106-449: Twin House is an album by American guitarist Larry Coryell and Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine , released by Elektra Records in 1977. The duo recorded a second album, Splendid , in 1978. AllMusic awarded the album four stars and its review by Robert Taylor states: "The first of two fine guitar duet recordings with Phillip Catherine. Of the two, Catherine's sound is more rooted in
212-613: A Rolling Stone article from 1970, "it wasn't eighteen groups, [Curb] was misquoted. The cuts were made partly to do with the drug scene—like maybe a third of them had to do with drug reasons. The others were dropped because they weren't selling." Lou Reed would later remark in the 1987 issue of Creem that while he did not believe that MGM dropped the Velvets for drug associations, he did acknowledge, "We wanted to get out of there." Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records that specialized in blues and Southern soul ) signed
318-526: A sellout ; he was also unwilling to be told when to start and stop playing. "Angus was in it for art", Morrison reported. MacLise was replaced by Maureen "Moe" Tucker , the younger sister of Morrison's friend Jim Tucker. Tucker's playing style was rather unusual: she generally played standing up rather than seated and had an abbreviated drum setup of tom-toms , snare and an upturned bass drum , using mallets as often as drumsticks, and rarely using cymbals (she admits that she always hated cymbals). When
424-477: A Welshman who had moved to the United States to study classical music upon securing a Leonard Bernstein scholarship. Cale had worked with experimental composers John Cage , Cornelius Cardew and La Monte Young , and had performed with Young's Theatre of Eternal Music , though was also interested in rock music. Young's use of extended drones would be a profound influence on the band's early sound. Cale
530-403: A choice of either no Cale or no band at all, the pair reluctantly sided with Reed. It has often been reported that before Cale's departure (following White Light/White Heat ) there was a struggle between his creative impulses and Reed's: Cale's experimentalist tendencies had contrasted with Reed's more conventional approach. According to Tim Mitchell, however, Morrison reported that while there
636-453: A claim of $ 500,000 ($ 4,568,862 in 2023 dollars ) for use of his image. Instead of compensating Emerson for damages, MGM Records canceled all distribution of the album for nearly two months until the legal problems were settled (by which time the record had lost its modest commercial momentum), and the still was airbrushed out of the remaining copies of the album. By the time the record was re-distributed into stores, it faced stiff competition in
742-472: A few other session musicians in an unspecified London studio. While Yule intended to recruit Moe Tucker to play drums on Squeeze and the handful of promotional shows, Sesnick vetoed his decision and claimed she was "too expensive" to hire. Yule was also prevented by Sesnick to participate in the mixing of the album's tracks prior to the album's release the following year. Squeeze was released in February
848-488: A final album under the Velvet Underground name, Squeeze (1973), recorded mostly by Yule with session musicians, before the band dissolved shortly after. The former band members collaborated on each other's solo work throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and a retrospective "rarities" album, VU , was released in 1985. Reed, Cale, Tucker and Morrison reunited for a series of well-received shows in 1993, and released
954-414: A huckster, and he's got to go. And because I'm a Buddhist I'm going to chant about it and try to turn poison into medicine, and just get deeper and deeper into my music. Shortly after these comments were published, Coryell wrote to Downbeat to apologize and retract: I am no longer angry about the election; I accept it. I have musician friends who did not vote my way. I have no place implying, as I did in
1060-418: A live album from the tour, Live MCMXCIII , later that same year. After Morrison's death in 1995, the remaining members played a final performance at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1996. Reed died in 2013. In 2004, the Velvet Underground were ranked number 19 on Rolling Stone ' s list of the " 100 Greatest Artists of All Time ". The New York Times wrote that the Velvet Underground
1166-455: A lot on Loaded . It sort of devolved down to the Lou and Doug recreational recording." While the third Velvets' LP was recorded mostly live in a collaborative atmosphere, the bulk of Loaded was crafted in the studio. In addition to handling all the bass and piano duties on Loaded , Yule also contributed several lead guitar parts and played drums on five of the album's ten tracks (most notably on
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#17327987078721272-557: A now-legendary nine-week residency (from June 24 – August 28, 1970) at the New York nightclub Max's Kansas City , playing two lengthy sets per night, and showcasing altered arrangements of older songs from their previous albums, as well as showcasing the new material that would soon make up Loaded . Reed's last live performance with the band at Max's was informally recorded and was released two years later in 1972 as Live at Max's Kansas City , also on Atlantic Records. Disillusioned with
