Now, if the question in the title seems like one of those click-baity lead-ons, where the article holds some “jaw-dropping” reveal, let me get this out of the way right now: it’s a question I’m actually asking and don’t have the answer to.

Several years ago, I was digging for records at some thrift shops in a small South Carolina town when I happened upon a filthy milk-crate, stuffed with what most record collectors would call “acetates,” but what even more persnickety record collectors would correct you into properly identifying as “lacquers.” These lacquer discs are generally one-off cut discs. When you find them out in the wild, in most cases, they are booth-recordings made of families singing Christmas carols or sending messages to loved-ones overseas. Every now and then you get lucky and find a “dub-plate” or a demo disc. On this particular day, I scored. I found a small crate full of unissued demo discs from the doo-wop era.

The discs in this haul weren’t dated, but could be musically dated between, say, 1957 and 1964. They varied stylistically from straight doo-wop to rockabilly to pop jazz vocal. Most of the discs were cut at 78 RPM, but a few were cut at 45. This seemed to be an odd mix of items collected at one time by someone involved in the music business. None of the artists named on the labels were identifiable as artists who had ever “made it.” It seemed to literally be a box of “rejects.”

Unfortunately the crate had seen years of poor storage conditions and a third of the discs were totally destroyed with their emulsion cracked, chipped, and falling off the platters. Most of the remainder were coated in palmitic acid which is a chemical reaction that takes place due to improper storage and leaves a white filmy coating all over the playing surface. I was able to meticulously clean up the discs using an ammonia-based solution recommended by professional archivists.

Even with the gentle, careful cleaning most of the discs had suffered the elements, as well as the scuffing of being thrown around in a crate without sleeves. Some cleaned up better than others. I ended up selling most of the lot in a series of eBay auctions during a cash-strapped, lean time. (Full disclosure: I attempted to sell the disc we’re about to discuss, but the reserve wasn’t met - thankfully, I was able to hang onto it!)

I was discussing some of the crate’s bounty on a 78 RPM collectors’ forum, because there were so many interesting unknown groups. In the discussions, one of the discs raised an eyebrow. This 78 RPM lacquer of The Shades performing “Talkin’ Guitar” and “All Day Long.”
 

 
The reason for the raised eyebrow was because the name of Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed’s first band was none other than “The Shades.”
 

 
I had been aware of Lou’s first band being “The Jades,” as I already owned their 45 on Time Records, but apparently, as was pointed out to me on that forum, The Jades started out as The Shades.

According to this interview with Phil Harris, Reed’s Jades bandmate, there was at least one other group operating in that region, at that time, under a similar name:

OL: Do you know exactly why The Shades had to change their name to Jades?

PH: I believe there were a few groups that came out when we did and a lot of them wore shades during their performances. I think Shad wanted us to be somewhat different from another group wearing shades and got away from that name.

 

 
So here we begin to have a mystery. This is a demo recorded in New York, the right region, at what (without a date on the label) we can assume is around the right time for this to be Lou Reed’s group. Or then again, it could be another group from the same time and general location. The songs on the lacquer are not musically similar to the smoother single released by The Jades, but do feature similar instrumentation and, like The Jades, are obviously white guys attempting an R&B style; and sure, it may be total wishful thinking on my part, but those monotone vocals sure do have a Lou-ish feel to them.

Whether or not this is Reed’s group, I think it’s a massively cool record in its own right. It’s musically raw and primitive with a “Las Vegas Grind” sound I’m a sucker for, and its scarcity makes it an important piece to preserve whether it’s Lou Reed or some random bunch of yahoos from Hoboken.

Posted below, you will find truncated excerpts from the two songs on the lacquer. The sound is a bit rough. If for no other reason, the purpose of putting this out there is to see if someone comes out of the woodwork and remembers this group and can identify the members. The comments section is open to arguments for or against this being the great, lost, first Lou Reed recording. Regardless, it’s a neat piece of musical history that’s no longer rotting in a crate someplace. If this isn’t Lou Reed, then we get so many more questions! Who are these dudes?! Where did they end up? The stories are out there, and someone’s been waiting to tell them! Maybe it’s you?