The Velvet Underground News

(4/12/99, 1 p.m. PDT) - Lou Reed enthusiasts got an unexpected treat last week on the New York rocker's official website. Eight rare early Reed tracks, dating from before the formation of the legendary Velvet Underground in 1965, are now available for online listening at www.loureed.org.

Included in this historic group of songs are the first two sides Reed ever cut, "Leave Her For Me" and "So Blue," recorded in 1958, when Reed was 16 years old and a member of a doo-wop band called the Jades. As the liner notes on the site explain, the Jades got their big break when influential New York DJ Murray "The K" Kaufman played "Leave Her For Me" on his radio show, leading to the single's eventual national release on the Dot label, but the band dissolved shortly thereafter. Both Jades numbers are standard late-'50s teen pop fare: charming and capable, if a little dated.

The other tracks available on the site are all from Reed's 1964-65 tenure as a staff member at Pickwick Records. That label, based in Long Island City, Queens, specialized in churning out ready-made singles in an attempt to cash in on whatever trend was currently riding the charts. Most of these teensploitation numbers were written and recorded by the exact same group of people (including Reed), but released under different band names.

As the Primitives, Reed and company made two over-the-top Motown pastiches: "Sneaky Pete" and "Do The Ostrich," the latter which was actually a minor hit in New York. As the Beachnuts, they were a would-be surf act, singing about motorcycles ("Cycle Annie") and cars (the hilarious "I've Got A Tiger In My Tank"). As the Roughnecks, they cut no-frills Stones-style rock 'n' roll ("You're Driving Me Insane"). Listening to these songs now, it's clear that Reed and his colleagues didn't take their job too seriously; every track is loaded with out-of-control whoops and howls, and the falsetto backing harmonies are truly wretched, in a touching sort of way.

While at Pickwick, Reed met a similarly struggling young musician from Wales named John Cale. The two co-wrote a number of songs for the label in early 1965, including one called "Why Don't You Smile Now," credited to the All-Night Workers. Possibly their first collaboration on record, it's also the final track available on-site. Mixing "Louie Louie" chords with a vaguely Indian-flavored drone, "Why Don't You Smile Now" hints at the influence of British Invasion bands such as the Kinks and the Who, bands that would soon inspire Reed and Cale to start their own group, the Velvet Underground.

Though these eight rarities are more notable as history than as music, they're all enjoyable in their own right, and they'll certainly amuse any fans who've ever wondered what Reed was up to before he started chronicling the sleazy underside of urban life.

-- Mac Randall, New York

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