1378-756: A number of these songs for his solo records over the years: "Stephanie Says", "Ocean", "I Can't Stand It", "Lisa Says", and "Andy's Chest", as well as "She's My Best Friend", which had been originally sung by Doug Yule. By 1969 the MGM and Verve record labels had been losing money for several years. A new president, Mike Curb , was hired and he decided to cancel the recording contracts of 18 of their acts who supposedly glorified drugs in their lyrics, including their many controversial and unprofitable acts. The drug or hippie -related bands were released from MGM; nonetheless MGM insisted on retaining ownership of all master tapes of their recordings and according to an MGM representative in
1484-419: A recording solely of pulsating audio feedback culminating in a locked groove , was "a precursor to [Reed's] Metal Machine Music ", say Velvets archivists M.C. Kostek and Phil Milstein in the book The Velvet Underground Companion . "Loop" also predates much industrial music . At Warhol's insistence, Nico sang with the band on three songs of their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico . The album
1590-594: A song inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch 's book of the same name , which dealt with masochism. The band immediately and unanimously adopted "The Velvet Underground" as its new name in November 1965. The newly named Velvet Underground rehearsed and performed in New York City. Their music was generally much more relaxed than it would later become: Cale described this era as reminiscent of beat poetry, with MacLise playing gentle "pitter and patter rhythms behind
1696-512: A stroboscopic-light show designed by Danny Williams. Because of the punishing lights, the band took to wearing sunglasses onstage. Early promo posters referred to the group as the "erupting plastic inevitable". This soon changed to "the exploding plastic inevitable". In 1966, MacLise temporarily rejoined the Velvet Underground for a few EPI shows when Reed was suffering from hepatitis and unable to perform. For these appearances, Cale sang and played organ, Tucker switched to bass guitar and MacLise
1802-563: A theater major, but left the program after one year to continue playing music. Yule had first seen the Velvets perform at a student event at Harvard University in Cambridge in early 1968, and when the band played at the Boston Tea Party later that year, the band stayed at Yule's apartment on River Street, which he happened to be renting from their road manager, Hans Onsager (who worked closely with their manager Steve Sesnick ). It
1908-514: A trio that included pianist John Colianni . Since 2008, Coryell toured in a duo with fusion guitarist Roman Miroshnichenko . Coryell was first married to writer-actress Julie Nathanson (1947–2009), daughter of actress Carol Bruce . She appeared on the covers of several of his albums (including Lady Coryell , Larry Coryell at the Village Gate and The Lion and the Ram ) and later wrote
2014-524: A vast range of lyrical subjects on the first two Velvet Underground albums, the lyrical themes of the third album were more "intimate" in nature. Reed's songwriting also covered new emotional ground as well, as heard in the songs " Pale Blue Eyes ", "Jesus", "Beginning to See the Light", and "I'm Set Free". The personal tone of the album's subject matter resulted in Reed's desire to create a "closet" mix that boosted
2120-527: A viola passage. Reed and Cale recruited Sterling Morrison —a college classmate of Reed's at Syracuse University —as a replacement for Walter De Maria , who had been a third member of the Primitives. Reed and Morrison both played guitars, Cale played viola, keyboards and bass and Angus MacLise joined on percussion to complete the initial four-member unit. This quartet was first called the Warlocks, then
2226-511: A year. Tom Wilson at Verve/MGM only bought the album from me because of Nico. He saw no talent in Lou [Reed]." In 1982, Brian Eno said that while the album sold only 30,000 copies in its early years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band." Filmmaker and music writer, Grant McPhee conducted a 2021 investigation into Eno's famous claim into the popularity of the band's first album and concluded that it may have sold as many as 200,000 copies by 1971 alone. Nico moved on after
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#17327987078722332-635: The pop artist Andy Warhol became their manager. They served as the house band at Warhol's studio, the Factory , and his traveling multimedia show, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable , from 1966 to 1967. Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico , featuring the German singer and model Nico , was released in 1967 to critical indifference and poor sales but later drew widespread acclaim. They released three more albums:
2438-521: The presidency of the United States . "This is an unacceptable situation", he said to Bill Milkowski of DownBeat . We cannot let all the work we've done as jazz musicians to help relationships between people … we can't let all that go to hell. And that's what this election is going to do. It'll take us back to the Dark Ages and people will think that it’s OK to be prejudiced again. Well, I don't accept it. We have to stand up. … [Trump is] an impostor,
2544-410: The 2001 box set Final V.U. After the brief European tour in November 1971 was finished, the lineup of Yule, Tucker, Alexander and Powers disbanded. In May 1972, Atlantic released Live at Max's Kansas City , the recording of the Velvet Underground's final performance with Reed (also with Doug Yule, Morrison, and Billy Yule) made by a fan, Brigid Polk , on August 23, 1970. Due to publicity around
2650-592: The Checkers from Yakima . He then moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington . In September 1965, Coryell moved to New York City, where he attended Mannes School of Music . After moving to New York, he listened to classical composers such as Bartók , Debussy , Ravel , Stravinsky , and Shostakovich . He replaced guitarist Gábor Szabó in Chico Hamilton 's quintet. His challenge, at
2756-597: The Falling Spikes. The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh was a contemporary mass market paperback about the secret sexual subculture of the early 1960s; Cale's friend and Dream Syndicate associate Tony Conrad showed it to the group, and MacLise made a suggestion to adopt the title as the band's name. According to Reed and Morrison, the group liked the name, considering it evocative of "underground cinema", and fitting, as Reed had already written " Venus in Furs ",
2862-578: The Family Dog venues in San Francisco; recordings of these shows were released in 2001, as a triple live album, Bootleg Series Volume 1: The Quine Tapes , which included the line up of Reed, Yule, Morrison and Tucker. During 1969 the band recorded on and off in the studio, creating a lot of promising material (both singles and one-offs) that were never officially released at the time due to disputes with their record label. What many consider to be
2968-687: The Five Spot Cafe by Kenny Burrell , Red Norvo with Strings , and The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery . He liked blues and pop music and tried to play jazz when he was eighteen. He said that hearing Wes Montgomery changed his life. Coryell graduated from Richland High School , where he played in local bands the Jailers, the Rumblers, the Royals, and the Flames. He also played with
3074-488: The LP, and a rare Moe Tucker lead vocal is used on "After Hours", which closes the album, because Reed felt her "innocent" voice was more believable for a sad song. The album contains the experimental track "The Murder Mystery", which utilized all four band members (Reed, Yule, Tucker and Morrison) reading different lyrics, sometimes simultaneously, as well as the ballad "Pale Blue Eyes". The Velvet Underground spent much of 1969 on
3180-607: The Rolling Stones . Nothing ever came of this, but the demo was eventually released on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See . Manager and music journalist Al Aronowitz arranged for the group's first paying gig—$ 75 ($ 725 in 2023 dollars) to play at Summit High School , in Summit, New Jersey, opening for the Myddle Class . When they decided to take the gig, MacLise abruptly left the group, protesting what he considered
3286-493: The Sea", the album's last track. The pairing caused a stir on the fusion community, with fans wondering who played what solo. Coryell reveals this was the only time he and Di Meola played together with electric guitars. By then, Coryell had adopted a speed-oriented style of soloing, similar to other jazz-rock luminaries, namely McLaughlin, Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth , Jan Akkerman and John Etheridge . In retrospect, he offered
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3392-551: The Spirits . In the early 1980, Coryell's alcoholism and drug abuse cost him his spot on The Guitar Trio. Of his struggles in that period, he said: By the late 70s. I had gotten successful; [...]. I did some big tours, did some television... People magazine stories, and all that horseshit. I got arrogant. The grandiosity set in. I forgot how I had gotten there. I had forgottem about the hard work, that struggle. I got lazy. But I would later come to realize that what I had to do
3498-406: The Velvet Underground for what would be its final studio album with Lou Reed: Loaded . The album's title refers to Atlantic's request that the band produce an album "loaded with hits". Though the record was not the smash hit the company had anticipated, it contains the most accessible pop the Velvet Underground had performed, and two of Reed's best-known songs, "Sweet Jane" and "Rock and Roll". By
3604-513: The Velvet Underground in different directions. The differences showed in the last recording sessions the band had with John Cale in 1968: three pop -like songs in Reed's direction ("Temptation Inside Your Heart", "Stephanie Says" and "Beginning to See the Light") and a viola-driven drone in Cale's direction ("Hey Mr. Rain"). Further, some songs the band had performed with Cale in concert, or that he had co-written, were not recorded until after he had left
3710-463: The Velvet Underground in late 1972, a band with him, Billy Yule, George Kay and guitarist Don Silverman (later known as Noor Khan) was incorrectly billed as the Velvet Underground for two shows in Boston and Long Island. The band members objected to the billing (instigated by their tour manager); according to Yule, the promoter was not supposed to bill the band as the Velvet Underground. In late May 1973,
