VU studio sessions post-Lou

[lurid]

I am sure that I read somewhere before (here?) that the post-Lou VU went into the Atlantic studios in early 1971 and recorded some new material. Can anyone remind me what that "new" material was?

The reason I'm asking is that I have a recording of the Yule-led "Velveteens" in London, late 1972. On it, Doug introduces "Dopey Joe" as a song which "....was recorded over a year ago, but someone lost the record....". Was this one of the songs they recorded for Atlantic in early 1971? Or is Doug talking about a different session?

[Mark]

He's talking about Squeeze, which was recorded in London in Nov/Dec 1971 but not released till much later, for obscure reasons.

They also recorded versions of Friends and She'll Make You Cry at Atlantic in late 1970 - shame these have never surfaced as they feature the full Doug/Walter/Sterling/Mo line-up, so would be pretty interesting to hear.

[lurid]

thanks Mark - I should have done more research. For some reason I had it in my head that the Squeeze sessions were after the 1972 UK tour rather than after the 1971 tour.....on the tape Doug clearly says that "....somebody lost the record....if you can believe that...but they say that they've found it again...so it may come out yet....".

I wonder what was going on there?

He's talking about Squeeze, which was recorded in London in Nov/Dec 1971 but not released till much later, for obscure reasons.

They also recorded versions of Friends and She'll Make You Cry at Atlantic in late 1970 - shame these have never surfaced as they feature the full Doug/Walter/Sterling/Mo line-up, so would be pretty interesting to hear.

[Mark]

Hard to say but I wonder if it was a bit of a cover story. I don't think they actually had a deal at the time Squeeze was recorded (I guess Sesnick arranged for it to be recorded independently?), so maybe in the intervening year he was mainly just shopping it around before Polydor picked it up.

[searchin4mymainline]

The reason I'm asking is that I have a recording of the Yule-led "Velveteens" in London, late 1972. On it, Doug introduces "Dopey Joe" as a song which "....was recorded over a year ago, but someone lost the record....".

This (the live recording in London) seems to be a recording that isn't documented on Olivier's site.

[lurid]

it will be shortly - I only told him about it last week. It's a recording from the Mile End Sundown in London, 30th November. It's pretty good quality - I initially thought it was a soundboard tape but on second thoughts it's just a really good audience tape. The VU were supporting ELO.....

Velvet Underground 1972-11-30 London audience (?) recording

(...and I'm not Lou Reed....)

Mile End Sundown
London
1972-11-30

01: I'm Waiting For The Man 5.09
02: White Light White Heat 2.26
03: Some Kinda Love 7.09
04: Dopey Joe 3.50
05: Run Run Run 5.40
06: Mean Old Man 3.09
07: What Goes On 4.53
08: Memphis jam 2.57
09: Sweet Caroline 3.05
10: Little Jack 3.11
11: Train Round The Bend/Sister Ray 7.30

(49 minutes)

Doug Yule: guitar, vocals
Rob Norris: guitar, vocals
George Kay: bass, vocals
Mark Nauseef: drums

lineage: TDK D90 cassette from the collection of Bill Allerton - Pioneer CT-S670D player - wav - flac

wav transfer October 2025 by lurid_uk

RIP Lou and Bill

The reason I'm asking is that I have a recording of the Yule-led "Velveteens" in London, late 1972. On it, Doug introduces "Dopey Joe" as a song which "....was recorded over a year ago, but someone lost the record....".

This (the live recording in London) seems to be a recording that isn't documented on Olivier's site.

[Mark]

Wow - after all this time, a new tape. Not exactly peak era VU of course but sounds really interesting all the same. Will you be uploading it anywhere?

[lurid]

yes - probably here as well as one of the VU Facebook groups. I'm still going through the rest of Bill Allerton's cassettes and digitising/transferring them. His copies of the Lou Reed 1972 concert recordings seem to be much closer to the masters than the copies in general circulation (in some cases I think his cassettes ARE the masters).

TBH I have very little interest in the various later post-Lou iterations of the VU. I am primarily a Lou Reed fan so if he's not there I don't really care.....

Wow - after all this time, a new tape. Not exactly peak era VU of course but sounds really interesting all the same. Will you be uploading it anywhere?

[Sheila Klein]

09: Sweet Caroline 3.05

The Neil Diamond song?

[ybosde2]

09: Sweet Caroline 3.05

The Neil Diamond song?

I'd guess it's actually "Caroline" from "Squeeze", which contains the lyric "Sweet, sweet Caroline" and was played at other post-1971 shows, such as those on "Final VU".