Hmm... The Velvet Underground or Doug Yule? Who's Doug you ask? He's that other guy in Velvet, the one that isn't Lou Reed, John Cale or Nico. Yeah, that one. Well after they broke up he had the gull to release this as a Velvet album, although it only featured him and some recruits. All the rest of em were enjoying flourishing solo career's of their own, poor Doug was left lying in their shadow. He could'nt even crack a record deal, so he stooped to this. He even manages to sing just like Reed, so at least it softens the blow. The song "Dopey Joe" is sung in the tune of "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "Friends" sounds just like "Stephanie Says", im sure you can make plenty of comparisons of your own. So... in conclusion: if four Velvet Underground albums arent enough for you, delude yourself into hearing this, unbiased if possible. Its actually not bad.
squeeeze that cash cow.
[thanks to Forest Roxx]
The "other guy" on VU was Sterling Morrison, and he was a founding member. Yule came on board for the recording of the 3rd album when Cale left.
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ReplyDeleteI like it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteDopey Joe may make you think of Lonesome Cowboy Bill because the latter song was also sung by Doug Yule. Actually, he sang in total 4 songs on Loaded. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteIt really wasn't purely Doug stooping to this, it was more or less manager Steve Sesnick that pressured him into. The Velvet Underground became huge right before the release of "Loaded", the only problem is Lou Reed was about to jump ship, Sterling Morrison was preparing for a career as an English professor and Maureen Tucker was pregnant (she did not appear in "Loaded" despite being credited).
ReplyDeleteSesnick began grooming Yule as de facto leader beginning with Loaded as he gets top billing where Reed gets third as well as having Yule pictured alone at the piano on the back cover. Originally the post Reed line-up consisted of Yule, Maureen Tucker, Walter Powers (replacing Sterling Morrison, and Willie Alexander (replacing Reed). Tucker, a new mother did an initial tour, but was eventually replaced by Doug's brother Billy who appeared on "Loaded" as well as "Max's Kansas City".
I guess to support the European tour Sesnick felt another album was needed and Yule had some material (apparently there was an inital recording of the song "Friends" which dates back to 1971 which features the Alexander, Powers, Yule and Tucker line up) so "Squeeze" was born. As a money saving meaure Tucker, Powers and Alexander were sent home by Sesnick with Doug Yule handling most of the instrumental duties with Deep Purple's Ian Gillian handling the percussion duties.
Yule did one tour to support the album in 1973 featuring once again Billy Yule on drums with George Kay and Bill Nauseef filling out the rest of the band. During this tour Sesnick pulled the plug and left Yule and the rest of the band in the dark and without any money. Yule later did some tours with Cale and Reed and eventually surfaced in the band American Flyer with former Blues Project member Steve Katz.
wow, thanks for the info. much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIan Paice, not Ian Gillan
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