3816-414: The Velvets severed their relationship with Andy Warhol. Reed once commented on their leaving Warhol: "He sat down and had a talk with me. 'You gotta decide what you want to do. Do you want to keep just playing museums from now on and the art festivals? Or do you want to start moving into other areas? Lou, don't you think you should think about it?' So I thought about it, and I fired him. Because I thought that
3922-444: The abrasive White Light/White Heat (1968), and the more accessible albums The Velvet Underground (1969) and Loaded (1970), with Doug Yule replacing Cale for the latter two. None performed to the expectations of record labels or Reed, the band's leader. However, like the band's debut, all albums later achieved critical acclaim. In the early 1970s, all but Yule left the band. Yule led an abortive UK tour in 1973, and released
4028-766: The airport that he was staying in Texas and quitting the band—the last founding member to quit. Morrison's replacement was singer/keyboard player Willie Alexander . This brief line-up of the band played several shows in the US and Canada in September 1971, and in October and November 1971 the band did several shows in England, Wales, and the Netherlands to support the 1971 European release of Loaded , some of which are collected on
4134-608: The album from November 1970 to August 1971, playing shows around the U.S. By this juncture, Sterling Morrison had received his degree from the City College of New York. Following a show in Houston, Texas , he left the group in August 1971 to pursue a Ph.D. in medieval literature at the University of Texas at Austin . He had packed an empty suitcase and when the time came for the band to return to New York City , he told them at
4240-415: The album purely as a money ploy. "Sesnick dumped the second iteration of the band in England with no money and no equipment and just left us there to find our way back. He gave me six copies of Squeeze as pay. I never got any money. When you sign with ASCAP or BMI you get an advance. He not only made an arrangement with them but actually signed as me and took the money." Despite the negative reviews of
4346-402: The album upon its initial release, in recent years the album has been revisited by both critics and musicians with more sympathetic and favorable reviews. In 2011 music writer Steven Shehori included Squeeze in his "Criminally Overlooked Albums" series for The Huffington Post , and in a lengthy review of the album, offered the following positive assessment of Squeeze : "if you pluck it from
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4452-490: The article, that their votes were insincere or illegitimate... Also—and this is very important—I believe that I have a responsibility to transcend politics, focusing instead on finding ways to touch people’s hearts through music. I never want to forget all the great players who mentored me in the art of demonstrating restraint regarding hot-button issues; these men and women advised me to exercise discretion, and to behave with exemplary humanity. ...My comments did nothing to further
4558-404: The band and that Reed had been aware of most, if not all, of the edits. With manager Steve Sesnick looking to fill bookings (following the departure of Lou Reed), and with the pending release of Loaded in November 1970, the band, now with Sterling Morrison on guitar, Moe Tucker on drums, Walter Powers on bass, and Doug Yule taking over lead vocals and guitar, played periodic shows to promote
4664-565: The band and the tour manager parted ways, thus bringing the Velvet Underground to an end until the classic line-up of Reed, Tucker, Morrison and Cale reunited in the 1990s. Reed, Cale and Nico teamed up at the beginning of 1972 to play a concert in Paris at the Bataclan club . This concert was bootlegged, and finally received an official release as Le Bataclan '72 in 2003. Before that, Cale and Nico had developed solo careers, with Cale producing
4770-507: The band asked her to do something unusual, she turned her bass drum on its side and played standing up. After her drums were stolen from one club, she replaced them with garbage cans brought in from outside. Her rhythms, at once simple and exotic (influenced by the likes of Babatunde Olatunji and Bo Diddley as well as Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones), became a vital part of the group's music, despite Cale's initial objections to
4876-446: The band gain a higher profile. He helped the band secure a recording contract with MGM's Verve Records, with himself as nominal " producer ", and gave the Velvets free rein over the sound they created. During their stay with Andy Warhol, the band became part of his multimedia roadshow, Exploding Plastic Inevitable , which combined Warhol's films with the band's music, which made use of minimalist devices, such as drones. Warhol included
4982-415: The band to get an endorsement deal with Vox to enable them to use Vox equipment, including special effects pedals and an organ, for free. Sterling Morrison believed they were the first American band to get a Vox endorsement. Sterling Morrison offered the following input regarding the recording: There was fantastic leakage 'cause everyone was playing so loud and we had so much electronic junk with us in
