13 Most Beautiful: Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests

Among the vast film works of Andy Warhol are hundreds of “screen tests,” which weren’t really screen tests at all but rather short, mostly still, black-and- white portraits focusing closely — sometimes uncomfortably — on one subject. Dean Wareham and partner/wife Britta Phillips were tagged by the Warhol Museum to score music for 13 of these shorts, and as Wareham was a founder of the Velvets-influenced Galaxie 500 (and later Luna), the match seems pre-ordained. Choosing true Factory participants (they selected Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Nico, and Ingrid Superstar among others), the music evolved into a live, touring event (with film), and into this audio set which includes remixes of eight tunes. The project includes original tracks, a few re-worked Luna tunes (e.g., “Ann Buchanan Theme” is “Singer Sing” minus the lyrics), and two covers, Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep it With Mine” plus the Velvets’ relatively unknown “Not a Young Man Anymore.” As with the images themselves (you can find most online), there is both sadness and beauty portrayed here, which speaks to the enduring legacy of one of America’s greatest pop artists.