Iggy Pop, Sharon Van Etten, St. Vincent and More to Release The Velvet Underground Tribute Album

Artists Iggy Pop, Sharon Van Etten with Angel Olsen and St. Vincent are just few of a large lineup of artists who are all set to contribute to an upcoming The Velvet Underground tribute album. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico is set to be released on Sept. 24, 2021. via Verve Records, the original home of the Velvet Underground. The tribute album will include all of the track listings from the original 1967 album. 

Iggy Pop, Sharon Van Etten with Angel Olsen and St. Vincent will be joined by a myriad of other artists including Matt Berninger, Michael Stipe, King Princess, Bobby Gillespie, Courtney Barnett, Andrew Bird, Fontaines D.C., Thurston Moore, Primal Scream and Kurt Vile. Vile just released the first single of the tribute album, a cover of “Run Run Run,” on July 14, 2021. The cover is just as thrumming and energetic as the original, but a bit smoother and demonstrates how far music production technology has come in the 54 years since the original “Run Run Run.”

“I literally covered “Run Run Run” when I was a kid. In my late teens with my band at the time. So it was pretty cosmic, let’s say. There is a direct connection to certain indie bands and beyond w/ the Velvets. That’s why the Velvets are a classic. You know it can have doo-wop in there and things like that, but it can also have this jagged noisy thing, and it immediately let me feel like I could do anything. The possibilities are endless. You’re completely free. Unapologetic and effortless,” said Vile in a press release. 

The album was produced by the late Hal Willner, the Saturday Night Live music producer, frequent assembler of tribute albums (Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man and AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex) and longtime friend of Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground’s frontman. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground & Nico is the last album Willner ever worked on before his death in 2020. 

I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground and Nico

1. Sunday Morning – Michael Stipe
2. I’m Waiting For The Man – Matt Berninger
3. Femme Fatale – Sharon Van Etten (w/ Angel Olsen on backing vocals)
4. Venus In Furs – Andrew Bird & Lucius
5. Run Run Run – Kurt Vile & The Violators
6. All Tomorrow’s Parties – St. Vincent & Thomas Bartlett
7. Heroin – Thurston Moore feat. Bobby Gillespie
8. There She Goes Again – King Princess
9. I’ll Be Your Mirror – Courtney Barnett 
10. The Black Angel’s Death Song – Fontaines D.C.
11. European Son – Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney 

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat