- Squeeze (Velvet Underground album)
Infobox Album |
Name = Squeeze
Type =Album
Artist =The Velvet Underground
Released = February 1973
Recorded = 1972 inLondon ,England
Genre =Rock and roll
Length = 33:30
Label =Polydor
Producer =The Velvet Underground
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|1|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:67n20rjac48v link] |
Last album = "Live at Max's Kansas City "
(1972)
This album = "Squeeze"
(1973)
Next album = ""
(1974)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption =
Type = Studio album
Lower caption = Back cover"Squeeze" was the fifth and last studio
album to be released under the Velvet Underground name. It was primarily written and recorded bysinger -guitarist Doug Yule in aLondon recording studio , following the departures ofLou Reed andSterling Morrison . DrummerMaureen Tucker , while still technically a member of the band at this time, was not involved in the recording, reportedly due to cost-cutting measures.About the album
The Velvet Underground — which at that time consisted of Doug Yule (vocals/
guitar ),Willie Alexander (keyboards/vocals),Walter Powers (bass guitar ) andMaureen Tucker (drums) — had toured theUnited Kingdom andThe Netherlands in October and November 1971 to support its latest album, "Loaded", which had seen aEurope an release in March of that year. The plan was to record a second and final album for their record company,Atlantic Records , afterwards, ref|record but Atlantic had lost faith and decided to issue an archive recording from 1970 featuringLou Reed , "Live at Max's Kansas City ", instead. ref|faithAfter the tour, band manager
Steve Sesnick managed to get a recording deal withPolydor UK to record a final Velvet Underground album. Alexander, Powers and Tucker were sent back to theUnited States by Sesnick, however, presumably to retain maximum control over the finished product. ref|sent Thus, Yule was the only Velvet to actually perform on the album. Although "Squeeze" was released nominally as a Velvet Underground album, it could justifiably be regarded as a Doug Yule solo album in all but name.The eleven songs that make up "Squeeze" were written by Yule and recorded with the help of
Deep Purple drummerIan Paice , with additional occasional saxophone and backing singer assistance. They range from Beatles-like whimsy ("Crash") via pop to typical 70s rock ("Mean Old Man")."Squeeze" was recorded in the autumn of 1972 and released in the United Kingdom,
France ,Germany (all 1973) andSpain (1974)ref|sp. No singles were taken off it and the album did not chart. Yule assembled a backing band consisting ofRob Norris (guitar), George Kay (bass guitar) andMark Nauseef (drums) to tour the United Kingdom in November and December 1972 to promote the upcoming album; a live recording from this tour is included on the 2001 livebox set "Final V.U. 1971-1973 ". After the tour, during which they were deserted by Sesnick, Yule also called it quits, bringing the Velvet Underground to an endref|final."Squeeze" saw a number of re-issues in France during the 1970s and early 1980s. It has been out of print since, and has not been issued on
compact disc . The status of "Squeeze" in the Velvet Underground's recorded canon is generally regarded as dubious; the 1995 Velvets boxed set "Peel Slowly and See " includes the four studio albums from the Lou Reed era of the band, but excludes "Squeeze". In the "Peel Slowly and See" liner notes,David Fricke dismisses "Squeeze" as "an embarrassment to the VU discography."Influence on others
Perhaps the most notable effect this album had on other musicians is that
Chris Difford ,Glenn Tilbrook ,Jools Holland , andPaul Gunn decided to name their band "Squeeze " as a tribute to this album.Track listing
All songs written by Doug Yule.
ide A
# "Little Jack" – 3:25
# "Crash" – 1:21
# "Caroline" – 2:34
# "Mean Old Man" – 2:52
# "Dopey Joe" – 3:06
# "Wordless" – 3:00ide B
# "She'll Make You Cry" – 2:43
# "Friends" – 2:37
# "Send No Letter" – 3:11
# "Jack & Jane" – 2:53
# "Louise" – 5:43Personnel
*
Doug Yule – lead vocal,guitar , keyboards,bass guitar , producerAdditional musicians
* "Malcolm" –
saxophone (possiblyMalcolm Duncan [http://akson.sgh.waw.pl/~kg23187/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=903&start=36] )
*Ian Paice – drums
* Unidentified female backing vocalsNotes
# Willie Alexander interviewed by Henry Daniels in "Velvet Underground", originally published by "
Frendz " onOctober 5 ,1971 , republished on [http://home.hetnet.nl/~macplurkis/vu/index.html Foggy Notion: a Velvet Underground Web Corner] .
# Doug Yule interviewed by persons unknown in "Velvet Underground ist wieder da", originally published in "Sounds" #34, November/December 1971, republished by [http://www.thomas-oestreicher.de/vu/sounds/ Thomas Östreicher] .
# Willie Alexander interviewed by Arjan de Weerd in "Despite All the Amputations, the Name of This Band Is Velvet Underground", originally published in July 2005 on [http://home.hetnet.nl/~macplurkis/vu/index.html Foggy Notion: a Velvet Underground Web Corner] .
# As listed onOlivier Landemaine 's [http://members.aol.com/olandem/vu.html Velvet Underground Web Page] discography pages for [http://members.aol.com/olandem4/odlpuk.html the UK] , [http://members.aol.com/olandem5/odlpfr.html France] , [http://members.aol.com/olandem6/odlpge.html Germany] and [http://members.aol.com/olandem4/odlpsp.html Spain] .
# According toDoug Yule in hisliner notes to the "Final V.U. 1971-1973 "box set (2001).External links
* [http://bobchaos.com/squeeze/squeeze1.html Velvet Underground Squeeze] , site devoted to the album
* [http://home.hetnet.nl/~macplurkis/VU/Index.html Foggy Notion, a Velvet Underground web corner]
* [http://members.aol.com/olandem/vu.html The Velvet Underground Web Page]
* [http://www.thevelvetforum.tk/ The Velvet Forum] , a V.U. discussion forum
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