Track listing
- A1 Little Jack 3:25
- A2 Crash 1:21
- A3 Caroline 2:34
- A4 Mean Old Man 2:52
- A5 Dopey Joe 3:06
- A6 Wordless 3:01
- B1 She'll Make You Cry 2:43
- B2 Friends 2:37
- B3 Send No Letter 3:12
- B4 Jack & Jane 2:57
- B5 Louise 5:43
- Total length: 33:31
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Review
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7 Issues
108 Reviews
Saying this is a bad album would be a paradox. Then again, saying this is The Velvet Underground would also be a paradox. This album is a knock-off version of Loaded, thanks to the bright minded producers that were so sure that knocking Lou Reed off the band would lead to the band's instant success. In knocking off Reed (although you may say that some of the responsibilities for getting out of the band were his) they knocked off one of the world's most talented and original songwriters ever. In fact, without Sterling Morrison, Moe Tucker and John Cale (he had already left the band a while ago), all we have left is Doug Yule.
Doug Yule had joined the band after Cale had been kicked out by Lou Reed. Up to a certain point, Reed loved Yule, they were friends and Reed didn't even mind giving him some of his songs to sing on VU's records. Then, perhaps out of Reed's paranoid brought on by his notorious drug abuse, he started thinking that Yule wanted to take over the band, and eventually kick him out. Whether it was the drugs or not, this is almost what happened. In reality, I believe that Yule had no real choice. I also believe that Yule never quite fit in for the rest of the band, and in addition to that, actually admired the work of Lou Reed. And I don't know whether it's for this reason or because of producer's demands, but seeing him try to reproduce the wonderful work Reed had done of Loaded is even almost cute. I mean, listen to Dopey Joe and you'll see what I mean.
True, this album seems to be almost sacriligious, as it steps over everything that the Velvet Underground had created, and steps over their initial concept, that I find to be destruction through recreation. With Loaded, their most commercial work, if you don't count this and I suggest you don't anyways, they had also brought about a fresh new wave of happy swing tunes that hid hints of sadness, paranoia and the whole lot. Not to mention that most of the tracks on Loaded were solid gold, built widely around the ideal Reed three chord rock and roll structure, and in their simplicities as such, Rock and Roll and Sweet Jane are among the best rock and roll songs ever written. The album had been unsuccesful. So here is something else that shows how stupid those producers were. Why make an even cheesier version of an album that had been unsuccesful to begin with? Well, the quality of the tracks really doesn't explain this.
Don't get me wrong, all the tracks in this album are forgettable but never brutal or awful. Sometimes annoying. Personally, I can't stand Louise, and not just because it's such blatant plagiarism of the George Harrison song in The White Album by the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Little Jack also pretty annoying, because it's one of those tracks where Yule tries too hard to be Reed but just doesn't have the skils, and by that I mostly mean of interpretation, because Yule does have the voice of an innocent angel, which also makes it harder for us to believe him when he refers to drugs and a mean and rough lifestyle. Some songs are alright, Caroline is probably the best track, and it also seems to be the one where the most work was put in during the recording of the album. It's some more of that happy swing stuff, but it seems to suit Yule's voice better that Little Jack. She'll Make You Cry is nice, but is so mediocre compared to a song like, say, Who Loves the Sun. Jack and Jane is pretty good, although you get tired of the melody in it, as it just becomes repetitive, and what is with the fade out and then the restarting of the song?
SQUEEZE - This is not the Velvet Underground, perhaps a Velvet Underground knock-off. Yet, what can I say, it's not as bad as most two star albums, really, the problem here lies in the fact that it's so forgettable, but most importantly that, no offense to Doug Yule, but with this record, producers kind of either didn't get at all or completely ignored all the revolutionary music that Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Moe Tucker had made with the real Velvet Underground, and even what they had done after Cale's departure. Either give it a miss, or get it to complete the collection, although it's hard to find, and that kind of says a lot.
KEY TRACK - Caroline
Doug Yule had joined the band after Cale had been kicked out by Lou Reed. Up to a certain point, Reed loved Yule, they were friends and Reed didn't even mind giving him some of his songs to sing on VU's records. Then, perhaps out of Reed's paranoid brought on by his notorious drug abuse, he started thinking that Yule wanted to take over the band, and eventually kick him out. Whether it was the drugs or not, this is almost what happened. In reality, I believe that Yule had no real choice. I also believe that Yule never quite fit in for the rest of the band, and in addition to that, actually admired the work of Lou Reed. And I don't know whether it's for this reason or because of producer's demands, but seeing him try to reproduce the wonderful work Reed had done of Loaded is even almost cute. I mean, listen to Dopey Joe and you'll see what I mean.
