Published: August 21, 2026 · 11:14 AM EDT
Universal Music Japan brings Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico’s landmark 1967 debut back on August 26 as a Japan-pressed LP with Abbey Road Studios cutting, recreated original Japanese obi, lyrics and translations
The Velvet Underground & Nico, the landmark 1967 debut featuring Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico and one of the most recognizable album covers created by Andy Warhol, is returning as a new limited Japanese vinyl pressing on August 26, 2026.
Universal Music Japan confirms that the 1LP edition will be pressed in Japan from a cutting made at Abbey Road Studios. The release also includes an obi recreating the design of the original Japanese first pressing, along with Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations.
The new edition carries catalog number UIJY-75397 and is priced at ¥5,500 including tax. Universal identifies it specifically as a limited edition released through USM Japan.
Few album covers are as immediately identifiable as the white sleeve and yellow banana associated with The Velvet Underground & Nico.
Universal Music Japan specifically credits Andy Warhol with the album’s famous banana artwork and also notes his role as producer on the original 1967 record.
That artwork becomes particularly striking on this edition because it is paired with an obi designed to reproduce the appearance of the album’s original Japanese LP issue.
For collectors, that combination gives the new pressing a visual identity connected both to Warhol’s original artwork and to the history of Japanese record packaging.
JAPANESE VINYL / ABBEY ROAD CUTTING
The confirmed collector specifications are:
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Format: 1LP / Analog Vinyl
Edition: Limited
Pressing Country: Japan
Vinyl Cutting: Abbey Road Studios
Obi: Recreated original Japanese first-press design
Extras: Japanese liner notes, lyrics and translations
Release Date: August 26, 2026
Catalog Number: UIJY-75397
Label: Universal Music / USM Japan
Price: ¥5,500 including tax
Universal Music Japan does not specify a vinyl color for UIJY-75397.
It also does not describe the edition as AAA, all-analog or newly remastered, nor does the current listing identify a mastering engineer or source used for the Abbey Road cutting.
For that reason, Rockum is identifying the release only by the technical details Universal has officially provided.
Originally released in 1967, The Velvet Underground & Nico brought together the songwriting and vocals of Lou Reed, the experimental approach of John Cale and vocal performances by Nico.
Universal Music Japan describes the album as a collision between pop-oriented rock and more abrasive, experimental sounds, with Nico appearing as vocalist on several of its best-known recordings.
The record includes songs that became central to the Velvet Underground catalog, including “Sunday Morning,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Femme Fatale,” “Venus in Furs,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” “Heroin” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror.”
The official Velvet Underground store continues to describe the album as originally released in March 1967 through Verve Records and highlights Warhol’s peelable banana artwork as a defining part of the original package.
TRACKLIST
SIDE A
1. Sunday Morning
2. I’m Waiting for the Man
3. Femme Fatale
4. Venus in Furs
5. Run Run Run
6. All Tomorrow’s Parties
SIDE B
1. Heroin
2. There She Goes Again
3. I’ll Be Your Mirror
4. The Black Angel’s Death Song
5. European Son
UIJY-75397 is part of the second wave of Universal Music Japan’s series of classic international rock albums pressed domestically in Japan.
Three albums arrive together on August 26:
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds - UIJY-75396
The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico - UIJY-75397
T. Rex – Electric Warrior - UIJY-75398
All three are limited Japanese pressings priced at ¥5,500.
Rockum has already documented the other two editions in the series:
The series itself began in June with Japanese pressings of Cream’s Disraeli Gears, Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols and Gary Moore’s Wild Frontier.
For collectors, the attraction of UIJY-75397 is not based on a new colored-vinyl gimmick or an expanded tracklist.
Its identity comes from the combination of Japanese manufacture, Abbey Road Studios cutting, the recreated first-press Japanese obi and Andy Warhol’s famous banana artwork.
And because the album itself connects some of the most searched names in alternative and art-rock history - Lou Reed, John Cale, Nico, The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol - the physical release also becomes an identifiable new chapter in a catalog that has remained collectible for nearly six decades.
The Velvet Underground & Nico has appeared in numerous physical editions since 1967, but the new UIJY-75397 pressing has a clearly documented identity of its own.
Manufactured in Japan, cut at Abbey Road Studios and packaged with a recreation of the original Japanese obi alongside Andy Warhol’s unmistakable banana artwork, the August 26 edition gives collectors another distinctly Japanese version of the Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico landmark without altering its original 11-song sequence.
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
IMAGE CREDIT: Universal Music Japan / Andy Warhol artwork
Listen to The Velvet Underground & Nico’s “Sunday Morning” below:
