Todd Haynes makes it clear from the start that this whirlwind tour of the short-lived but immeasurably influential life of this band The Velvet Underground will by-and-large be told using the visual syntax of the band’s peers. Los Angeles, CA ( The Hollywood Times) 10/22/21 – Definitely worth seeing is Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground, a rock ‘n’ roll documentary that doesn’t really follow the normal rules for rock-docs. *** The Fun Facts: According to Chris Difford, the British band Squeeze took their band name from this album, also claiming that he found the record enchanting.Andy Warhol designed cover of first album of the Velvet Undergroundīy Jim Gilles Nico with Andy Warhol at The Factory So yes, Doug Yule was more than a competent bass player, and that leaves Squeeze as nothing more than a series of character studies that lack the phrasing and believability of Lou Reed … meaning that Yule was not merely attempting to extend the life of the band, he was attempting to capitalize on something that was not his to sell. Be that as it may, that still does not make Doug Yule one of the primary architects of The Velvets, even if his collaboration with Reed was a close one. Of course others would counter this by saying that at the end the Velvet Underground was splintered and fragmented, with Cale having dropped out, Maurine Tucker on maternity leave and also disillusioned, Sterling Morrison could be found sitting undefined in the background, leaving more of the day to day activities to Reed and Yule. Here on Squeeze, there is no atmosphere, no direction and no hint that Doug came from ardently one of the most influential bands of all time. Of course the argument that many make is that Yule stepped in proficiently to take the place of John Cale in a trial by fire of sorts, especially when one considers that Yule was asked to lay down the vocals for the opening track “Candy Says.” Though to this reviewer, that only gives more weight to my assumption, because whatever he did, he did with the remaining Velvets to back him up and create his atmosphere. Had the record come out under the banner of any other band name, it would have gone nowhere and been instantly forgotten. Recorded in the UK with no other members from the Lou Reed era Velvet Underground, except multi instrumentalist Doug Yule who managed to secure the band’s name, or stole it, though listeners might just want to consider this a Doug Yule solo project, because he wrote all of the songs and laid down all of the instrumental tracks, with Ian Price of Deep Purple showing up on drums, along with a couple of guests who added saxophone and backup vocals.Īnything one thinks they know of The Velvet Underground flies right out the window on this mostly flat and unlistenable addition, as it is a Velvet Underground release in name only, though all these years later, there are those such as The Huffington Post who claim, “If you pluck it from the shackles of its murky backstory, ‘Squeeze’ is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience.” And there we have it, bury anything in the sand for ten thousand years and it’s going to become priceless, which is the course now being charted by unknown hands for Squeeze, and I say ‘unknown’ because I know of no one who’s listened to this combination of odd pop, rock and charm lacking Beatle-ish material more than once. I’ve no idea why I purchased this album, other than I was in the right place at the right time, and knew that the single dollar that was being asked for this pristine collector’s piece only, was worth far more than all the money I had in my pockets.
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