A guest series by Steve McLean
NOOOOOO! Not The Velvet Underground, NOOOOOO! They’re too cool. You expect bogus line ups of The Pacemakers or Herman’s Hermits or Ratt (spoiler; all line ups of Ratt are bogus). But not the Velvet Underground. You see it’s one thing when ‘naff’ bands like Amen Corner or The Sweet tour with multiple line ups and a scarcity of original members but when it’s a group of beloved untouchables, it becomes an outrage. Put your handbag away. (Also, fuck you, The Sweet were boss).
I’ve been looking forward to writing this. In our world of Mandela Effect false memories it’s worth keeping in mind that The Velvet Underground couldn’t get arrested when they existed. These days they are adored by thousands more people than ever saw them in their lifetime, but speak to just about every music fan from the time and they’ll swear blind they were huge fans all along; Like the three million people who attended Woodstock or the people who were definitely in the French Resistance or the people who always knew that the sexism in Britpop wasn’t ironic and didn’t like it, there’s way more of them now than were at the time.
Time has a habit of playing tricks on us when it comes to the zeitgeist. The Velvet Underground are fucking cool now, but when Lou Reed quit in 1970 they were just another band singing for their supper, albeit one who were doing a mammoth nine week residency at Max’s Kansas City (which sounds impressive but; capacity 200 with many tickets available on the door most nights)
During the run of Max’s gigs Lou Reed decided to quit with little or no warning. He just got up and fucked off on the band he formed. He had his reasons, mainly because he wanted a solo career and felt he was stagnating in the band who by this time were no longer the Warhol superstars that had been launched on the art world nearly four years earlier but also his manager was a slippery fucker and played the band off each other.
‘Basically he just didn’t show up one Tuesday night or whenever it was for the beginning of that week’s shows’ Doug Yule, Perfect Sound Forever 1995
With Lou gone, they should have broken up right? Yeah probably but the problem is when Lou left the band still had a stack of gigs at Max’s and other live commitments to complete. Plus they had an album that they were recording and was currently unfinished (to be titled Loaded). Ultimately, the VU were a working band, they couldn’t sit back and live off record sales. Just because Lou doesn’t fancy it. that doesn’t mean everyone else suddenly has no rent to pay.
‘It was a band, not Lou and a backup band. We had commitments. We just kept going. I wasn’t in charge although I was singing most of the leads’ Doug Yule, Hound Dawg Magazine May 2010
Doug Yule had replaced John Cale in 1968, he was already presented the co-lead vocalist during the live shows, his boyish voice meant the band could play the Nico and the softer Lou Reed songs from earlier in their career. Creatively, the group were sharing the workload, while most of the songs being recorded are still being credited to Reed, it’s fair to say the majority were an effort between Reed’s writing and Yule’s arrangement. As distasteful as it might seem now to the hardcore, the band were desperate to buck the label of cult favourites
‘(We were) intent on one thing and that was to be successful and what you had to do to be successful in music, was you had to have a hit, and a hit had to be uptempo, short, and with no digressions, straight ahead basically’ Doug Yule, Perfect Sound Forever 1995
On August 24th, 1970 Yule took over frontman duties. His brother, Billy Yule, was already filling in for a pregnant Mo Tucker on drums which meant for the final week of the Max’s Kansas City dates there was only one original Velvet in the current band. Somehow, they scraped through the remainder of the residency.
“I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Beatles movie Help, in the last scene there was a guy running on the beach in crutches saying ‘I’m going to miss the sacrifice, I’m going to miss the sacrifice’ and he ends up being the sacrifice. Well that’s sort of my experience with the velvets. The first time I heard them play was on stage at Max’s and I was playing with them. I was a 17 year old kid working for cab fare, movie tickets. That’s about what I got paid plus free beers and dinners”Billy Yule, Mojo Magazine Feb 2000
Contractually the remaining band were in a bind, they had to tour the upcoming record or they might find themselves in court against Atlantic Records. To promote the release of the record in November the band hired bass player Walter Powers from Yule’s old band The Grass Menagerie. Tucker returned to the drum stool and It’s fair to say the band of plodded along. Instead of residencies in cool NYC pre-punk hang outs, they found themselves headlining places like The Main Point in Pennsylvania, a small coffee house style venue (On a side note, the Main Point homed some shows by Bruce Springsteen and was scene of the first ever live performance of Thunder Road)
After almost a full year of post-Lou life original member Sterling Morrison quits. When the band gig in Texas, Sterling opts to remain in the Lone Star State. Around this time the band have been agreed to tour Europe. Loaded had done well in Amsterdam and the record label wanted to cash in. Europe had always loved the Velvets more than the States and a Lou-less line up could still be a big deal. Doug did a passable impression of Reed with his curly hair, so the stupid limeys probably wouldn’t even notice.
