Listen to a Lost Tape by a 23-Year-Old Lou Reed

Laurie Anderson had enlisted the music producer and technical assistant to help her sort through the belongings of her dead husband, Lou Reed. The storage unit that Reed left behind was stacked almost floor to ceiling with unlabeled cardboard boxes.

There was a paper envelope that was addressed to Reed. The five-inch tape contained demos that Reed recorded with John Cale, including early versions of beloved songs like “Heroin” and “I’m Waiting for the Man.” The package was probably an attempt by Reed to get his songs copyrighted. According to the Guardian, research has shown that Lichtiger was a local pharmacy that sold barbiturates without a prescription.

The earliest recordings of some of Reed’s most famous songs reveal a young man with a folk sensibility and an affinity for Bob Dylan, posing quite a contrast to the experimental rock and Roll star Reed went on to become. The demos, as well as a few recordings from other years, will be released as an album this month.

A large-scale exhibition on Reed that draws from his archives is part of the larger effort led by Anderson. Anderson told the Washington Post that any kid starting a band can now hear him searching.

Reed graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in English in May 1965, at the age of 23. He was a writer for Pickwick records. He collaborated with Cale, a Welsh classical genius who pushed the boundaries of music to strange places. The punk band Please Kill Me was the subject of Cale’s 1996 book.

I didn’t pay much attention to folk music because I couldn’t give a sh*t about it. According to Cale, every song was a question. Lou was in front of me. They weren’t what Joan Baez and all those other people were singing

The demos have a guitar, harmonica, and a Dylanesque drawl. Cale sounds like he’s having a good time singing.

The surprising style of music wasn’t the most striking when Anthony DeCurtis listened to the ’65 demos. According to the Washington Post, Reed was mimicking a lot of songs. The lyrics are much further along than the music.

The opening line of the demo show was “I know just where I’m going”, but the “don’t” appeared later. The lyrics to other songs, on the other hand, changed dramatically: “Pale Blue Eyes,” though musically similar to the released version, had almost entirely different lyrics in ’65 besides the chorus. The title of the song is Men of Good Fortune.

Reed fans are introduced to a side of the artist they have never heard of. The young man who recorded those demos sounded familiar to Anderson, who was Reed’s partner for two decades.

Anderson told the Washington Post that the tape sounded like Lou. It is the ghost of a young man who was making music. The man is poking around. The person is the same one. Someone can be heard taking chances.