5088-500: The band was scheduled to take the stage the following night before notifying him that Reed was not coming. "I was expecting [Lou] to show up, I thought he was late." Yule blamed Sesnick for Reed's departure. "Sesnick had engineered Lou's leaving the group. He and Lou had a relationship where Lou had depended on him for moral support, and he trusted him, and Sesnick basically said 'screw you.' ... It must have been hard for Lou to hear that because he depended on him, so he quit." While Loaded
5194-574: The band with his show in an effort to "use rock as a part of a larger, interdisciplinary-art work based around performance" (McDonald). They played shows for several months in New York City, then traveled throughout the United States and Canada until its last installment in May 1967. During a short period in September 1966, when Cale was ill, the avant-garde musician Henry Flynt and Reed's friend Richard Mishkin took turns to cover for him. The show included 16 mm film projections by Warhol, combined with
5300-597: The band with the necessary equipment and tour funds, they played the handful of dates to secure enough money for flights back to the US, and Yule left the band when the brief tour ended in December 1972. It was during this brief period in the UK that Yule recorded the Polydor album (ultimately titled Squeeze ) under the Velvet Underground name virtually by himself, with only the assistance of Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and
5406-425: The beginning of a new age" as sung by Yule) was repeated many more times. A brief interlude in "Rock and Roll" was also removed. (For the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See , the album was presented as Reed intended; the "Fully Loaded" two-disc edition includes the full versions of "Sweet Jane" and "New Age".) On the other hand, Yule has pointed out that the album was for all intents and purposes finished when Reed left
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#17327987078725512-934: The book Jazz-Rock Fusion , which was based on interviews with many of Coryell's peers, including Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. She also sang intermittently with Coryell, including one track on the 1984 album Comin' Home . The couple had two sons ( Murali Coryell (b. 1969) and Julian Coryell (b. 1973), both professional guitarists, before divorcing in 1985. Thereafter, he had a brief romance with fellow jazz guitarist and artistic collaborator Emily Remler. In 1988, he remarried to Connecticut native Mary Schuler; they divorced in 2005. Two years later, he married his last wife, Tracey Lynn Piergross, in Orlando, Florida , where he resided until his death in 2017. After overcoming his alcohol and heroin addictions in 1981, Coryell began practicing Nichiren Buddhism . In November 2016, Coryell condemned Donald Trump following his election to
5618-704: The cause of our music. I apologize. Coryell died of heart failure on Sunday, February 19, 2017, in a New York City hotel room at the age of 73. He had performed at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan on the preceding two days. Coryell's last opera, based on Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, was presented at the 2017 World of Guitar opening, featuring the Moscow Symphony along with Roman Miroshnichenko , Serbian classical guitarist Nenad Stephanovich, and Slovenian opera soloists. The world premiere
5724-545: The club La Cave. Upon meeting Reed, Sesnick and Morrison at Max's, Yule was asked to handle bass and organ duties in the band, and he would soon contribute vocals as well. After several months of shows in the US, the band swiftly recorded their third album The Velvet Underground in late 1968 at TTG Studios in Hollywood, California . It was released in March 1969. The cover photograph was taken by Billy Name . The LP sleeve
5830-465: The double album. In his notes, Murphy described a scene 100 years in the future, with a student taking a class on "classical rock'n'roll" and listening to the Velvet Underground. He wondered what the student would make of the music and concluded, "I wish it was a hundred years from today (I can't stand the suspense)". During this period the band played a series of shows in November 1969 at the Matrix and
5936-404: The drone". In July 1965, Reed, Cale and Morrison recorded a demo tape at their Ludlow Street loft without MacLise, because he refused to be tied down to a schedule and would turn up to band practice sessions only when he wanted. When he briefly returned to Britain, Cale attempted to give a copy of the tape to Marianne Faithfull , hoping she would pass it on to Mick Jagger , lead singer of
6042-444: The end of their brief, 4-year existence The Eleventh House had played with some of the leading artists of the period, including fellow Americans Kiss , Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and British prog rockers Renaissance , Gentle Giant and Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman . When fusion started losing steam he turned to the acoustic guitar , recording duet albums with Steve Khan and Philip Catherine . The latter
6148-503: The energy and the electronics, but we didn't know it couldn't be recorded...what we were trying to do was really fry the tracks. Cale has said that while the debut had some moments of fragility and beauty, White Light/White Heat was "consciously anti-beauty". The title track sets a harsh opening; bassist Cale overdubbing a piano that has been described as "a cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Henry Cowell ". Along with brash songs like " Sister Ray " and " I Heard Her Call My Name ", there
