Various – I'll Be Your Mirror (2xLP, A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico)

More than 50 years have passed since The Velvet Underground released their legendary debut album "The Velvet Underground & Nico" together with German singer Nico, which is now considered one of the most important albums in music history. The record almost single-handedly pushed the boundaries of what rock music was capable of achieving or expressing, coined the term alternative rock and at the same time laid the foundation for punk, grunge and all subsequent underground movements.

Even today, numerous musicians cite the "banana album" with its iconic cover design by Andy Warhol, who also produced the album, as an inspiration and important influence for their own work. A few of them are gathered on the new sampler "I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico".

Included are stars and musicians who are now considered legends in their own right, including R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, Iggy Pop and Matt Sweeney, Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie and The National singer Matt Berninger, as opposed to lesser-known artists like Andrew Bird, Lucius, Kurt Vile, Sharon Van Etten, St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett, Thurston Moore, Courtney Barnett, King Princess, Fontaines D.C.. They each dedicated themselves, sometimes together, to one of the eleven songs of the milestone, which "I'll Be Your Mirror" presents in correct order of the originals, a track-by-track tribute album that is. The complete track listing and all contributors can be found below

Kurt Vile said of his version of "Run Run Run," "I've been covering 'Run Run' since I was a kid. In my late teens with my band at the time. So it was pretty cosmic, let's say. There's a direct connection to certain indie bands and beyond that to the Velvets. That's why the Velvets are a classic. You know it can have doo-wop in it and stuff like that, but it can also be edgy and loud, and it immediately made me feel like I could do anything. The possibilities are endless. You're completely free. Unmistakably and effortlessly."

Supervised and produced by the late Hal Willner, "I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico" is the last album the legendary producer and good friend of Lou Reed worked on before his death due to COVID complications last year.