True, this album seems to be almost sacriligious, as it steps over everything that the Velvet Underground had created, and steps over their initial concept, that I find to be destruction through recreation. With Loaded, their most commercial work, if you don't count this and I suggest you don't anyways, they had also brought about a fresh new wave of happy swing tunes that hid hints of sadness, paranoia and the whole lot. Not to mention that most of the tracks on Loaded were solid gold, built widely around the ideal Reed three chord rock and roll structure, and in their simplicities as such, Rock and Roll and Sweet Jane are among the best rock and roll songs ever written. The album had been unsuccesful. So here is something else that shows how stupid those producers were. Why make an even cheesier version of an album that had been unsuccesful to begin with? Well, the quality of the tracks really doesn't explain this.
Don't get me wrong, all the tracks in this album are forgettable but never brutal or awful. Sometimes annoying. Personally, I can't stand Louise, and not just because it's such blatant plagiarism of the George Harrison song in The White Album by the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Little Jack also pretty annoying, because it's one of those tracks where Yule tries too hard to be Reed but just doesn't have the skils, and by that I mostly mean of interpretation, because Yule does have the voice of an innocent angel, which also makes it harder for us to believe him when he refers to drugs and a mean and rough lifestyle. Some songs are alright, Caroline is probably the best track, and it also seems to be the one where the most work was put in during the recording of the album. It's some more of that happy swing stuff, but it seems to suit Yule's voice better that Little Jack. She'll Make You Cry is nice, but is so mediocre compared to a song like, say, Who Loves the Sun. Jack and Jane is pretty good, although you get tired of the melody in it, as it just becomes repetitive, and what is with the fade out and then the restarting of the song?
SQUEEZE - This is not the Velvet Underground, perhaps a Velvet Underground knock-off. Yet, what can I say, it's not as bad as most two star albums, really, the problem here lies in the fact that it's so forgettable, but most importantly that, no offense to Doug Yule, but with this record, producers kind of either didn't get at all or completely ignored all the revolutionary music that Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale and Moe Tucker had made with the real Velvet Underground, and even what they had done after Cale's departure. Either give it a miss, or get it to complete the collection, although it's hard to find, and that kind of says a lot.
KEY TRACK - Caroline
Published
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Sometimes, people need to know when to shut the fuck up. This is one of those times.
It isn't Yule's fault that Lou walked away: When a frontperson abandons a project without formally saying "This is it, legally, you can't continue, I'll fight you if you use this name again", s/he has no right to complain about what happens to the name. My God, this isn't as bad as the Beach Boys without Brian Wilson or The Clash minus Mick Jones, people: It's very sweet middle-of-the-road 70s jukebox boogie tunes inspired by early 20th century pop jazz, and if you don't like it, tough shit. Yeah, The VU's perspective tends to be a lot deeper philosophically, at times promoting nihilism and describing wacky stories about paid sex and inadvertently cutting a man's head open, but tough shit, and while I know that anytime a band changes this much backlash should be expected... c'est la vie, save your anger for when you lose a close friend or family member to negligence or your kid ends up on hard drugs, please.
I'm happy as hell to see that Lou seems to have forgiven Doug, and if you're a fan, it's your time to do that, too. You don't actually have the right to be angry, anyway. And neither did Lou, if he truly was.
This is a hell of a lot more even than Loaded, I can tell you that.
It isn't Yule's fault that Lou walked away: When a frontperson abandons a project without formally saying "This is it, legally, you can't continue, I'll fight you if you use this name again", s/he has no right to complain about what happens to the name. My God, this isn't as bad as the Beach Boys without Brian Wilson or The Clash minus Mick Jones, people: It's very sweet middle-of-the-road 70s jukebox boogie tunes inspired by early 20th century pop jazz, and if you don't like it, tough shit. Yeah, The VU's perspective tends to be a lot deeper philosophically, at times promoting nihilism and describing wacky stories about paid sex and inadvertently cutting a man's head open, but tough shit, and while I know that anytime a band changes this much backlash should be expected... c'est la vie, save your anger for when you lose a close friend or family member to negligence or your kid ends up on hard drugs, please.
I'm happy as hell to see that Lou seems to have forgiven Doug, and if you're a fan, it's your time to do that, too. You don't actually have the right to be angry, anyway. And neither did Lou, if he truly was.
This is a hell of a lot more even than Loaded, I can tell you that.
Published
Much better than White Light/White Heat for me. There are a good many weak tracks, but the hits make up for it for me.
