The Velvet Underground: Reunion 15 6 1990

In June of 1990 the magic of the 1989 Velvet Revolution caused Lou Reed, John Cale and Prague's underground band Půlnoc (formerly Plastic People of the Universe) all to share the stage in the garden of the Cartier Foundation Chateau near Paris on the occasion of the opening of an Andy Warhol exhibition. In conclusion, “maybe under the influence of the two Velvet Underground covers played by Půlnoc, Lou Reed suppressed the long-held animosity and to the surprise of everyone invited on stage Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker to deliver an emotional rendering of Heroin twenty years later,” explains the then manager of Půlnoc Ivo Pospíšil. The recording of an event that had been hiding on humble tape for almost thirty years now takes on a form of a limited, not-for-sale edition on yellow vinyl. Its cover was inspired both the bootleg origin of the recording and the graphics of the simple Velvet Underground concert posters. Everything is connected by a large yellow circle – the banana color of the vinyl comes through on the front and back. The artist and Warholophile, Michal Cihlář, who created a numbered serigraphy with the motif of a cassette, boots and whips for the record, noted that the cover looks like he the designer did not work very hard on it. There’s more heart that went into it: “Ivo Pospíšil made my dream come through a little, I did not hope to be putting the name of this favorite band of mine on the cover!” confessed Zuzana Lednická.