Listen to Lou Reed’s earliest known demo of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Heroin’
nme.comLou Reed‘s earliest known demo of The Velvet Underground‘s ‘Heroin’ has been released.The 1965 take of the track, which you can listen to below, was put to tape by the late legendary singer-songwriter nearly two years before its release on his former band’s landmark debut album ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’.It is the latest taste of the forthcoming ‘Words & Music, May 1965’, an archival collection which is set to be released on August 26 via Light In The Attic on what would have been the late singer-songwriter’s 80th birthday.The rare demo finds Reed accompanying himself on guitar and structurally, it is the same as the album version but it is more than three minutes shorter.It follows an early demo of ‘I’m Waiting For The Man’, which was shared last month.The songs on the album were written by Reed and recorded to tape by his future Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale.
Reed posted the tape to himself as a “poor man’s copyright” and it remained sealed in its original envelope for nearly 50 years.Elsewhere on the tracklist are previously unreleased demos including ‘Buttercup Song’, ‘Buzz Buzz Buzz’ and ‘Stockpile’.
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