6254-462: The following of mid-1970s fusion : What happened, in my opinion, was that guitar playing just got too fast, [...] and it also got highly competitive. For years I thought, "All I want to do is become the number one-rated guitarist in DownBeat by the time I'm 30." It was that whole adolescent attitude, placing more importance on the arriving than on the striving. Everything just got so intense. By
6360-532: The following year, 1973, in Europe only, with minimal promotion by the label, and was held in low regard by fans and critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes that the album received "uniformly terrible reviews" upon initial release, and in the early 1970s, the NME Book of Rock counted it as "a Velvet Underground album in name only". When asked about Squeeze , Yule hinted that band manager Steve Sesnick orchestrated
6466-592: The group (such as "Walk It and Talk It", "Ride into the Sun", and "Countess from Hong Kong"). Reed called Morrison and Tucker to a meeting at the Riviera Cafe in the West Village without Cale's knowledge, and informed them that Cale was out of the band; when Morrison objected, Reed said it was either Cale was sacked or the Velvets were dissolved. Neither Morrison nor Tucker was happy with the idea, but faced with
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#17327987078726572-672: The group, " All Tomorrow's Parties ". Kurt Loder would later describe "All Tomorrow's Parties" as a "mesmerizing gothic-rock masterpiece". Closing out the album was the avant-garde " The Black Angel's Death Song ", followed by the lengthy, feedback-laden " European Son ", which Reed dedicated to his Syracuse professor Delmore Schwartz . The overall sound was propelled by Reed and Nico's deadpan vocals, Cale's droning viola, bass and keyboards, Reed's experimental avant-garde guitar, Morrison's often R&B - or country -influenced guitar, and Tucker's simple but steady and tribal-sounding beat with sparse use of cymbals. A technique used on many songs
6678-474: The influence of the new equipment. Morrison's ringing guitar parts and Yule's melodic bass guitar and harmony vocals are used prominently on the album. Reed's songs and singing are subdued and confessional in nature, and he shared lead vocals with Yule, particularly when his own voice would fail under stress. Doug Yule sang the lead vocal on "Candy Says" (about the Warhol superstar Candy Darling ), which opens
6784-512: The lack of progress the band was making, and facing pressure by manager Steve Sesnick , Reed decided to quit the band during the last week of the Max's Kansas City shows in August 1970. Although Reed had informed Tucker, who was attending the show but not playing with the band because of her pregnancy, that he planned to leave the group on his last evening, he did not tell Morrison or Yule. In a 2006 interview, Yule said Sesnick waited until one hour before
6890-493: The live shows the band played during this period would end up released as live albums many years later. The live album 1969: The Velvet Underground Live (with Reed, Yule, Morrison & Tucker) was recorded in October 1969 but not released until 1974, on Mercury Records, at the urging of rock critic Paul Nelson , who worked in A&;R for Mercury at the time. Nelson asked singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy to write liner notes for
6996-475: The marketplace. The album was re-distributed at nearly the same time as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967, which further hindered the release. Regarding MGM/Verve's delay in releasing the album, Warhol's business manager Paul Morrissey once offered the following: "Verve/MGM didn't know what to do with The Velvet Underground and Nico because it was so peculiar. They did not release it for almost
7102-435: The most influential bands in rock, underground , experimental , and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, experimentation, and nihilistic attitude were also instrumental in the development of punk rock , new wave and several other genres. The group performed under several names before settling on the Velvet Underground in 1965, taken from the title of a 1963 book on atypical sexual behavior . In 1966,
7208-532: The next album with the amplifiers underwater, and [Lou] just couldn't have it. He was trying to make the band more accessible." Ultimately, Morrison was dispatched by Reed to tell Cale that he was out of the band. Before work on their third album started, Cale was replaced by musician Doug Yule of the Boston group the Grass Menagerie, who had been a close associate of the band. Yule, a native New Yorker, had moved to Boston to attend Boston University as
7314-416: The performances of Frank Zappa , Buddy Guy , The Velvet Underground , Stevie Winwood , The Doors and others. In 1969, former Miles Davis Quintet drummer Tony Williams invited Coryell to join his new band, The Tony Williams Lifetime . While flattered by the invitation, he politely declined and suggested, in his place, his British friend and NY newcomer John McLaughlin, then known as "Johnny Mac." It
