They say that everyone who bought one of the first copies of “The Velvet Underground & Nico” back in 1967 started a band. That cliche comes to mind on the song for song tribute to the band’s debut called “I’ll Be Your Mirror.” The album’s influence has impacted generations of musicians and the contemporary artists who appear on this album use The Velvet’s own experimental blueprint to take their covers to places beyond the original versions.

The album was made in conjuction with a Todd Haynes film about the band and is the final project by the late producer Hal Wilner who oversaw the T-Rex tribute album last year and was a longtime friend of Lou Reed.

Sharon Van Etten's ‘Femme Fatale’ lightens up Nico's original take, Iggy Pop's "European Son,” is just as unhinged as the original and  St. Vincent transforms ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ into a spooky spoken-word performance over antique piano  atmospherics

Throughout, there are artful reinventions of which Andy Warhol would be proud. Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Matt Berninger, Michael Stipe and Thurston Moore all bring out the essence of progressive rock in it’s very earliest stages. “I’ll Be Your Mirror” is a tribute to an album that has more than stood the test of time.

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