Lou Reed's Berlin, long hailed as a monument of deeply moody music, is being turned into a film by Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel.
The album flopped on its release in 1973 and Reed refused to perform the songs live for 33 years.
But in 2006 he performed the album in its entirety in a special series of five concerts performed in Brooklyn, New York.
The shows were filmed by Schnabel, the Brooklyn-born director whose recent The Diving Bell And The Butterfly received multiple Oscar nominations. Schnabel's daughter Lola made some short films projected on the stage, displaying the beauty and tragedy of the narrator’s leading lady.
Berlin tells the story of star-crossed lovers in the then-divided city. Despite its commercial failure, many Reed fans regard it as a the best album he ever made.
Berlin, the film, will be in UK cinemas from 25 July.