Before Lou Reed formed The Velvet Underground, he worked as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records. Songs he wrote from that mid-’60s era, recorded by artists including The Primitives (with Reed on vocals), The Hi-Lifes, The Beachnuts, and more, have been compiled on a new double album titled Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65. The album’s out digitally on September 27 and physically on October 4 via Light in the Attic.
Released in partnership with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive, Why Don’t You Smile Now is the first ever collection of Reed’s songs written for Pickwick and features rarities, cult classics, and previously unreleased material. The 25-track compilation aslo features rare photos and a new essay by Patti Smith Group guitarist and Nuggets curator Lenny Kaye and liner notes by Richie Unterberger.
Here’s more from the press notes:
A highly prolific period in which he co-wrote dozens of songs that saw release, Reed’s tenure at Pickwick began soon after connecting with Terry Philips — the label’s chief songwriter and producer, who’d envisioned creating an in-house equivalent to the Brill Building’s hitmaking songwriting/production teams. Despite the assembly-line nature of Pickwick’s output, the experience proved to be deeply formative for Reed and, in Unterberger’s words, “gave him his first opportunities to filter his love for rock, soul, girl group sounds, Phil Spector, and a bit of far-out experimentation into commercially released material.”
You can listen to The Primitives’ bubblegum garage single “The Ostrich,” which features Reed on vocals and opens the compilation, now. “It’s as much a parody of dance craze rock ’n’ roll as an entry into its overcrowded field,” Unterberger writes in the album’s liner notes. “Yet it isn’t without the kind of hooks aimed at sparking a hit single, performed with the all-out élan of a youngster living and breathing rock ’n’ roll at its most devil-may-care corner.”
The Primitives also helped lead the way to The Velvet Underground; originally a purely studio band, Pickwick decided to send The Primitives on a short promotional tour and the ad-hoc band put together included Reed’s soon-to-be bandmate John Cale.
Watch the new video for the song below.
Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65:
Side A
1. The Primitives – “The Ostrich”
2. The Beachnuts – “Cycle Annie”
3. The Hi-Lifes – “I’m Gonna 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 Insane”
Side 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 – “Ya Running, But I’ll Getcha”
6. Beverley Ann – “We Got Trouble”
7. The All Night Workers – “Why Don’t You Smile”
8. Jeannie Larimore – “Johnny Won’t Surf No More”
Side C
1. Robertha Williams – “Tell Mamma Not to Cry”
2. Robertha Williams – “Maybe Tomorrow”
3. Terry Philips – “Flowers For The Lady”
4. Terry Philips – “This Rose”
Side D
1. The Surfsiders – “Surfin’”
2. The Surfsiders – “Little Deuce Coupe”
3. The Beachnuts – “Sad, Lonely Orphan Boy”
4. The Beachnuts – “I’ve Got a Tiger in My Tank”
5. Ronnie Dickerson – “What About Me”