Released in tandem with celebrations of the late artist's 80th birthday, the album offers an extraordinary, unvarnished and plainly poignant insight into one of America's true poet-songwriters. Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a "poor man's copyright," remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. All tracks previously unreleased. It features the earliest known recordings of 'I'm Waiting For The Man', 'Pale Blue Eyes' and 'Heroin', made famous by The Velvet Underground, as well as seven unheard Lou Reed compositions. Comes on black vinyl. All tracks remastered from the original analog tapes. Also contains a 20-page booklet featuring lyrics, archival photos, and liner notes by Greil Marcus, Don Fleming and Jason Stern.
