Sterling Morrison is the third most famous Morrison in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Van and Jim have him beat. But hey, the hall's the hall, right? And Sterling was inducted as a memeber of one of the most influential bands in rock history, yet was ever a household name: The Velvet Underground. Brian Eno's quote, "The first Velvet Underground's first record only sold 10,000 copies but everyone who bought it started a band" is a bit played out but likely true. One such purchaser of that album was Kiwi-born songwriter Dean Wareham, who founded the influential Galaxie 500 and later, Indie rock supergroup Luna. Luna were hugely indebted to the Velvets, they covered a number of VU songs over the years and also invited Sterling to play on two Luna cuts on their second album 'Bewitched': "Friendly Advice" and "Great Jones Street". Sadly, Sterling succumbed to cancer in 1995.
Who better though to cover the Velvets' "Ride Into The Sun" than Luna, the only non-VU associated act to feature his playing?
Here's the VU original:
And here's Luna's cover of it.
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