Sunset Rubdown Roadie Comes Up

Just as your fingers begin to fatigue from flipping through bin after bin of tired old vinyl, searching for that 99 cent diamond in the rough- take heart! And remember the magical tale of old Warren Hill, roadie and merch man for Wolf Parade blah blah blah side project blah Sunset Rubdown.

Once upon a time, while perusing through a box of records at a yard sale in Chelsea, NY, Hill happened upon a few that he felt were worthy of their $.75 price tags and scooped them up. Among them were a Leadbelly 10", one of the first Modern Lovers LPs and. . . wait for it. . . a 12" acetone-covered aluminum etched with the breath-holding worthy words "Velvet Underground. 4-25-66. Att N. Dolph."

A lot of research and a little help from a friend- record store employee Eric Isaacson (of Mississippi Records in Portland, Oregon) the two discovered that the battered gem was very likely a surviving copy of the legendary lost Scepter studios recordings- the initial finished version of the bands ready-to-release debut LP that Andy Warhol- who was managing the band at the time- had at one time shopped to Columbia. Although some of the same takes were used on "The Velvet Underground & Nico"- the full-length debut that was eventually released- this find contained some entirely different material.

Bottom line, shit is almost as rare as the Mariners in the world series. What would you do with that in your hot little hands and your life long dream wasn't hauling and slinging merch for your buds from town to town?

That's right. Let the bidding begin! Hill's auctioning the artifact on ebay- ending on December 8- and it's already at $126,104.00. If that's not enough to keep your fingers flipping- well, there's always Icy Hot.

Full track listing after the jump!

1.European Son- completely different version,. Guitar solo is much bluesier. Less noisy and experimental. Longer by 2 minutes or so.

2.Black Angel's Death Song-Same take as released version. Different mix.

3.All Tomorrow's Parties- Same take as released version. Different mix.

4.I'll Be Your Mirror-Same take as released version. Radically different mix. No echo on Nico's vocals. Background vocals on end of song are more subdued.

5.Heroin-Completely different take than released version. Guitar line is different. Vocal inflections different, and a few different lyrics. Drumming is more primitive & off kilter. There is a tambourine dragging throughout the song.

6.Femme Fatale- Same take as released version. Radically different mix. Percussion more prominent. Alternate take on background vocals. Much more "poppy".

7.Venus In Furs- Different take than released version. Vocal inflections completely different. Instrumentation more based around Cales' violin than the guitar as in the released version.

8.I'm Waiting For The Man- Different take than released version. Guitar line is completely different. Vocal inflections different, and a few different lyrics. No drums, just tambourine. Bluesy guitar solo.

9.Run Run Run- Same take as released version. Different mix.