Willie Alexander was a keyboard player who had played with Powers and Yule in the Grass Menagerie. He was hired to fill Sterling’s boots. In November a line-up of Tucker, Yule, Powers and Alexander began a tour of Europe that took in Scotland, Wales, Holland, Belgium, Germany and dozens of shows at universities in England.
“I don’t remember much, I liked the fog and the Newcastle Brown Ale” Willie Alexander 2025 (Facebook Conversation)
With Alexander the band seemed to take on a new lease of life albeit after a few teething troubles. The success may be attributed to two things; Perhaps because the evolvement of the sound but also due to the lack of any Velvet Underground activity in Europe, even though the fans had always been more receptive to them than in their home country.
‘People were just happy to see any Velvet Underground it seemed. In one place in England someone thought I was John Cale. I had dreams about being in this ghost band. I was pretty buzzed most of the time’ Willie Alexander, Hound Dawg Magazine May 2010
This needs to be hammered home, in a pre-Transformer world, no one really cared that that the band didn’t contain Lou Reed or John Cale. Just like no one cared that the then current version of the Flying Burrito Bros didn’t contain Gram Parsons, or that Fleetwood Mac had no Peter Green. Regardless how history judges the band, in 1971 this was the Velvet Underground.
(Poster for a show at the London College of Printing)
The Velvet Underground were taking the UK by storm, albeit medium-sized storm. I suppose I should acknowledge just how surreal it might be for the casual observer to see the band from Warhol’s factory, steeped in drug-counter-culture playing around rural England. While it’s understandable that that group would be booked around a multitude of universities and city locations like the Speakeasy or the Bumper Club, they look quite out of place on the South Peir Parade in Portsmouth or the Malvern Winter Gardens. Did you ever think you’d see a review of a Velvet Underground live show in the Whitstable and Herne Bay Herald?
(Whitstable and Herne Bay Herald 11 November 1971)
Like the UK, the continental leg of the tour is nothing short of a success. The jaunt found the band playing to double the size of the crowds that they were used to, and they even managed a TV appearance in Holland. The boxset Final V.U. released by Captain Trip in the early 2000s features a stellar version of What Goes On, recorded by a Dutch radio station and reimagined with a 1970s rock vibe that wouldn’t be out of place in a setlist by the aforementioned Flying Burrito Brothers. Yes, that is Doug Yule shredding that guitar.
mp3 : The Velvet Underground – What Goes On (live, Holland 1971)
Ideally, this is where the Velvet Underground story should end. However, manager Steve Sesnick had other ideas and he might be described as of dubious character;
“He was a manipulator, he’s a woman hater, which implies a self hater. He’s a very… He lies compulsively, his whole mentality is himself. To get over on everyone else and take care of himself.” Doug Yule, Perfect Sound Forever 1995
The group returned briefly to England,. While there, Steve Sesnick signed a recording deal with Polydor UK for a new album. The songs for record (to be titled Squeeze) were mostly written during the tour and premiered on the road. The idea was that the band would be able to record well–rehearsed songs quicker and cheaper than coming up with arrangements in the studio, like they did with Loaded.
What happens next is up for debate; it’s possible that the record was intended to be a Doug Yule solo record, it’s possible that Polydor always intended to release it as a VU album and it’s possible that both are have an element of truth.
Regardless. Tucker, Alexander and Powers were all sent back to the States and Yule was retained in the UK. Sesnick had a habit of misleading people. It as been implied that he told the rest of the band that they were sacked and he told Doug that they had all quit. Either way, Yule recorded Squeeze as the lone Velvet Underground member with session musicians filling in the studio. Deep Purple‘s Iain Paice is reportedly on drums, although Paice claims not to remember the sessions
“I heard the tape, I don’t think it actually sounds like me. I have no recollection of the session. I might have played on some of the tracks at some point. But it definitely doesn’t sound like me.” Ian Paice, Deep Purple. Mojo Feb 2000
Paice not remembering the sessions might seem a little strange. However, this is once more evidence that the Velvet Underground were not a band of high stature, regarded like they are today. Plus, it should be noted that Ian Paice recorded a lot of sessions in his time. However, Yule has confirmed that he did in fact work with Paice.
