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition 5:14) is the original 1969 mix.

The original "rough mix" demo of Ferryboat Bill first appeared in 1976 on the White Heat EP. It is also available onthe Etc LP, the Everything You've Ever Heard About 3-LP box set, the Collector's Dream CD, and the A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD set. The 1986 version from Another View (5:10) is the original June 1969 mix. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (2:13) is also the original 1969 mix.

The "rough mix" version of Rock And Roll is available on the Everything You've Ever Heard About 3-LP box set. It is also on the NYC LP, the A Young Person's Guide CD, the Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2 CD, anbd the A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD. The 1986 Another View version (5:15) is the original June 1969 mix. The version included in the 2014 The Velvet Underground 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (5:15) is also the original 1969 mix.

Sterling Morrison's 7-track acetate

Following the studio recording sessions in May and June 1969, a double-sided acetate was produced featuring seven of the nine tracks recorded during that period. "Coney Island Steeplechase" and "I Can't Stand It" are missing.

Side 1:
1. I'm Sticking With You
2. Sally May
3. Ferryboat Bill
4. Andy's Chest

Side 2:
1. Ocean
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll
3. She's My Best Friend

One might imagine that this could be a prototype for a future album. However, there is no certainty on this point. According to Jeff Gold at RecordMecca, acetates like this were either cut at recording studios or special mastering labs, generally to give artists, producers, and sometimes the record labels or management an idea of a work in progress. Something like this would've been made after recordings were finished, though often times they don’t have the final mixes, as in this case.

After a summer break, the recording sessions would resume to record four more new tracks.

September 5, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

321 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Google Maps – Wikipedia

1. Ride Into The Sun [instrumental] (3:24)
2. Ride Into The Sun [take 1] (2:59)
3. Ride Into The Sun [take 2] (3:08)

1 : instrumental version, Another View, 1986
2 : alternate mix with vocals, Ride Into The Sun bootleg EP, 1987, What Goes On 3-CD, 1993
3 : alternate mix with studio chatter intro, Ride Into The Sun bootleg EP, 1987.

The three versions of Ride Into The Sun seem to be actually different edit/mixes of the same take.

The "instrumental version" on the 1986 Another View collection (Polygram 829405) was mixed in March 1986 at Sigma Sound Studios.

The two "vocal" versions were originally released in 1987 on the Ride Into The Sun/Beginning To See The Light bootleg 7-inch record (VELVET-1).

The 1989 7-inch vinyl (also available as 3-inch CD) that was given away with the Italian lyrics book (Stampa Alternativa) has a 2:36 shortened version. The version with studio chatter intro is also available on Off The Record bootleg LP (Sweet Nothing Records SNR04, 1991).

The vocal version was finally be released officially in 1993 as part of the Australian three-CD box set What Goes On, credited as "demo, from acetate with wocal". It was erroneously said to be "From the Polydor (France) 5 CD set The Velvet Underground (843 855.2 - Pol 929 First release June 1990)".

The "instrumental" version on the 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition version (3:34) is a new 2014 mix.

September 23, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

Sound engineer: Gary Kellgren

1. One Of These Days (3:51)

1 : VU, 1985

The 1995 Peel Slowly And See version (3:59) fades out 8 seconds later than the VU version. The "rough mix" demo version originally appeared on And So On LP and is also available on Collector's Dream CD, A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5-CD.

The 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is a new mix (4:10) with extra outro.

The And So On liner notes say "The track was recorded (...) in a studio that MGM had set up in an office on 57th St. in New York City. Morrison tells us that although MGM "never intented this studio for use as a full-fledged professional recording studio, ... we wanted to see whether or not it could be used for music." (It had already been used to do the spoken voices, although not the singing, for "The Murder Mystery").

September 27, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

1. I'm Gonna Move Right In (6:29)

1 : Another View, 1986

The "rough mix" is available on Orange Disaster LP and Ultra Rare Tracks Vol. 2 CD. This rough mix has extra "1, 2, 3, 4" at the beginning and doesn't fade out as the Another View version. The 1986 Another View version (6:29) is the original September 1969 mix. The 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition version (6:33) is also the original 1969 mix.

September 30, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

1. We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together (2:56)

1 : Another View, 1986

The 1986 Another View version (5:10) is remixed in March 1986 at Sigma Sound Studios. The 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition version (2:56) is a new mix.

A 'no label' acetate exists with a rough mix version that is 2:39 long and has a completely edited-out instrumental intro. This version has not been released officially or on bootleg.

October 1, 1969
Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York

1. Lisa Says (2:57)

1 : VU, 1985

The 2014 The Velvet Underground | 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is a new mix (3:00).

Late 1969 or early 1970
"acetate demos"

1. Countess From Hong Kong (3:17)
2. Ride Into The Sun (3:42)
3. We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together (2:33)
4. I Found A Reason (3:15)

1 : Peel Slowly And See 5-CD box set, 1995
2 : The Velvet Underground CDEP, 1990; Ride Into The Sun CDEP, 1993
3 : The Velvet Underground | New York Art | Deluxe edition 7inch & CD, 2009 (previously available on The First Night 2CD, 1993 & The March Of The Wooden Soldiers LP, 1994)
4 : Loaded | Fully Loaded Edition 2CD, 1997

According to The First Night liner notes, the four songs are taken from an acetate dated 1969. The exact date and recording location of these 4 tracks remain unknown to this day. It may have been a studio session after the MGM recordings, during the West Coast tour between late October and December 1969.

