Before the Velvet Underground, and before he became one of the most important songwriters of his generation, Lou Reed worked as a songwriter for a company called Pickwick Records. He produced songs that were deliberately designed to be Top 40 hits and released under various fake group names. The most successful of these was a song they hoped would start a dance trend: “The Ostrich.” That didn’t happen, but the group that came together for the tour consisted of Reed (pictured above, far right) and John Cale – and the roots of the Velvet Underground, which formed shortly after Reed left Pickwick.
These songs have appeared on compilations and bootlegs over the decades, but the first official anthology, “Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65,” is out Sept. 27 on Light in the Attic Records in association with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive, with physical copies following Oct. 4. The collection, which also includes previously unreleased material, features an essay by Patti Smith Group co-founder and “Nuggets” compiler Lenny Kaye and liner notes by writer/journalist Richie Unterberger. (The full track listing appears below.)
The release is the third in the label’s ongoing series of Reed releases, following the reissue of his “Hudson River Wind Meditations” and “Words & Music, May 1965,” the latter of which contained his early demos and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Pickwick was a low-cost label that specialized in similar-sounding recordings that emulated the big pop hits of the early ’60s, covering everything from garage rock and girl-group pop to blue-eyed soul and teen idol ballads. Reed, who eventually co-wrote dozens of songs released on the label, began working at Pickwick soon after meeting Terry Philips, the label’s lead songwriter and producer, who envisioned creating an in-house equivalent to the Brill Building’s hit-making songwriting/production teams. Despite the assembly-line nature of the work, Reed’s tenure at Pickwick dramatically increased his studio experience, discipline and musical versatility, all of which would pay off with the Velvet Underground (his song for the group, “I Found a Reason,” for example, was recorded in both a country-style version and the doo-wop-tinged final release) and later in his career.
In addition to “The Ostrich” and “Why Don’t You Smile” (the latter was Reed-Cale’s first released composition and was later covered by Spiritualized), the 25-song collection includes soul-pop (on the Hi-Lifes’ “Soul City”), surf-inflected doo-wop (on the Hollywoods’ “Teardrop In The Sand”) and riff-driven garage rock (on the Roughnecks’ “You’re Driving Me Insane”).
Tracklist
Page A
1. The Primitives – “The Ostrich”
2. The Beachnuts – “Cycle Annie”
3. The Hi-Lifes – “I will fight”
4. The Hi-Lifes – “Soul City”
5. Ronnie Dickerson – “Oh no, don’t do it”
6. Ronnie Dickerson – “Love can make you cry”
7. The Hollywoods – “Teardrop In The Sand”
8. The Roughnecks – “You’re Driving Me Crazy”
Page B
1. The Primitives – “Sneaky Pete”
2. Terry Philips – “Wild One”
3. Spongy And the Dolls – “Really – really – really – really – really – really love”
4. The Foxes – “Soul City”
5. The J Brothers – “You run, but I’ll catch you”
6. Beverley Ann – “We’re in Trouble”
7. The All Night Workers – “Why don’t you smile?”
8. Jeannie Larimore – “Johnny Won’t Surf No More”
Page C
1. Robertha Williams – “Tell Mama Not to Cry”
2. Robertha Williams – “Maybe Tomorrow”
3. Terry Philips – “Flowers for the Lady”
4. Terry Philips – “This Rose”
Page D
1. The Surfsiders – “Surfin’”
2. The Surfsiders – “Little Deuce Coupe”
3. The Beachnuts – “Sad, lonely orphan boy”
4. The Beachnuts – “I have a tiger in my tank”
5. Ronnie Dickerson – “What About Me?”
