Final V.U. 1971-1973
Encyclopedia
Final V.U. 1971–1973 is a box set by The Velvet Underground
, comprising live recordings
from after founder and primary songwriter Lou Reed
had left the group. It was released by Japan
ese record company Captain Trip Records in August 2001.
quit the Velvet Underground in August 1970, the band carried on: Doug Yule
assumed leadership of the band and moved to lead vocals and guitar
, and Walter Powers
joined to play bass guitar
. This version of The Velvet Underground, which still featured original member Sterling Morrison
and longtime drummer Maureen Tucker
, played around 30 dates to promote the band's fourth and latest album, Loaded (1970).
Almost a year after Reed's departure, Morrison also left the band; he was replaced by Boston-based keyboardist Willie Alexander
. The band now contained no founding members (although Tucker had been a member since before the recording of the Velvets' debut album). The band then went to tour the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands
, still in support of Loaded, which had had a March 1971 release date in Europe
. Two dates of this tour, November 5, 1971 in London
and November 19 in Amsterdam
, were recorded by members of the audience, and appear as discs one and two of this set, respectively. The Amsterdam concert was also recorded from the soundboard
by Dutch radio station
VPRO
and subsequently broadcast on FM radio. A few tracks from this broadcast were recorded by a fan and appear as tracks 11–14 on disc four of this set.
Once the European tour was completed, initial plans were for the Yule-Alexander-Powers-Tucker line-up to record a new studio album in England. However, band manager Steve Sesnick
sent Alexander, Powers and Tucker back to America, and Yule recorded the album Squeeze backed by session musician
s.
Sesnick then assembled a backing band around Yule to once again tour the United Kingdom in support of Squeeze. Shortly before the tour started, however, Sesnick quit as the Velvets' manager. Yule and the band struggled through the dates, then called it quits. One date of this tour, December 6, 1972, at St David's College, Lampeter
, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc three of this set.
In the spring of 1973 at the urging of a tour manager
, Yule and some friends toured New England
with a new group, which included some Velvet Underground material in their set lists. The tour manager insisted on billing the band as being the Velvet Underground despite demands from Yule not to do so. Yule fired the manager after three dates and the tour dissolved shortly thereafter. One date from this tour, May 27, 1973 in Boston, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc four of this set.
Disc one
Disc two
Disc three
Disc four
Additional musicians
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, comprising live recordings
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
from after founder and primary songwriter Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
had left the group. It was released by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese record company Captain Trip Records in August 2001.
About the album
After singer, guitarist and main songwriter Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
quit the Velvet Underground in August 1970, the band carried on: Doug Yule
Doug Yule
Douglas Alan Yule is an American musician and singer, most notable for being a member of The Velvet Underground from 1968 to 1973.- Early career :Yule began playing with various bands in Boston in the 1960s...
assumed leadership of the band and moved to lead vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and Walter Powers
Walter Powers
Walter Powers III is an American bass guitarist best known for having been a member of The Velvet Underground from late 1970 until late 1971.Walter Powers was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
joined to play bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. This version of The Velvet Underground, which still featured original member Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
and longtime drummer Maureen Tucker
Maureen Tucker
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
, played around 30 dates to promote the band's fourth and latest album, Loaded (1970).
Almost a year after Reed's departure, Morrison also left the band; he was replaced by Boston-based keyboardist Willie Alexander
Willie Alexander
For the football player of the same name see Willie Alexander .Willie "Loco" Alexander is an American singer and keyboard player based in Gloucester, Massachusetts....
. The band now contained no founding members (although Tucker had been a member since before the recording of the Velvets' debut album). The band then went to tour the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, still in support of Loaded, which had had a March 1971 release date in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Two dates of this tour, November 5, 1971 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and November 19 in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, were recorded by members of the audience, and appear as discs one and two of this set, respectively. The Amsterdam concert was also recorded from the soundboard
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...
by Dutch radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
VPRO
VPRO
The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current...
and subsequently broadcast on FM radio. A few tracks from this broadcast were recorded by a fan and appear as tracks 11–14 on disc four of this set.
Once the European tour was completed, initial plans were for the Yule-Alexander-Powers-Tucker line-up to record a new studio album in England. However, band manager Steve Sesnick
Steve Sesnick
Stephen Sesnick was a club owner who served as manager of The Velvet Underground after the band ended their association with Andy Warhol in 1967....
sent Alexander, Powers and Tucker back to America, and Yule recorded the album Squeeze backed by session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s.
Sesnick then assembled a backing band around Yule to once again tour the United Kingdom in support of Squeeze. Shortly before the tour started, however, Sesnick quit as the Velvets' manager. Yule and the band struggled through the dates, then called it quits. One date of this tour, December 6, 1972, at St David's College, Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter
University of Wales, Lampeter is a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822 by royal charter, it is the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales and may be the third oldest in England and Wales after Oxford and Cambridge...
, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc three of this set.
In the spring of 1973 at the urging of a tour manager
Tour Manager
A tour manager is the person who helps to organize the administration for a schedule of appearances of a musical group or artist at a sequence of venues .-Background:...
, Yule and some friends toured New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
with a new group, which included some Velvet Underground material in their set lists. The tour manager insisted on billing the band as being the Velvet Underground despite demands from Yule not to do so. Yule fired the manager after three dates and the tour dissolved shortly thereafter. One date from this tour, May 27, 1973 in Boston, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc four of this set.
Track listing
All songs written by Lou Reed except as noted.Disc one
- "Chapel of Love" (Barry, Greenwich, SpectorPhil SpectorPhillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
) - "I'm Waiting for the Man"
- "Spare Change" (Alexander)
- "Some Kinda Love"/"Turn On Your Love Light" (Reed/Malone, Scott)
- "White Light/White Heat"
- "Pretty Tree Climber" (Alexander)
- "Rock and Roll"
- "Back on the Farm" (Alexander)
- "Dopey Joe" (Yule)
- "Sister Ray"/"Never Going Back to Georgia" (Reed, CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
, Morrison, Tucker/Alexander) - "After Hours"
Disc two
- "I'm Waiting for the Man"
- "Spare Change" (Alexander)
- "Some Kinda Love"
- "White Light/White Heat"
- "Pretty Tree Climber" (Alexander)
- "What Goes On"
- "Cool It Down"
- "Back on the Farm" (Alexander)
- "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"
- "Sister Ray"/"Never Going Back to Georgia" (Reed, Cale, Morrison, Tucker/Alexander)
- "After Hours"
- "Dopey Joe" (Yule)
- "Rock and Roll"
Disc three
- "I'm Waiting for the Man"
- "White Light/White Heat"
- "Some Kinda Love"
- "Little Jack" (Yule)
- "Sweet Jane"
- "Mean Old Man" (Yule)
- "Run Run Run"
- "Caroline" (Yule)
- "Dopey Joe" (Yule)
- "What Goes On"
- "Sister Ray"/"Train Round the Bend" (Reed, Cale, Morrison, Tucker/Reed)
- "Rock and Roll"
- "I'm Waiting for the Man"
Disc four
- "I'm Waiting for the Man"
- "Little Jack" (Yule)
- "White Light/White Heat"
- "Caroline" (Yule)
- "Sweet Jane"
- "Mean Old Man" (Yule)
- "Who's That Man" (Yule)
- "Let It Shine" (Kay [Krzyzewski])
- "Mama's Little Girl" (Yule)
- "Train Round the Bend"
- "White Light/White Heat"
- "What Goes On"
- "Cool It Down"
- "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"
Personnel
The Velvet Underground- Willie AlexanderWillie AlexanderFor the football player of the same name see Willie Alexander .Willie "Loco" Alexander is an American singer and keyboard player based in Gloucester, Massachusetts....
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
(disc 1, disc 2, disc 4: 11-14) - Walter PowersWalter PowersWalter Powers III is an American bass guitarist best known for having been a member of The Velvet Underground from late 1970 until late 1971.Walter Powers was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals (disc 1, disc 2, disc 4: 11-14) - Maureen TuckerMaureen TuckerMaureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(disc 1, disc 2, disc 4: 11–14) - Doug YuleDoug YuleDouglas Alan Yule is an American musician and singer, most notable for being a member of The Velvet Underground from 1968 to 1973.- Early career :Yule began playing with various bands in Boston in the 1960s...
– vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
Additional musicians
- George Kay (Krzyzewski) – bass guitar (disc 3, disc 4: 1–10)
- Mark NauseefMark NauseefMark Nauseef , is a drummer and percussionist who has enjoyed a varied career, ranging from rock music during the 1970s with his time as a member of the Ian Gillan Band and, temporarily, Thin Lizzy, to a wide range of musical styles in more recent times, playing with many notable musicians from all...
– drums (disc 3) - Rob Norris – guitar (disc 3)
- Don Silverman – guitar (disc 4: 1–10)
- Billy YuleBilly YuleWilliam "Billy" Yule is best known for having been a sit-in drummer for The Velvet Underground during 1970.-1970:When in early 1970, regular Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker became pregnant, a temporary replacement was needed to fulfill the band's live obligations...
– drums (disc 4: 1–10)
External links
- The Velvet Underground Web Page
- The Velvet Forum, a V.U. discussion forum
- Captain Trip Records (pages in both JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
)