After Lou Reed left the Velvet Underground, bassist Doug Yule took control of the group. Retaining the name "The Velvet Underground," Yule assembled several new lineups of the band and toured the U.S. By the time Yule's VU recorded their first album, the band featured Boston-based vocalist Willie Alexander and was playing a set of conventional pop/rock songs. Squeeze, the only album recorded with a bastardized version of the Velvet Underground, was released in 1973 to uniformly terrible reviews; Yule broke up the band shortly after its release. Over the years, Squeeze has not only become increasingly rare -- after all, not many copies of the record were pressed -- it has disappeared from the official Velvet Underground discography, and Yule's attempt to prolong the band's career has virtually been forgotten.

(by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide)

Background

By 1972, the Velvet Underground had established a considerable cult following. Their post-Reed years have since been derided by some purists, but the surviving reviews of the era are among the best the band ever received. There are sadly few live recordings from late '70 to '73 known to exist, but the ones that do (including, happily the final VU show) reveal a tight, inventive and haunting band. They added a distinctly prog touch to 'Oh! Sweet Nuthin' for instance; and while their new material sounded influenced by the Beatles and country-rock, it had the distinct Velvet Underground edge. Steve Sesnick, the ill-regarded manager of the band beginning in '67, made his final move with the arrangement of "Squeeze". The album would be recorded with Yule and Ian Paice of Deep Purple, that was how it came down, it was not Yule's decision to exclude anyone else in the band. It effectively ended Maureen Tucker's membership however and is still a highly contentious move. Yule still regrets it to this day, although by all accounts Maureen was planning to leave the band anyway to take care of her child full time. She has expressed no bitterness over the split. Whether or not her absence from the sessions hurts the music is debatable. The new directions may not have been too suitable for her minimalist style; Ian Paice, on the other hand, is a master of rock and prog drumming. He sounds absolutely restrained compared to his Mark 2 and beyond Purple work, but not relaxed. There's an uncharacteristic nervousness to his drumming on "Squeeze" which compliments Yule very well. There was no intention for Paice to stay with the VU, he was only in the band for these sessions. He never played a gig with the VU. "Squeeze" was slated for a fall '72 UK release on their own Loaded Records imprint, distributed by Polydor. A new lineup was assembled for a UK tour to coincide with the release of the album and negotiations were underway for US distribution.

Sessions

Little is known about the "Squeeze" sessions, held in the summer of '72 in London and under a considerably tight budget (maybe where the title comes in). Yule has been rarely interviewed (see links) but has never mentioned any musician other than Paice. But as mentioned previously, there is that unidentified female vocalist, who is quite impressive. (Some sources claim her to be his wife, or at the very least, his girlfriend at the time.) There were no specific liner notes. In a recent interview Paice said that he may not be the only drummer on "Squeeze", but without session documentation we can't verify anything. What is known is that Doug Yule played the bulk of the music himself; these were challenging, but fun sessions for the artist. The criticism usually lobbed at "Squeeze" is that it could have been a Doug Yule solo album, not the music. AND...as for the claim that "Squeeze" has only been issued once, there appears to be some debate there. A few dozen people claim to have French copies dating from the '80's, and this now does appear to be true. There is a definite possibility that certain unscrupulous record companies reissued the record, either illegally or claiming squatters rights in territories with less stringent copyright laws. Not only is this scenario possible, it is also likely. Today there is no hard evidence who owns the rights to the masters. If Polygram reissued the album 20 years ago, who had the rights then?

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