Exclusive: Premiere of Velvet Underground & Nico tribute track

By Randy Lewis

Oct. 25, 2012 12 AM PT

This year brings the 45th anniversary of the influential “Velvet Underground & Nico” album, and fans are being offered two ways to celebrate the occasion. The first is an elaborate box set with the original 1967 album paired with dozens of bonus tracks from the Universal Music Group vaults, which is due Oct. 30. A week later brings the release of a multi-artist tribute recording, “The Velvet Underground & Nico by Castle Face and Friends.”

Pop & Hiss is hosting the premiere of “I’ll Be Your Mirror” from the tribute album, as performed by Here Comes the Here Comes. You can hear and download it for free below.

Other indie rock artists taking part in the track-by-track salute to the Velvets’ debut album include White Fence, Kelly Stoltz, Warm Soda and Ty Segall. The tribute album is being released in physical form on vinyl only, but each track will be available for digital download in the period leading up to the Nov. 6 release date by participating websites.

The “Velvet Underground & Nico” box set consists of six CDs that include 30 previously unreleased tracks, including a 1966 live performance from Ohio with the band’s original lineup: Lou Reed, John Cale, Moe Tucker, Sterling Morrison and singer Nico. It also will include Nico’s 1967 album, which featured an appearance by Jackson Browne five years before releasing his own debut album. Other formats include a two-disc expanded edition and a remastered single CD and digital download.

Brian Eno famously said of the Velvets’ debut effort, “The album may not have sold many copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band.”