Lou Reed and John Cale lay down demos for some of the Velvet Underground’s best known songs in a room. I’m Waiting for the Man and Heroin are just vocals and acoustic guitar, with occasional harmonica on top. Each song has variations of Lou Reed’s “music and lyrics”.
The tone is set by their Bob Dylan cover. The majority of this collection is devoted to the folk era, but Reed’s signature sound is still unmistakable. When he mailed the demo to himself, he used it as a cheap way to prove he was the rightful owner. The envelope was kept out of the public eye until it was found in a storage unit. His already considerable myth was added to by these versions. Pale Blue Eyes was included on 1969’s The Velvet UndergroundLP. Reed used a song called Men of Good Fortune on his Berlin album. Reed and Cale are larking about in a doo-wop cut.