Roughnecks

The Roughnecks were one of several studio-only groups that released tracks to which Lou Reed contributed in the mid-'60s, when he was a staff songwriter and session musician at the budget/exploitation label Pickwick. Of the four Pickwick-era Reed-associated cuts that surfaced on the Velvet Underground rarities bootleg The Velvet Underground Etc., the sole inclusion by the Roughnecks, "You're Drivin' Me Insane," might be the best. It's a pleasingly raw, slightly dissonant garage-rock tune, with an appealingly unruffled vocal by Reed and background whoops and shouts that indicat...