The Velvet Underground & Nico US Orig'67 Verve Mono 1st State Torso Cover Baggy

$

2,425

1ST STATE UNCENSORED "TORSO" COVER WITH THE UPSIDE-DOWN IMAGE OF ERIC EMERSON
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO
UNPEELED ANDY WARHOL'S ART CONCEPT BANANA STICKER
VERY EARLY 1ST WEST COAST MONO RELEASE H.V. WADDEL, BURBANK, CA
1ST PRINT 2.75” DEEP GROOVE LABEL VARIATION WITH TWO TIMING MISPRINTS
INCREDIBLY RARE COPY WITH THE SUDDEN INCREASE OF VOLUME IN THE "VENUS IN FURS" TRACK 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This copy is one a few Monophonic West Coast pressings of The Velvet Underground & Nico which wasn’t suddenly withdrawn in the period from March to April of 1964 after the actor Eric Emerson filed a lawsuit against Verve Records. The withdrawn copies had a black large sticker affixed to them covering the top of the image on the back cover, which became the reason for the lawsuit. This copy has an uncensored 1st state “Torso” cover and its back cover shows the upside-down image of Emerson projected on the wall behind the band. The front of the cover whose design was done by Acy R. Lehman contains a banana painted by Andy Warhol. This iconic sticker rarely can be found in such a great unpeeled condition. The cover of this copy remains in the original clear distributor baggy. This copy is the Monophonic pressing, which comes across much rarer than the Stereo copies of this album. The West Coast Mono pressings are considered to be especially rare. They were manufactured at the H.V. Waddell’s pressing plant in Burbank and unlike the East Coast pressing, the labels of the West Coast pressing have the unique 2.75” deep groove. Besides this, these 1st print West Coast labels contain two very rare misprint timing indicating 2:01 for “I’ll Be Your Mirror” and 3:01 for “Black Angel’s Death Song”. The correct timing would be 2:10 for the former and 3:10 for the latter. Among these rare copies one can come across an even rarer example. Its rarity is related to some mysterious circumstance, namely a sudden increase in the volume in the “Venus in Furs” track when Lou Reed sings “Comes in bells, your servant, don't forsake him”. This loudness anomaly on these rarest copies can be explained by someone in the recording studio accidentally moving the master volume knob during the mastering session when the band was rerecording the “Venus in Furs” track at the TGG studio in Hollywood. The band came to Los Angeles to participate in the Exploding Plastic Inevitable shows performed at the Hollywood night club “The Trip” in May, 1966. Before providing the matrix numbers present in the runout grooves of this 1st Mono pressing, I’d like to note that you won’t find the block-looking “S” symbol in the trail-off vinyl of the West Coast pressing as only the East Coast issue pressed in Bloomfield, New Jersey has it. The full matrix numbers located in the trail-off vinyl are as follows: Side 1 - V-5008-S-1 MG-558-REC / Side 2 - V-5008-S-2 MG559. The album comes with an original Verve Records “The Jazz of America Is On Verve / The Wit Of America Is On Verve” inner sleeve.★I grade the cover as Excellent Minus. The majority of the copies of this album contain a quite heavy soiling, but the cover of this copy is very clean. The original baggy has preserved the cover well as it doesn’t have splits, writing or any ring wear on the front cover. The back cover has some very light barely noticeable ring wear on the left side and the bottom. The interior gatefold is in very clean Near Mint Minus condition. The cover has some very light overall age shelf wear along with a few very light creases and scuffing. I grade the vinyl as Strong Very Good as it has some light marks and hairlines as well as some scuffs from the inner sleeve, which is in Near Mint Minus condition without any splits and tears. The labels are very clean, scuff- and wear-free, only having some light spindle marks visible under a strong light source. The vinyl plays throughout well and I grade the playback as Very Good Plus. It doesn't have any skips, but has some light static and background noise, which become more evident during the quiet passages, and possibly could get reduced if the record is professionally cleaned using a VPI cleaning machine.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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