‘I was very much caught up in my own hubris at the time, I so full of ‘Ok, here I am, I’m in England, I’m recording, I’m working with Ian Paice of Deep Purple’. Doug Yule, Perfect Sound Forever 1995
The music itself has been derided over the years. In the last decade or so it has come to be viewed in a more favourable light. The accepted narrative will tell you that reviews panned Squeeze but once again the accepted narrative lies through its banana shaped arse.
I think most fans see the Powers / Alexander line up of the VU as a legitimate evolution of the group. They were certainly seen as legitimate enough to support the likes of Alice Cooper and Buddy Miles. However once again Yule had a record to promote and now he didn’t even have a band. Here’s where the bones of contention mainly lie in the hardcore Velvet devotees. In 1972 Yule recruited Rob Norris, George Kay and Mark Nauseef (check out Nauseef’s career; an award winning percussionist and a sometime member of Thin Lizzy, Dio’s Elf and The Ian Gillan Band. He’s also recorded with Jack Bruce, Gary Moore, Andy Summers, Carlos Santana and a fuck ton of others. You could argue he has been creatively the most successful VU member outside of Reed and Cale and you’d be right). In order to retain legitimacy, both Sterling in Moe were both offered places in the band by Sesnic but refused.
‘Sesnick took me aside and told me that Polydor wanted to release Doug’s record as the fifth Velvets album and would line up another European tour. The band would consist of Doug, Sterling, Mo and Me. Maureen came by a few times to jam and to visit with Steve and his wife Penny, but when it was learned that Sterling wasn’t interested in touring Mo changed her mind’ Rob Norris, I Was a Velveteen, Kicks Fanzine 1978
What is true is that the press of 1972 where pretty much on-board with this line up of The Velvet Underground. Copies of Squeeze were promoted in newspaper columns in reviews and offered up as competition prizes. The modern opinion is that the band and the album was instantly derided by the press and the public saw through it all as sham. This isn’t true. While most contemporaneous reviews of the album are mediocre, there is also the odd one that shines.
The Evening Post reviewed the record thusly; “Squeeze kills any suggestion that when Lou Reed walked out the group was hit by creative bankruptcy. The band has parted but not before putting this surprising joyous piece of rock carefully together”
There’s a couple of stand-out songs on Squeeze. Both Friends and Wordless would fit in nicely on Loaded.
mp3 : The Velvet Underground – Friends
mp3: The Velvet Underground – Wordless
I once asked John Cale what he thought of the fact that the band Squeeze who he produced was named after the Doug Yule album. He harrumphed and pretended I asked a different question about how good the musicians were. We’ve not spoken since.
According to Rob Norris, Sesnick was claiming that he owned the name of the Velvet Underground which is possible if he registered the trademark, since he also reportedly signed a publishing deal on Yule’s behalf, never told him about and pocketed the advance money. It’s also worth remembering that Sesnick was prone to bullshitting people. For Doug the tour was an easy choice.
“I got a call from Sesnick who said ‘There’s some people who want to do a tour, do you want to go to England as the Velvet Underground?’ ‘Sure I’d love to’ I said, ‘I don’t want to be a carpenter, I want to be a musician!’. So we put together a band, that was the last one with Rob Norris, the drummer who’s name I can’t remember” Doug Yule, Perfect Sounds Forever 1995
Like his behaviour with skimming Yule’s publishing advance, it seems the tour was little more than a cash grab by Sesnick for the up-front money that promoters would pay. In blunt terms the Velvet Underground had been asset stripped.