Hits: Crash, Caroline, She'll Make You Cry, Friends, Jack and Jane
Hits: Crash, Caroline, She'll Make You Cry, Friends, Jack and Jane
Published
Please....if this were recorded by some band in rural West Virginia in 1972 and the tapes were just discovered in someone's basement, people would be screaming "lost classic!!" and it would get a re-release on Repertoire.
It's not great, but it's not awful. It's an ok album...like so many other albums.
It's not great, but it's not awful. It's an ok album...like so many other albums.
Published
Hey - this isn't too bad at all!!
Recalling late 60s Kinks and McCartney tunes, Doug Yules solo-record under the nicker of ex-60s-protoPunks tVU really isn't the best record around, but give it a chance, and it'll be a pleasna listen.
Don't compare it to VU records though - it's not a VU record, except for the title...
Oh, and Billy Corgan still does the same with the Pumpkins.
Recalling late 60s Kinks and McCartney tunes, Doug Yules solo-record under the nicker of ex-60s-protoPunks tVU really isn't the best record around, but give it a chance, and it'll be a pleasna listen.
Don't compare it to VU records though - it's not a VU record, except for the title...
Oh, and Billy Corgan still does the same with the Pumpkins.
Published
I passed on this album back in 1987 at a used record store, and I'm kicking myself ever since. I now have a poor dubbed cassette copy which serves as my only piece of Velvet Underground history. I've read a lot about this final V.U. album and what I came across quite a few times was Maureen Tucker saying Doug Yule was impossible to work with at this time. When he first joined V.U. he was quite the upstart kid with ideas and talent. By the time Lou quit for good after the show at Max's Kansas City in 1970, Yule went into overdrive and wanted to run the show with or without Maureen. The only players on this album is Doug Yule on everything except drums, which was provided by one, Ian Paice, Deep Purple's left-handed time keeper. It was stated that Deep Purple had been through a transition period between the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lp and
turning into the "heavy metal legends" of DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK lp. Ian was in town and was asked by a friend of a studio engineer to lay down some rhythm tracks which ended up being everything Maureen would have played.
This album, from what I can hear on my scratchy tape, is amazing. Nothing like Lou Reed-era V.U.
It's like a post-psych unknown lp you run into at a thrift store for 50c.
There's no feeling like hearing this album for the very first time!
turning into the "heavy metal legends" of DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK lp. Ian was in town and was asked by a friend of a studio engineer to lay down some rhythm tracks which ended up being everything Maureen would have played.
This album, from what I can hear on my scratchy tape, is amazing. Nothing like Lou Reed-era V.U.
It's like a post-psych unknown lp you run into at a thrift store for 50c.
There's no feeling like hearing this album for the very first time!
Published
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I've gotta step in on this one - 54th worst album of all time, RYM? Really? On the Worst 100 list, there are plenty of albums that belong - THE WEIRDNESS, Lou Reed's MISTRIAL, Crazy Frog, etc. But SQUEEZE? Now you're just offending my delicate sensibilities. Give it a rest, posers.
So it doesn't have the original members of the Velvet Underground on it, fine. Funny little piece of music trivia, you know what other album doesn't have any of the original Velvets on it? OK COMPUTER. Also, it turns out none of the original group actually show up anywhere on LONDON CALLING, either - not even Nico! (But imagine if any of them did….holy moly.)
There are tons of reasons to like this album: “Crash”, “Wordless”, “She’ll Make You Cry”…all terrific Nilsson-esque 70s pop songs. True, none of them are “Sister Ray”, but there’s plenty of tunes on here that I’d take over some of the filler tracks on any of the four proper VU albums. Gimme “Louise” over “Train Round The Bend” or “The Murder Mystery” any day.
Give Doug Yule a rest, already. What do you want from the guy? So he had a talent for arranging and writing a halfway decent pop song. What was he supposed to do, not record albums because he wasn't into atonal viola feedback? As a Doug Yule solo album, I'll stack this up any day next to some of the bullshit that Lou or John Cale put out during this same era. I wish he'd made a few more of these, instead of getting reamed out by Velvets fanboys for the last 35 years. Ever heard of THE RAVEN? Now there's an record with a place in the 100 Worst Albums of All Time list.
And the cover? One of the all-time greatest album covers ever. Lou Reed WISHES he thought of a cover as cool as a huge black hand jerking off the Empire State Building in the sky. AWESOME.
Admittedly, this is more of a solid three-star album in reality, but for this one and only time I feel compelled to break RYM’s honor-system protocol and inflate the rating here on principle. Give credit where credit is due. Here's to a reissue of this at some point in our lifetime.
