[ecrea] CFP: The Velvet Underground

*cfp: The Velvet Underground: edited volume. *


Though, relatively speaking, The Velvet Underground were critically and 
commercially unsuccessful in their time, in ensuing decades they have 
become a constant touchstone in art rock, punk, post-punk, indie, avant 
pop and alternative rock. After the band’s initial demise, in their solo 
work and live and studio collaborations, ex-band members continued to 
create music that variously drew from the literary, experimental and pop 
heritage of the band. In particular Lou Reed, John Cale and Velvet 
Underground associate Nico produced a number of works that travelled a 
liminal path between art and pop. However, original members Moe Tucker 
and Sterling Morrison, and Doug Yule (who joined the band after Cale 
left in 1968) in their own way sporadically pursued more low key musical 
activities. In 1993 the original band members of Reed, Cale, Morrison 
and Tucker briefly reunited for live appearances. After the reformation 
petered out, Reed until his death in 2013, Cale, and briefly Tucker, 
continued to produce music that travelled the idiosyncratic path that 
began in New York in the mid-1960s.

The influence of the band and band members, mediated and promoted 
through famous fans (including David Bowie and Brian Eno) who championed 
their music, seems only to have expanded since the late 1960s. In 1996 
the Velvet Underground were in inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of 
Fame, demonstrating how far the band had travelled in 30 years from an 
avant-garde cult to the mainstream recognition of their key 
contributions to popular music. Despite many publications documenting 
and discussing the activities and significance of the band, it is only 
recently that academic attention has begun to be paid to The Velvet 
Underground.

We are inviting proposals for a book-length essay collection on all 
aspects of the work of The Velvet Underground, with the book split into 
two sections:

    * Section one will examine perspectives on the band from pre-band
      activities through to the release of the album /Loaded/ in 1970.

    * Section two will consider solo works, collaborations between and
      beyond original band members, the short afterlife of the band under
      the stewardship of Doug Yule, the 1990s reformation and more recent
      activities.

One of the key features of the collection will be to encourage 
contributions focusing on neglected features of the work of the band and 
band members. The book also aims to explore how discourses around the 
band developed over time in placing and evaluating their contributions 
to the wider field of popular music. The question of The Velvet 
Underground’s growing wider musical influence and how this can be mapped 
will also be examined.

*Potential subjects for contributions include:*

Section One – The Velvet Underground to 1970

The Velvet Underground and:

    * Nico
    * Andy Warhol and Pop Art
    * intermedia/multimedia performance
    * the 1960s musical avant-garde
    * (the psychogeography of) New York
    * Boston
    * nihilism in the context of 60s Counterculture
    * their ‘proto-punk’ identity
    * studies of their four studio albums
    * studies of their documented live performances

Section 2 – Post-1970

    * Solo Lou Reed, John Cale, Nico and Mo Tucker
    * John Cale as producer
    * /Squeeze/ and Doug Yule’s The Velvet Underground
    * Live and studio collaborations between band members
    * Live and studio collaborations with others (e.g. David Bowie, Brian
      Eno, Metallica etc.)
    * The 1993 reformation
    * David Bowie as The Velvet Underground propagandist
    * Influence of The Velvet Underground on defined genres and artists
    * Cover versions and tributes
    * Processes of rock canonisation
    * /VU/ and /Another View/ – The Velvet Underground in the 1980s

The book will be co-edited by Sean Albiez and David Pattie whose 
previous academic book collections include /Kraftwerk: Music Non Stop/ 
(Continuum, 2011) and /Brian Eno: Oblique Music/ (Bloomsbury, 2016). 
Please send 300 word proposals and a short bio by Friday 6th January 
2017 to Sean (Albiezsean.albiez /at/ solent.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(sean.albiez /at/ solent.ac.uk)> and David Pattie 
(d.pattie /at/ chester.ac.uk) <mailto:(d.pattie /at/ chester.ac.uk)>.
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