Eric Emerson torso image projected upside down on the rear cover. This image was removed/covered on later pressings.
LOT DESCRIPTION, PLEASE READ
The now very seldom seen original unpeeled 1967 Torso Sleeve First US East Coast pressing of The Velvet Underground Nico LP produced by Andy Warhol in VG / VG condition and with the all important first pressing identifiers and still with its original Verve inner record bag.
The original 1967 mono version is significantly more rare than the stereo version.
That statement is not rock myth but audited fact as sales data for the album was audited through early 1969 showing 13,336 mono copies were sold in the US, compared to 45,140 stereo copies.
Interest in mono LP s from the mid to late 1960s remains strong today because producers of the time focused on mono mixes, with stereo versions literally an afterthought.
Beatles producer Ken Scott spoke in November 2025 on the subject, commenting to Rick Beato Record mixing was always done in mono, until The White Album The Beatles ninth studio album 1968 everything they did was mixed and monitored in mono. If you want to hear The Beatles how they want to hear themselves, you have to listen to the mono s not the stereos. The only thing they bands ever OK d were mono mixes .
BIOGRAPHY
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable EPI was a groundbreaking multimedia performance series created by Andy Warhol in 1966 that fused art, music, film, and live performance into a chaotic and immersive sensory experience.
Central to the EPI were The Velvet Underground, Warhol s prot g band known for their raw, experimental sound, and Nico, a German singer and model who Warhol insisted join the group, adding an icy, hypnotic vocal presence.
The performances featured live music accompanied by strobing lights, multiple overlapping Warhol film projections, mirrored balls, and provocative dancing by Factory regulars like Gerard Malanga and Mary Woronov, creating a hallucinatory environment that mirrored the psychedelic and avant-garde spirit of the era.
The EPI toured various venues including The Dom in New York and The Fillmore in San Francisco, confronting audiences with a radical blend of art and music that broke down traditional performance boundaries and laid the foundation for the multimedia concert experiences of the future.
It was at an early EPI gig that amongst the multi media showcase, New York actor Eric Emerson s image was projected onto a screen behind the band.
A still photo of the band taken by Hugo and with Eric in the background, would later become the notorious rear sleeve artwork for what would become the most influential LP in rock history, The Velvet Underground Nico.
A law suit brought by Emerson against the record company would hamper sales of the LP s first pressing that very same LP for sale here and his face would be covered/removed from subsequent pressings of the LP until a legal solution was found.
Meanwhile The Velvet Underground and Nico s cult status was cemented while Andy Warhol s influence redefined the intersection of pop culture and experimental art.
Leo Castelli opened an art gallery on New York s 77th Street in 1957 with the intention of showing the best of contemporary American art. It was here that Andy Warhol debuted his Flowers paintings in November 1964, mere months after having had a major show at Ileana s Galerie in Paris.
In 1966 Warhol s iconic screen print of a banana on laminated plastic was exhibited. The laminated plastic peelable banana was widely featured in Warhol catalogue raisonn of the time.
Soon after the same laminated plastic peelable banana would appear with Warhol s name on the front cover of the Velvet Underground Nico s debut LP.
Warhol would go on to exhibit his iconic banana as a serigraph while debuting other new projects such as his Silver Clouds and Mao portraits at Castelli s New York gallery well into the late 80s.
Castelli himself would earn a reputation as one of the foremost publicists of contemporary American art.
TRACK LIST
A1 Sunday Morning 2:53
A2 I m Waiting For The Man 4:37
A3 Femme Fatale 2:35
A4 Venus In Furs 5:07
A5 Run Run Run 4:18
A6 All Tomorrow s Parties 5:55
B1 Heroin 7:05
B2 There She Goes Again 2:30
B3 I ll Be Your Mirror 2:01
B4 The Black Angel s Death Song 3:10
B5 European Son 7:40
MATRIX NUMBERS SELECTED CREDITS
Matrix / Runout Side 1 etched : V5008 Side 1 MG 558 Rev
Matrix / Runout Side 2 etched : V5008 SIDe 2 MG 559
First US pressing with Eric Emerson torso image projected upside down on the back cover. This image was removed/covered on later pressings.
East Coast pressing with labels reading Side 1 and Side 2 instead of Side A Side B
COVER DESIGN: ACY R. LEHMAN
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING: VAL VALENTIN
LINER PHOTOS BY: NAT FINKELSTEIN BILLY LINICH
COLOR SHOW PHOTO BY: HUGO
PORTRAITS BY: PAUL MORRISSEY
Cover Painting BANANA by: ANDY WARHOL
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. / Printed in U.S.A.
Three Prong Music. All Selections BMI
MGM RECORDS - A DIVISION OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, INC. - Made in U.S.A.
Side 2 Track 5 credits Reed-Cale-Morrison-Tucker
THE BAND
Vocals, Guitar, Piano Lou Reed
Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar Sterling Morrison
Vocals, Organ, Bass Guitar Doug Yule
Percussion Maureen Tucker
Vocals - Nico
CONDITION
VG/VG
Reassure yourself by referring to the many large photographs provided which are of the actual LP you are buying.
Gatefold sleeve still in very good condition with age related general wear and tear front and rear, some foxing and discoloration, spine credits intact but worn with the extremities experiencing some minor separation see photographs .
Some visible wear to the rear band photo and one of the portraits see photographs .
The banana is complete and intact, with some wear, surface scuffs and some minor splits.
The LP cover seams/edges are all good with no internal repairs.
Gatefold inner hinge has small paper split and some light foxing see photographs .
The LP labels are very clean with only minor signs of spindle wear under light, absolutely no labels, handwriting or graffiti.
Normal signs of previous playing to the vinyl but the LP still plays through fine with some background noise, mainly on quieter sections.
The original Verve inner record bag is in very good condition with some age related discoloration and some minor splitting to seams.
The vinyl will be supplied stored separately in an anti-static sleeve.
PAYMENT, SHIPPING INSURANCE
Payment at checkout with Buy In Now.
Securely consigned fully insured under eBay Buyer Protection, packaged and protected in a reinforced record mailer and shipped using tracked national or international postal service.
Please note any import duty is the buyers responsibility.
Please note UK sellers do not control shipping costs, which are set, managed and administered by eBay.
My previous four UPS deliveries to my US customers arrived door to door in 4 days.
QUESTIONS - GET TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE BUYING
Please ask questions you might have before purchase.
If you purchase promotional items, drafts, hand made preparatory work or not for sale editions frequently these objects are very different in quality and presentation to later factory made or mass produced retail editions - so please ask questions if you are uncertain before you commit to buying.
Take a moment to understand exactly what you are buying, ask questions and reassure yourself of condition by referring to the video and the many large photographs which accompany the listing and which are of the actual item you are buying.
Please note I CANNOT provide an AUDIO play through grading, so if by chance this is not satisfactory please do not purchase.
FEEDBACK
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