So it doesn't have the original members of the Velvet Underground on it, fine. Funny little piece of music trivia, you know what other album doesn't have any of the original Velvets on it? OK COMPUTER. Also, it turns out none of the original group actually show up anywhere on LONDON CALLING, either - not even Nico! (But imagine if any of them did….holy moly.)
There are tons of reasons to like this album: “Crash”, “Wordless”, “She’ll Make You Cry”…all terrific Nilsson-esque 70s pop songs. True, none of them are “Sister Ray”, but there’s plenty of tunes on here that I’d take over some of the filler tracks on any of the four proper VU albums. Gimme “Louise” over “Train Round The Bend” or “The Murder Mystery” any day.
Give Doug Yule a rest, already. What do you want from the guy? So he had a talent for arranging and writing a halfway decent pop song. What was he supposed to do, not record albums because he wasn't into atonal viola feedback? As a Doug Yule solo album, I'll stack this up any day next to some of the bullshit that Lou or John Cale put out during this same era. I wish he'd made a few more of these, instead of getting reamed out by Velvets fanboys for the last 35 years. Ever heard of THE RAVEN? Now there's an record with a place in the 100 Worst Albums of All Time list.
And the cover? One of the all-time greatest album covers ever. Lou Reed WISHES he thought of a cover as cool as a huge black hand jerking off the Empire State Building in the sky. AWESOME.
Admittedly, this is more of a solid three-star album in reality, but for this one and only time I feel compelled to break RYM’s honor-system protocol and inflate the rating here on principle. Give credit where credit is due. Here's to a reissue of this at some point in our lifetime.
Published
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A1
Little Jack
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A2
Crash
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A3
Caroline
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A4
Mean Old Man
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A5
Dopey Joe
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A6
Wordless
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B1
She'll Make You Cry
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B2
Friends
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B3
Send No Letter
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B4
Jack and Jane
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B5
Louise
By mid-1972, Yule begins work on a solo album, although Sesnick pressures him into making it into a "new" Velvet Underground album, not including Tucker or the others. During Summer and Fall of 1972 Yule records _Squeeze_, playing all the instruments except drums, which are played by Ian Paice of Deep Purple.
Released in 1973, only in England, France and Spain on Polydor, _Squeeze_ is not as bad as one would think, although it is by far the weakest to ever wear the Velvet Underground name. The best track is a ballad called "Friends" which is similar to some of the ballads off of _Loaded_, while some of the others (such as "Caroline" and "She'll Make You Cry") resemble their circa 1969 material featured on the _VU_ outtake album. Lyrically it is quite evident that Yule has not the maturity or the skill of Lou Reed or John Cale, although instrumentally he is quite impressive, although the very studio oriented recording procedure makes the album seem a little more mechanical and produced than the previous full band albums. An obvious problem with _Squeeze_ is, while the other albums provided some sort of stimulation, even at their most commercial moments on _Loaded_ and _The Velvet Underground_, _Squeeze_ does not really stimulate the listener and often comes off like a characture of a once great band. Yule would have best kept within the Velvet Underground tradition with making a quality, well thought out album rather than linking it to their history with titles such as "Jack and Jane" which obviously refers to the protagonists on _Loaded's_ and the Velvet Underground's most known song "Sweet Jane." Again with Reed being the primary song writer on all the other albums, it is difficult for one to expect Yule to fill such large shoes. After the release of _Squeeze_ Sesnick sent Yule and some backing musicians on a 1973 European tour to support the album which turned out to be a disaster which finally put a long overdue end to this once great band which was prematurely turning into a nostalgia act.
Yule later resurfaced in 1975 with former Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears member Steve Katz in American Flyer which recorded several albums in the mid 70's. Unfortunately, despite its drawbacks, this album has never seen the light of day on CD, not to mention the only country to ever see a reissue was France in the early 80's. This album is certainly worth having if nothing more than for historical perspective, especially for any fan of the Velvet Underground, granted you can find it at a realistic price.
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Catalog
2 Jun 2024
1 Jun 2024
31 May 2024
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A1
Little Jack
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A2
Crash
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A3
Caroline
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A4
Mean Old Man
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A5
Dopey Joe
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A6
Wordless
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B1
She'll Make You Cry
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B2
Friends
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B3
Send No Letter
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B4
Jack & Jane
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B5
Louise
31 May 2024
31 May 2024
30 May 2024
29 May 2024
29 May 2024
28 May 2024
27 May 2024
27 May 2024
27 May 2024
26 May 2024
26 May 2024
26 May 2024
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