Original 1967 Velvet Underground & Nico First East Coast US Pressing LP V6-5008

	£		331
	$		439

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ORIGINAL 1967 VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO LP
FIRST US EAST COAST PRESSING (STEREO) V6-5008
WITH 90% COMPLETE BANANA
INCLUDES ORIGINAL VERVE RECORD BAG + BONUS 11" x 7" BAND PHOTO
PRODUCED BY ANDY WARHOL
RATES 4.73 / 5 ON DISCOGS

LOT DESCRIPTION, PLEASE READ 
A now seldom seen original 1967 First US East Coast pressing of The Velvet Underground & Nico LP produced by Andy Warhol in G+ / VG+ condition still with its original Verve record bag, plus a bonus band photo.
This LP is the 3rd State of the first pressing: 1st State is the so called "Torso Cover" and is the earliest iteration, which I also have listed for sale. 
The 2nd State is the so called "Lawsuit Sticker" and this LP for sale here is the 3rd State also known as the "Airbrushed" version which was issued in late 1967 when the rear LP sleeve was officially airbrushed by MGM to remove the "Torso" image of Eric Emerson which had been printed upside down on the rear cover of the very earliest issue LP's.
BIOGRAPHY
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) was a groundbreaking multimedia performance series created by Andy Warhol in 1966 that fused art, music, film, and live performance into a chaotic and immersive sensory experience. 
Central to the EPI were The Velvet Underground, Warhol's protégé band known for their raw, experimental sound, and Nico, a German singer and model who Warhol insisted join the group, adding an icy, hypnotic vocal presence. 
The performances featured live music accompanied by strobing lights, multiple overlapping Warhol film projections, mirrored balls, and provocative dancing by Factory regulars like Gerard Malanga and Mary Woronov, creating a hallucinatory environment that mirrored the psychedelic and avant-garde spirit of the era. 
The EPI toured various venues including The Dom in New York and The Fillmore in San Francisco, confronting audiences with a radical blend of art and music that broke down traditional performance boundaries and laid the foundation for the multimedia concert experiences of the future.  
The Velvet Underground and Nico's cult status was cemented while Andy Warhol’s influence redefined the intersection of pop culture and experimental art.
Leo Castelli opened an art gallery on New York’s 77th Street in 1957 with the intention of showing the best of contemporary American art. It was here that Andy Warhol debuted his Flowers paintings in November 1964, mere months after having had a major show at Ileana’s Galerie in Paris. 
In 1966 Warhol's iconic screen print of a banana on laminated plastic was exhibited.  The laminated plastic peelable banana was widely featured in Warhol catalogue raisonné of the time. 
Soon after the same laminated plastic "peelable banana" would appear with Warhol's name on the front cover of the Velvet Underground & Nico's debut LP. 
Warhol would go on to exhibit his iconic banana as a serigraph while debuting other new projects such as his Silver Clouds and Mao portraits at Castelli’s New York gallery well into the late 80s.  
Castelli himself would earn a reputation as one of the foremost publicists of contemporary American art.
TRACK LIST
A1 Sunday Morning (2:53) A2 I'm Waiting For The Man (4:37) A3 Femme Fatale (2:35) A4 Venus In Furs (5:07) A5 Run Run Run (4:18) A6 All Tomorrow's Parties (5:55)
B1 Heroin (7:05) B2 There She Goes Again (2:30) B3 I'll Be Your Mirror (2:01) B4 The Black Angel's Death Song (3:10) B5 European Son (7:40)
MATRIX NUMBERS & SELECTED CREDITS
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 etched): V6 - 5008 SIDE 1 MGS 558 REV  22 Matrix / Runout (Side 2 etched): V6 - 5008 SIDE 2 MGS 559-REV  15
COVER DESIGN: ACY R. LEHMAN DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING: VAL VALENTIN LINER PHOTOS BY: NAT FINKELSTEIN & BILLY LINICH COLOR SHOW PHOTO BY: HUGO  PORTRAITS BY: PAUL MORRISSEY  Cover Painting BANANA by: ANDY WARHOL
"MGM RECORDS - A DIVISION OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, INC. - Made in U.S.A."
THE BAND
Vocals, Guitar, Piano – Lou Reed Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar – Sterling Morrison Vocals, Organ, Bass Guitar – Doug Yule Percussion – Maureen Tucker Vocals - Nico
CONDITION
G+ / VG+
Reassure yourself by referring to the many large photographs provided which are of the actual LP you are buying. 
Gatefold sleeve still in very good condition with usual age related general wear and tear front and rear, some foxing and discoloration, spine credits intact with some wear and minor separation, see photographs. LP edges experiencing general bumps and scuffs with an 11cm internal repair to the top outer rear corner of the gatefold. 
The banana is 90% intact, with usual wear, surface scuffs and minor splitting. 
The LP labels are generally clean with only a minor stain and some light signs of spindle wear under light, see large photographs.   The vinyl remains lustrous with abundant visible signs of previous playing but plays through, with background noise. 
The original Verve inner record bag is in good condition with some age related discoloration and some splitting to seams.
The vinyl will be supplied stored separately in an anti-static sleeve. 
The band photo is showing signs of wear and tear, printed on a medium stock, sized approximately 11" x 7". The photo did not come with the LP originally (officially) but was with the LP when I first bought it.  
PAYMENT, SHIPPING & INSURANCE
Please pay within four days of winning the auction. 
If you fail to pay in that time eBay may automatically cancel the sale and start a non-paying bidder procedure. 
Securely consigned fully insured under eBay Buyer Protection, packaged and protected in a reinforced record mailer and shipped using tracked national or international postal service.
Please note any import duty is the buyers responsibility.  
Please note UK sellers do not control shipping costs, which are set, managed and administered by eBay.
My previous four UPS deliveries to my US customers arrived door to door in 4 days.  
QUESTIONS - GET TO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE BUYING
Please ask questions you might have before purchase.
If you purchase promotional items, drafts, hand made preparatory work or "not for sale" editions frequently these objects are very different in quality and presentation to later factory made or mass produced retail editions - so please ask questions if you are uncertain before you commit to buying. 
Take a moment to understand exactly what you are buying, ask questions and reassure yourself of condition by referring to the video and the many large photographs which accompany the listing and which are of the actual item you are buying. 
Please note I CANNOT provide an AUDIO play through grading, so if by chance this is not satisfactory please do not purchase. 
FEEDBACK
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