"Sterling says the stuff on the fine VU collection is not the speculated on for years lost album. They had recorded some songs on the West Coast and mailed the tapes to New York, but they never arrived and so the ghost album remains lost, probably for ever."
[Feed-Back – The Velvet Underground: legend, truth, Ignacio Julià, p. 73, 2008]

"The four extra songs taken from a rare acetate dated 1969 are a small gift to all fans. The story says a bloody guy was honeymooning in New York and was going round through record shops when he was offered a tape copy of this acetate. The original is said to belong to Maureen Tucker's archives and though again the quality is not great it is definitely a great piece of music."
[The Velvet Underground – The First Night, CD Aulica A 2151, 1993]

Ride Into The Sun was originally included on the rare French promo CDEP offered to the first purchasers of the French Polydor 4CD box set (Polydor 843 885.2 – Pol 929., France, 1990) in Fnac stores. It was credited as "unreleased version sung by Lou Reed".

Ride Into The Sun then appeared on the 1993 bootleg CD The First Night with the 3 other previously unreleased tracks – but you'll get an extra second at the beginning on the French CDEP... A heavily cleaned version is also included in the bootleg box sets Searchin' For My Mainline 3CD and A Walk With The Velvet Underground 5CD.

Countess From Hong Kong originally appeared on The First Night bootleg, credited as The Countess Of Hong Kong. The version officially released on Peel Slowly And See is a cleaned-up version.

"One song that slipped through the VU–Another View net and only recently surfaced on bootleg is "Countess From Hong-Kong," recorded as a demo in 1969 and officialy released here for the first time. The Velvets themselves only remember it dimly. "We didn't plat that a lot," says Tucker. "I don't know if we ever played it live.""
[The Velvet Underground – Peel Slowly And See, 5CD box set booklet, p. 70, 1995]

I Found A Reason was first officially released on the 1996 ‘Fully Loaded’ double CD, with no real details on the origin of the recording, as the track is credited as ‘demo recorded late 1969’ with a note: ”This track is mastered from an acetate source and therefore the sound quality is somewhat lower than a standard audio tape source." No further information is provided when the track reappears on 2015's ‘Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition’, simply credited as "(demo) recorded late 1969. Sourced from an acetate disc."

Dispatches From The Dream Factory 3-CD Disc 3 released in 2008 has Ride Into The Sun and We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together.

April 15, 1970
Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City, New York

1290 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
Google Maps

Sound engineer: Adrian Barber

1. Rock And Roll (demo) (4:42)
2. Satellite Of Love (2:58)
3. Satellite Of Love (alternate demo) (2:52)

1, 3 : Loaded - Fully Loaded Edition, 1997
2 : Peel Slowly And See, 1995

April 16, 1970
Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City, New York

1290 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
Google Maps

Sound engineer: Adrian Barber

1. Oh Gin (2:43)
2. Walk And Talk (Take 1 - false start) (0:05)
3. Walk And Talk (Take 2) (2:20)
4. Sad Song (3:30)
5. Ride Into The Sun (3:21)
6. Here Come The Waves (Take 1 - false start) (0:21)
7. Here Come The Waves (Take 2) (6:07)
8. I Love You (2:03)

1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 : Peel Slowly And See, 1995
2 : Loaded - Fully Loaded Edition, 1997
6 : unreleased

Here Comes The Waves is original title for Ocean. Take 1 – actually a false start – was edited out of the 1997 Fully Loaded Edition of Loaded and remains unreleased.

I Love You was "also logged, in a moment of confusion, as Isle Of View".

April-July 1970
Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City, New York

1290 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
Google Maps

Sound engineers: Adrian Barber & Geoffrey Haslam

1. Sweet Jane (early version) (5:27)
2. Cool It Down (early version) (4:15)
3. Head Held High (early version) (2:50)
4. Lonesome Cowboy Bill (early version) (3:15)
5. Oh Sweet Nuthin' (early version) (4:07)

1-5 : Loaded - Fully Loaded Edition, 1997

April-July 1970
Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City, New York

1290 Ave of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
Google Maps

Sound engineers: Adrian Barber & Geoffrey Haslam

1. Who Loves The Sun (2:45)
2. Who Loves The Sun (alternate mix) (2:55)
3. Sweet Jane (3:15)
4. Sweet Jane (full length version) (4:05)
5. Rock & Roll (4:41)
6. Rock & Roll (alternate mix) (4:41)
7. Cool It Down (3:03)
8. New Age (4:39)
9. New Age (long version) (5:07)
10. New Age (full length version) (5:41)
11. Head Held High (2:57)
12. Head Held High (alternate mix) (2:15)
13. Lonesome Cowboy Bill (2:43)
14. I Found A Reason (4:14)
15. Train Round The Bend (3:20)
16. Train Round The Bend (alternate mix) (4:39)
17. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (7:25)
18. I Love You (outtake) (2:52)
19. I'm Stickin' With You (outtake) (3:07)
20. Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall (demo) (4:12)
21. Ocean (outtake) (5:44)

1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13-15, 17 : Loaded, 1970
4, 9, 21 : Peel Slowly And See, 1995
2, 6, 10, 12, 16, 18-20 : Loaded - Fully Loaded Edition, 1997

Recording session photos by Jim Cummins are available in Loaded | Fully Loaded Edition CD's booklet, in Les Inrockuptibles Hors Série | The Velvet Underground (p. 78), in MOJO magazine 265, December 2015 (p. 52). Some others by Henri Ter Hall have been published in Les Inrockuptibles Hors Série | The Velvet Underground (p. 34).

The recording sessions are mentioned in Selling Sounds section in Billboard, July 25, 1970 (p. 30): "Hit factory dates this week include (...) the Velvet Underground for Atlantic".
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Thanks: Ignacio Julia, Lau Buur Nielsen, Warren Hill, Jeff Gold (Recordmecca).

by Olivier Landemaine
last modified: July 12, 2026

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