Officially a soundtrack, but Dean and Britta’s “13 Most Beautiful: Songs For Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests”, stands alone as a beautifully crafted Velvet Undergound influenced pop record. The project was officially commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, who asked the duo to write and create (and in some cases re-interpret) songs to 13 Warhol screen tests of Factory stars which were shot between 1964-1966. The Factory was the brainchild (and studio) of Andy Warhol, the grand daddy of pop art and creator of the 15 minutes of fame concept. The Factory attracted artists, musicians, vagabonds and the beautiful people who made the parties legendary. For some of the people, like the California beauty Edie Sedgwick who for few short years was the very first “IT” girl and who died of a drug overdose in 1971, the party ended far too soon. For others , like the young Dennis Hopper, it was just the first step to real super stardom. These originally silent 4 minute and 15 seconds long film clips were the audition tapes for such famous Factory faces, and were put together as a multi-media experience with Dean and Britta performing the tracks live to the audition film clips. You do not have to watch the audition tapes to enjoy these beautifully crafted songs, but if you do, the songs add a new deeper dimension to these Pop Art legends.
DENNIS HOPPER
EDIE SEDGWICK
Front page image: Warhol and Sedgwick
Author: Songbird
