Light in the Attic has partnered with Laurie Anderson for the Lou Reed Archive Series, a new series of releases exploring Reed's vast archives of music and more.

The project will begin in August with the release of Words & Music, May 1965, which is a is a previously unreleased collection of songs recorded by a young Reed with his future Velvet Underground bandmate John Cale. Light In The Attic says Reed sealed the recordings, which were found across as pair of tapes, in an envelope and mailed them to himself as a "poor man's copyright," and they include early demos of some of his most famous songs. All of the demo recordings have been remastered for the release.

Among the tracks on the release are the earliest known recordings of Velvet Underground classics such as 'Heroin' and 'Pale Blue Eyes', as well as a demo version of Nico's Chelsea Girl track 'Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams', fronted instead by John Cale. Unreleased tracks, such as 'Buttercup Song', 'Too Late' and 'Buzz Buzz Buzz' also feature, in addition to an early version of 'Men Of Good Fortune', which Reed eventually released with different lyrics on 1973's Berlin.

Words & Music, May 1965 was produced by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner and Matt Sullivan. Greil Marcus provides liner notes for the release, which will be made available in a number of formats, including LP, CD, cassette and digital. The deluxe 2xLP edition will be limited to 7,500 copies and feature a die-cut gatefold jacket. It comes with a bonus Third Man–pressed 7-inch featuring six songs, including a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right'.

To coincide with the announcement of the release and Light In The Attic's Lou Reed Archive Series, the New York Library will also this week unveil an exhibition, Lou Reed: Caught Between The Twisted Stars, including boxes of demos, photos, personal collections of books, and other items. Find more information here.

Light In The Attic will release Words & Music, May 1965 on August 26, 2022.