Odette Carotte

I remember in the 2000's when people were disgusted over Ashlee Simpson being on Geffen Records since Sonic Youth and Nirvana used to be on it, those people forgot (and probably didn't know) that hair metal band Nelson and other hair metal bands were on Geffen Records during the same time Sonic Youth and Nirvana were on there.

"For the first few years, they spent hours underground, watching the flow of passengers getting on and off trains and moving through stations. They studied their habits. Where did they go? Where did they look for information?" — How graphic design legend Massimo Vignelli cracked the NYC subway system

Today, Richie Unterberger's remarkable, comprehensive, narrative history of the Velvet Underground hits bookstores. Here's the blurb I wrote for it:

"The legend has been told in scraps and patchwork for decades but now, finally, the story of the Velvet Underground is delivered to us in a way that feels very much complete. Unterberger's story treats the band with reverence without ever fawning and considers the legends alongside the facts with great expertise. It's a highly entertaining, informative creation worthy of one of the greatest bands of all time." — Ryan H. Walsh, author of Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968

In addition to this being a great book, it also begins to reveal a secret I've had to keep for many years. Here's the relevant sections from the acknowledgement section and the text of the book itself:

What if I told you, that during the pandemic, Phil Milstein, founder of the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society, reached out to me to see if I wanted to work with him on a VU mystery he had stumbled upon, and that this led to the discovery of an unheard Velvet Underground recording, and, most astonishing of all, a "new" VU song no has ever heard before that is pretty darn fantastic? Phil and I were calling it "I Don't Really Care About You." Richie's going with "I Don't Much Care for the Things That You Do."

Phil and I shepherded the recording along to a party that aims to get it officially released. I still have high hopes that's going to happen sooner than later. But that's all I can say about it for now.

Maria Denise Dessimoz, The Inevitable Anguish of Desire

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