7420-520: The presence of a female drummer. The group earned a regular paying gig at the Café Bizarre and gained an early reputation as a promising ensemble. In 1965, after being introduced to the Velvet Underground by filmmaker Barbara Rubin , Andy Warhol became the band's manager and suggested they use the German-born singer Nico (born Christa Päffgen) on several songs. Warhol's reputation helped
7526-402: The prime songs of these recording sessions were released years later, in 1985, in a compilation album called VU . The album VU marks the transitional sound between the whisper-soft third album and the band's movement to the later pop rock song-style of their final record, Loaded . Two of the songs the Velvets recorded during this period were later used on film soundtracks: "Stephanie Says"
7632-411: The recording of Loaded , Doug Yule played a more prominent role in the band, and with Reed's encouragement, sang the lead vocal on four songs: "Who Loves the Sun", which opened the album, "New Age", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and the final track, "Oh! Sweet Nuthin". Yule once commented on the recording of Loaded : "Lou leaned on me a lot in terms of musical support and for harmonies, vocal arrangements. I did
7738-525: The recording sessions Coryell got cold feet, calling producer Teo Macero to say he was quitting the project. Macero convinced him otherwise, and he finally recorded the whole piece on March 21th, 1983, on the vernal equinox . In the end he was proud of it, a "milestone" in his life. "It's like, if you can tackle Stravinsky, you can tackle anything," he said on an interview to DownBeat . In 1985, he recorded Together with fellow guitarist Emily Remler , who died in 1990. Starting in 2010, Coryell toured with
7844-619: The release, and growing interest in the Velvet Underground in Europe, Sesnick was able to secure a single album deal with Polydor in the UK, and a handful of promotional shows were booked in the UK in November and December 1972. After Sesnick reached out to Yule, a new Velvet Underground lineup was quickly assembled by Yule to do the UK shows. This brief lineup of the Velvet Underground consisted of Yule, guitarist Rob Norris (later of The Bongos ), bassist George Kay (Krzyzewski), and drummer Mark Nauseef . After Sesnick failed to show up in London to meet
7950-548: The road both in the US and Canada, and not making much headway commercially. Despite these commercial setbacks, the band focused on performing live shows on the road, playing both re-worked songs from their past albums, and debuting new songs that would find their way onto the Loaded album, such as "New Age", "Rock and Roll", and "Sweet Jane". While the band continued to do extended improvisations in their live shows, by 1969 they were focusing on tight live performances, and several of
8056-523: The sessions, Sterling Morrison resumed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York . Although he contributed guitar tracks to the album, he began to split his time between classes, the sessions and the gigs at Max's, thus leaving Reed and Yule to handle the bulk of the arrangements. It was during the Loaded recording sessions that the Velvets (with Billy Yule deputizing on drums) secured
8162-450: The shackles of its murky back-story, Squeeze is nothing short of a quintessential listening experience." The UK band Squeeze took their name from its title according to band member Chris Difford , who offered the following opinion of the album in a 2012 interview: "It's an odd record, but the name came from that, definitely. ... In a retrospective way I really enjoy it. It has kind of a naivety about it." Although Yule had put an end to
8268-414: The songs "Rock and Roll" and "Sweet Jane") since Moe Tucker (who was erroneously credited as the album's drummer, despite not playing on it) was absent on maternity leave to have her first child, a daughter named Kerry. Other drum parts were performed by engineer Adrian Barber , session musician Tommy Castanaro, and Billy Yule (Doug Yule's younger brother), who was still in high school at the time. During
8374-412: The studio—all these fuzzers and compressors. Gary Kellgren , who is ultra-competent, told us repeatedly: "You can't do it—all the needles are on red." and we reacted as we always reacted: "Look, we don't know what goes on in there and we don't want to hear about it. Just do the best you can." And so the album is fuzzy, there's all that white noise...we wanted to do something electronic and energetic. We had
8480-510: The success of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra he formed The Eleventh House in 1973, with drummer Alphonse Mouzon . Their debut album, Introducing Eleventh House with Larry Coryell (1974), peaked at #163 in Billboard 200 and stayed 11 weeks in the charts. Larry Coryell recorded with Al Di Meola on Return to Forever drummer Lenny White's solo debut, Venusian Summer (1975). Coryell and Di Meola traded solos on "Prince of
8586-455: The time, was to combine the bluesy, psychedelic rock 'n' roll of Cream (especially Eric Clapton 's guitar style) and The Jimi Hendrix Experience with his jazz training. Of the latter, he first saw them live in 1967 at the Manhattan nightclub The Scene and was "very impressed" by them. Coryell's continued attendance to The Scene exposed him to further music of a similar ilk, catching