“We went over there and we got into London, with the same people that we had worked with before, and as soon as we walked in (to the airport), there was nobody there to meet us. Sesnick didn’t turn up and we didn’t have any money or any hotel. So we were stranded in the middle of London” Doug Yule, Perfect Sounds Forever 1995
Striking a deal with a promoter for another advance, Yule’s Velvet Underground toured the UK for nine shows in 1972 playing such establishments as St David’s University in Lampeter, Wales and the Northamptonshire County Cricket Club (nothing says big time like County Cricket Club). A show at the Top Rank in Cardiff, Wales was featured on the same newspaper advert as a Lou Reed show. This proved not to be the only notable thing about the gig in Wales;
“We had one really rough time in Cardiff. The club was supposed to pay us cash up front and they didn’t, and our road manager said, ‘Well, then they’re not going to play.’ We were in the dressing room and this real sleazy, low-brow guy with the club went on-stage and got these skinhead types all revved up, like ‘Well, they’re here but our money’s not good enough for them.’ They came after us and tried to bang down the door. It was George Kay who said, ‘Shit-ass punks aren’t gonna bother us, we’re gonna go out that door, we’re gonna get in the car and get out of here, and they’re not even gonna touch us”. We formed a ‘V’ with the guitar cases, burst the door down and moved through the crowd, and they didn’t bother us. But I was fearing for my life.” – Rob Norris Mojo, Feb 2000
(From Lou to the VU – Top Rank Cardiff show)
Trouble aside, this even more diluted line up of the Velvet Underground, who still weren’t seen as anything other than legitimate. Once again, the public wanted a Velvet Underground and they got one. Although it must have been quite jarring to find a Velvet Undergroud show advertised on the same page as a Lou Reed show in the Melody Maker, November 4, 1972
“I don’t know why people didn’t go ‘Where’s Lou’ or ‘Where’s Cale’ or ‘What is this’ but they didn’t. The shows were good” Rob Norris, Mojo Feb 2000
Although in more recent times, Doug Yule has been slightly more critical of his actions. Perhaps as his stock has increased with the fans, he’s allowed himself some realignment.
“The band (of 1972) was literally assembled in an afternoon. It was available. That’s one I consider a cash-in trip.” Doug Yule. Mojo, Feb 2000
In 1973 Doug, George Kay, Billy Yule and a guitarist called Don Silverman found themselves playing around the New England area as The Velvet Underground. There’s an oft told tale that they were supposed to be billed as Doug Yule from The Velvet Underground but promoters would shorten the name. Sounds plausible but it’s interesting that in the recorded show that survives from Oliver’s Venue in Boston, Doug doesn’t correct the billing mistake from the stage.
The semi legal boxset ‘The Final VU’ documents the line ups of the band from 1971 until 1973. It shows several decent bands and when the Velvet Underground may have become had the Squeeze album been a success.
Thanks to Lou Reed’s success in the early 1970s, the Velvet Underground gained interest from a larger market. While Reed’s live versions of Velvet songs from Rock and Roll Animal and Lou Reed live are credited with bringing VU songs to a wider audience, it’s the success of Transformer that can be classed as the Year Zero of the re-appraisal of the Velvet Underground. Reed’s success also contributed to mythos of the Squeeze era band being a ‘rip off’
“From what I understand Lou Reed was not real happy about this because he was over there and we were kinda following in his footsteps. He was doing the Transformer tour, and I think he thought what we were doing was pretty much a bunch of bullshit. Which I think was kind of accurate from his perspective.”Rob Norris, Mojo Feb 2000
The point is, had Reed not become a massive 1970s star, the Velvet Underground would be loved today by about the same amount of people who loved them in 1970. Absolutely no one would care that Doug Yule toured with multiple musicians and recorded a solo record under their name. In fact, the fans of the VU would point to Fairport Convention, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Deep Purple, The Byrds and many others and say ‘Yup, that’s what bands did back then’
‘We toured all over England, played also in France, and places like that – and nobody ever said ‘hey, where’s everyone else? There was no complaining from anybody on the road, that this was not the real Velvet Underground. When we finished, we all counted ourselves lucky and went home. That was the last thing that the Velvet Underground officially did.” Doug Yule, Perfect Sound Forever 1995
Not only did the VU probably invent punk (sorry Stooges, MC5, NY Dolls. But they fucking did), but they were the very first of the bands that annoying hipsters could say ‘I liked them before they were cool’.
So, I put it to you had Squeeze been a success and Transformer not so much, then we would view Lou Reed the same way we look at Peter Green or Peter Gabriel. Doug Yule is the Buckingham / Nicks line-up of the Velvet Underground that never quite happened.
Ron Norris’ account of his VU life can be found here https://planetwaves.net/pdf/velveteen-norris.pdf It sometimes contradicts the stories that have come out since but it is an interesting footnote of history.
STEVE McLEAN
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 