The Velvet Underground's first album with Nico was produced by Andy Warhol, which is to say, he enabled it financially and proclaimed it "Fabulous" from the control room for the four days it took to record it. Other than that, he was hands off. Later, when things fell apart between the band and Warhol, Lou Reed was still quick to say that the album could not have come into being without Warhol's golden boy touch. For, at the time, if Warhol proclaimed something cool...it was. Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen "Moe" Tucker made up the band and Nico sang lead on three songs and back up on "Sunday Morning", all at the insistence of Warhol. Nico couldn't really sing but she was pretty and part of the regular scene at the Factory. In the end it works the way Astrud Gilberto works. It just does.

I have always been a fan of Warhol's and I would love to view the world from behind his sunglasses for a bit because it all seemed so so shiny under his gaze. The same, I think, is true for this record. "Sunday Morning" remains one of my favorite songs ever, and, if I'm in a certain mood, I adore "Heroin". I do tend to throw the whole thing on though, instead of choosing tracks. I think this is true for most music that's deemed experimental. You should look at it as a you would a novel instead of short stories.

When Verve put the LP out, it wasn't given much in the way of promotion and it was somewhat overlooked by the world until much later and now it sits at #13 of Rolling Stones top 500 albums ever. I don't really know anyone who doesn't own this record. Even if you don't like it you have to have a copy. That's how it is with Warhol.