Counterfactuals: Would "Loaded" have been better if Lou Reed had taken lead vocals on all the tracks?

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Well?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

No. I think Doug's voice works really well on the tracks he sings on.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

amateurist, have you ever heard a late-era VU bootleg????

well have you?!?!?!?!

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Reed's vocals/lyrics are often the weakest things in the Velvets' catalog. His affectations could be really grating, or just silly.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I like Lou Reed's voice; I love it actually, particularly later on with records like "The Bells", but I also love the variety with Doug singing on Loaded.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

amateurist, have you ever heard a late-era VU bootleg????

there are bootleg where lou sings "who loves the sun" and "oh! sweet nuthin"?

ts: doug yule vs. david palmer

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh Sweet Nuthin is SOOOOO good. I bet Reed would've ruined it by making it more snarly/less pretty.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

not even bootlegs! fully loaded bonus disc has lou's alt. vocal on "oh sweet nuthin"

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

is the Lou version in the Box Set? I don't remember hearing that.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

no the fully loaded 2xCD on Rhino.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

If you've ever heard 1969 Live then you will never go back to listening to Doug sing "New Age".

― Maxwell von Bismarck (maxwell von bismarck), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

the part in Sweet Jane where he goes "watch me now!" slays me every time.

― Daniel DiMAGGIO (Daniel DiMAGGIO), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm in full agreement with the last two posts.

― Bimble (bimble), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:20 (twenty-one years ago)

And yes, I feel Lou should have done all the vocals on Loaded.

― Bimble (bimble), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I love Doug's vocal on "Who Loves the Sun", but I haven't heard the bootlegs with Lou singing.
Those overly sweet melodies seem much better suited to Doug's voice, (i.e. "Candy Says").

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I dig Yule, but Loaded would have been better without his brother's contributions. Yay Mo.

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

so why exactly is Yule pretty much written out of VU history? It seems like his contributions are always sidelined, he wasn't invited to the reunion, he's never interviewed for reissues or the box set, etc. He's the invisible member. Is it just that releasing "Squeeze" was an unforgiveable sin (I've never heard it so I wouldn't know). Or do the others all hate him or something? In discussing VU people always trot out Cale as the essential sideman, even though over the course of their career, Yule played on more stuff than Cale...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been listening to this album for more than 10 years and this is news to me that it's not Lou singing on this stuff. I guess I assumed he just made his voice sweeter somehow (like Dylan's transformation on 'Nashville Skyline'). I can hear it in my head now though, the difference.

― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

that picture of Lou hearing Loaded for the first time in that one book is hilarious.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Either/Or. I like Doug's singing on "Who Loves The Sun" and "Oh Sweet Nothin", not so much on "New Age" and "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", and have always despised every second of "I Found A Reason". Actually I'm ambivalent about Doug in general: I preferred the harder-edged John Cale edition, and that 3rd LP is easily my least favourite, but the singing on "Candy Says" and "Sweet Nothin" is just gorgeous.

Waitin' for Nate to rhyme in.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

answer my question somebody!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

so why exactly is Yule pretty much written out of VU history?
Isn't this always the case when the original lineup reforms? i.e. Kiss?

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't mean just the reunion, I mean *everywhere*. I've seen countless interviews w/all the other Velvets, but no one ever seems to care what Yule thinks or remembers - Doug is never included in retrospective pieces, his playing/singing is always dismissed, Cale is always viewed as the essential sideman (is it just cuz Cale went on to have a decent post-Velvets' career?)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.furious.com/perfect/yule.html

there was an equally as engaging article in the sfbg many moons ago.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

wow cool! gimme a minute to read that.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Reunion or not ... does anyone care about what the non-original members thought about being in Kiss? Do they ever get interviewed?

But in the specific case of the VU, after Cale left the band's history became tremendously boring in comparison. From 1965-1968 it was all busking "Heroin" on the streets of Harlem, hooking up with Warhol, affairs with starlets, etc. And 1969- it was just touring, touring, touring, make a couple more albums, change labels, break up.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 20:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Reunion or not ... does anyone care about what the non-original members thought about being in Kiss? Do they ever get interviewed?

Here's a Bruce Kulick interview from 1999.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

so why exactly is Yule pretty much written out of VU history?

Because there are 4 members of the VU, and Yule ain't one of them.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

revisionist

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Jimmy Nicol to thread oh good one

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 23:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i am a yule fan. cale had his moments but he was also a fuckhead, or so his autobiography would lead one to think

― the surface noise for the sake of noise (electricsound), Thursday, 3 June 2004 06:59 (twenty years ago)

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