The removable banana on the front was difficult to produce and delayed the album’s release until March 1967. Warhol gave his Banana painting to the band for the album cover. Logically enough, as Nico was not a member of the group the album’s title was “ The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Warhol offered the album to Columbia Records, who turned it down! Then through the Andy Warhol association Verve Records agreed to release it. Wilson was a staff producer for Columbia (and later Verve) Records and had produced three of Bob Dylan‘s early albums (“ Another Side of Bob Dylan“, “ The Times They Are A’Changin’“, four tracks on “T he Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan“, “ Bringing It All Back Home“) including the hit single “ Like a Rolling Stone“. For unknown reasons some songs were rerecorded and some new songs recorded by producer Tom Wilson in Los Angeles later that year. Warhol insisted that chanteuse Nico (real name Christa Päffgen) sing on the album and she sang on three songs. In 1965 Andy Warhol became The Velvet Underground‘s manager and he booked them into New York’s Scepter Studios in April 1966 to record the group’s first album which was de facto produced by studio owner Norman Dolph rather than by Warhol. Elvis Presley’s “ Elvis Is Back!” from 1956 is said to be the first gatefold cover for a single LP and “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was not released until two months after the Velvets’ album. Gatefold covers had generally only been used for double albums. The cover provoked two lawsuits (more on those later). It is one of only two albums that I know of that names the cover designer rather than the band or the record’s title on the front (the other being Swedish band bob hund‘s 1996 LP “ Omslag: Martin Kann“.) b.

The album “ The Velvet Underground & Nico” is remarkable for many reasons–not least the music.

Nirvana nevermind cover censored