A musicology professor has discovered 12 previously unreleased songs by Lou Reed recorded for Andy Warhol.
The dozen tracks recorded in 1975 on a cassette were discovered in the archives of the Warhol Museum. The songs were inspired by Warhol’s book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again).
“It sounds like he recorded them in his apartment with an open-air microphone, just voice, and acoustic guitar,” said Judith Peraino, professor of music at Cornell University, who made the discovery.
Once she realized that she had basically discovered an unreleased Lou Reed album, “That’s when the excitement really hit,” she said. “What makes this rare is the gift aspect of the tape —that Lou Reed intentionally created both a curated set of songs and a composed set of songs on tape meant only for Warhol.”
But Reed and Warhol fans shouldn’t get too excited yet, according to The Rolling Stone, due to conflicting rights, it is unlikely the tape will ever see commercial release.
