Nine songs from these sessions-which took place over the course of a few days at Scepter Records Studios, probably spanning approximately April 18 to April 23 of 1966-were almost immediately pressed onto an acetate that Dolph took to his employers, Columbia Records, in hopes of gaining a record deal for the Velvets. He even, along with engineer John Licata, ended up pretty much running those sessions, though neither he nor Licata were credited on the original LP (an omission rectified on subsequent editions in the CD age, where both were eventually credited as engineers). For good measure, Norman also split the costs for the sessions with the VU's management. When the Velvets and their management were ready to record their first album in April 1966, it was Dolph to whom they turned when they needed to acquire professional studio time. He'd also noticed that one of his accounts, Scepter Records-then most famous as the home of Dionne Warwick, having also landed quite a few '60s pop and rock hits with the likes of the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson-had its own recording studio. He'd recently made the acquaintance of Andy Warhol in the course of his side job of supplying music with his mobile disco for art gallery shows and openings. When he crossed paths with the Velvet Underground in early 1966, Dolph was a sales executive for Columbia Records, his main job being in Columbia's Customs Labels Division, which provided services for smaller labels who didn't have their own pressing plants. While Norman Dolph takes no credit beyond his due for the groundbreaking music unleashed on the banana album, it was he who procured the studio time, co-financed the recording, and essentially acted as a co-producer of sorts for those sessions. Until relatively recently, however, the contributions of one of the figures most responsible for arranging and running the April 1966 sessions yielding the majority of the tracks have been relatively unknown and overlooked. The Velvet Underground & Nico-colloquially known to the ages as "the banana album," in honor of its distinctive Andy Warhol-designed cover-is today recognized as one of the greatest and most seminal rock albums of all time. White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day by Day, available from Jawbone Press. (June 2009) ED NOTE: This interview was done for Unterberger's new book Velvet Underground Norman Dolph interview Perfect Sound Forever: Velvet Underground- engineer Norman Dolph talks about their first album
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