the velvet underground's "squeeze"

captain trip releases a box of live performances from this period a couple of years ago. i'd really love to see some sales figures on that.

I do reckon it would be much more highly rated if it hadn't been put out as a VU album.

Wow, I forgot what thread I was posting to for a moment.

for instance: bob dylan's 'self-portrait'

i'd still like to listen to 'squeeze' one day. bad record or not, the album cover sure is pretty.

name some notriously ill-recieved albums and whether they deserve the reputation they have

great sub-thread idea. any other suggestions?

You know, fuck it. I've had this on tape for a while, and lately I've been playing it in the car a lot. It's a perfectly great album. Guitar breaks on "Little Jack" alone are worth the price of admission. Fuck you Lou Reed and your over-hyped band. Not saying this is better than anything VU did, but it's an album that people should hear.

I really do like this album

Fuck you Lou Reed and your over-hyped band.
haha, easy there, tiger. But i agree, this is a perfectly good album -- I think it's too bad it wasn't just released as a Doug Yule solo record, which I think is what Doug thought it was when he was making it. Could've given his name a boost and maybe we'd have more Doug Yule music today. Guy was super talented!

I really wanted to like this album, I love Dougie and all his works, but it just isn't very good. Not terrible, just bland and unmemorable.

I love, love, love the fact that Little Jack and Louise made the cut:

http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Underground-Tribute/dp/B003YPNIOS

http://open.spotify.com/album/4HpQ89feMK2mwfAKOcyGax

http://media.spincds.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/265x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/q/squeezevelvet.jpg

Squeeze (CD)

by The Velvet Underground

Released: 2nd July 2012

UK Velvet Underground Squeeze

The Squeeze remaster turned up on Spotify, I'm not sure when. It sounds pretty great, much much better than my old tape. Definitely in the running for best widely-despised album of all time.

stand by my comments above - if this record had "Doug Yule" on the cover instead of "The Velvet Underground," Light in the Attic would be re-ishing it on fancy vinyl and everyone would be saying it was a lost classic. (not saying it's necessarily AMAZING, but it's not terrible, and a lot worse 70s records get praised to the high heavens)

with a recommendation like that from tylerw I guess it is time to give it another chance

Well I was thinking that myself but, I don't know, it's just a sort of nothing album, it's not bad it's just not that interesting

xp haha, well, don't go in expecting incredible things, but the album isn't worth loathing by any means.
i'd be interested in hearing the version of "friends" that was taped with sterling morrison and moe tucker still in the band (i think it's referred to in the Fully Loaded reissue notes?). that song could be on mccartney or something

First tune starts like "Pinball Wizard" and has a "Sympathy for the Devil" hoo-hoo backing vocal. You sure this isn't World Party?

Didnt Ian Paice drum on this?

that's what it says on the LP, but apparently Paice denies it was him! maybe he just forgot.

stand by my comments above - if this record had "Doug Yule" on the cover instead of "The Velvet Underground," Light in the Attic would be re-ishing it on fancy vinyl and everyone would be saying it was a lost classic. (not saying it's necessarily AMAZING, but it's not terrible, and a lot worse 70s records get praised to the high heavens)

― tylerw, Thursday, 12 December 2013 12:27

Completely agree.

"Friends" is especially great.

I haven’t listened to this in a long time, but I remember thinking when I did finally hear it that what must have been going through Doug’s head at the time was “You know what people want from the VU? More songs like ‘Lonesome Cowboy Bill!’”

It wasn’t up to Doug. The Velvets’ manager, Steve Sesnick, insisted it come out under the Velvet Underground name. And anyway, it’s not a bad record on its own merits (tylerw otm upthread), and is arguably less of a blight on the Velvets discography than Live MCMXCIII. An album with no original members is less embarrassing to their legacy than the underwhelming reunion of all the original members.

“Little Jack”… starts like “Pinball Wizard” and then has some “Sympathy For the Devil” backing vocals…so it paved the way for World Party and “Way Down Now.”

“Tomcat” off Electric Mud sounding pretty good to me though.

You know how "not many people heard the Velvet Underground in their hey-day, but the ones who did started their own band" trope?

Kinda feel like this record was made by the first band who did that!

it's a fascinating record because it comes SO close to being a decent clone of Loaded. but it just totally misses the mark in terms of songcraft. the sound is totally there, all the little details, but the songs are just so anonymous they just pass right through you without leaving a mark. i don't mind listening to the record, but it's just a weird, kind of nothing experience.

Search:

"Friends", the only good track. also check out the Luna cover, which is so dreamy and awesome
"Wordless" is like a 6.75 / 10 track
the coda to "Louise" is pretty nice and scratches a VU itch for sure

Yeah its not a classic but at its worst its just pedestrian. It doesnt deserve the performative opprobrium that it often gets for the unforgivable crime of not featuring any original members of the Velvet Underground (which iirc many good albums do not.) If "Friends" was on a proper VU album it would be up there on lists of people's favorite VU songs. I also dig "She'll Make you Cry" which is good if you just hear it as a forgotten sunshine pop nugget. I have a Loaded playlist that subs those tracks in place of the my least fav Loaded tracks and its a nice improvement imho.

Been said before but the Hackamore Brick album, though far from perfect, is a much better attempt at Loaded era VU than this album.

love da Brick