8692-469: The tip. Those who did remove the banana skin found a pink, peeled banana beneath. Eleven songs showcased the Velvets' dynamic range, veering from the pounding attacks of " I'm Waiting for the Man " and " Run Run Run ", the droning "Venus in Furs" and " Heroin ", the chiming and celestial "Sunday Morning", to the quiet " Femme Fatale " and the tender " I'll Be Your Mirror ", as well as Warhol's own favorite song of
8798-452: The tradition of Django Reinhardt and tends to be more introspective. Coryell is his usual incorrigible self; however, Catherine's presence seemed to inspire more experimentation and intelligent playing on Coryell's part". Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III ; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist , widely considered the "godfather of fusion ". Alongside Gábor Szabó , he
8904-550: The vocals to the forefront, while reducing the album's instrumentation. The second (and more widely distributed) mix is the stereo mix done by MGM/Verve staff recording engineer Val Valentin. Another factor in the change of sound was the band's Vox amplifiers and assorted fuzzboxes were rumored to have been stolen from an airport while they were on tour and they obtained replacements by signing a new endorsement deal with Sunn . In addition, Reed and Morrison had purchased matching Fender 12-string electric guitars , but Doug Yule plays down
9010-400: Was "arguably the most influential American rock band of our time". The foundations for what would become the Velvet Underground were laid in late 1964. Singer-songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed had performed with a few short-lived garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records (Reed described his tenure there as being "a poor man's Carole King "). Reed met John Cale ,
9116-420: Was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock music . Coryell was also a music teacher and a writer, penning a monthly column for Guitar Player magazine from 1977 to 1989. He made a number of collaborations with other high-profile musicians, including John McLaughlin , Chick Corea , Miroslav Vitouš , Billy Cobham , Lenny White , Al Di Meola , Paco de Lucía , Steve Morse and others. Larry Coryell
9222-575: Was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised the singer and guitarist Lou Reed , the Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale , the guitarist Sterling Morrison and the drummer Angus MacLise . In 1965, MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker , who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of
9328-579: Was born in Galveston , Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He was raised by his stepfather Gene, a chemical engineer, and his mother Cora, who encouraged him to learn piano when he was four years old. In his teens, he switched to guitar. After his family moved to Richland , Washington, he took lessons from a teacher who lent him albums by Les Paul , Johnny Smith , Barney Kessel , and Tal Farlow . When asked what jazz guitar albums influenced him, Coryell cited On View at
9434-638: Was career-making move for McLaughlin. Because of his tenure with the Lifetime he got the invite to join Davis's electric band, recording In a Silent Way (1969), the Bitches Brew (1970) double-album and Jack Johnson (1971). In the 1970s, he led the group Foreplay with Mike Mandel, a friend since childhood, although the albums of this period, Barefoot Boy , Offering , and The Real Great Escape , were credited only to Larry Coryell. In wake of
9540-502: Was creative tension between Reed and Cale, its effects have been exaggerated over the years. Cale played his last show with the band at the Boston Tea Party in September 1968 and was fired shortly afterwards. According to Michael Carlucci, a friend of Robert Quine , "Lou told Quine that the reason why he had to get rid of Cale in the band was Cale's ideas were just too out there. Cale had some wacky ideas. He wanted to record
9646-602: Was dedicated to Coryell, the "godfather of fusion," who died in New York in February of that year. The opera was completed by Miroshnichenko and Stephanovich after the death of Coryell. The Free Spirits Fuse One With Gary Burton With Paco de Lucia With Teo Macero With Leslie Mándoki With Herbie Mann With Steve Marcus With Charles Mingus With Don Sebesky With L. Subramaniam With Leon Thomas With Michal Urbaniak With Kazumi Watanabe With others The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground
9752-418: Was designed by Dick Smith, then a staff artist at MGM/Verve. Released on March 12, 1969, the album failed to make Billboard' s Top 200 album chart. The harsh, abrasive tendencies on the first two records were almost entirely absent on their third album. This resulted in a gentler sound influenced by folk music , prescient of the songwriting style that would soon form Reed's solo career. While Reed had covered
9858-468: Was during this period that Morrison heard Yule playing guitar in his apartment, and mentioned to Reed that Yule was practicing guitar and was improving quickly. It was following this discussion that led to a phone call from Steve Sesnick inviting Yule to meet with the band at Max's Kansas City in New York City in October 1968 to discuss joining the Velvets before two upcoming shows in Cleveland, Ohio, at
9964-442: Was finalized and mixed, it had yet to be mastered and was not set to be released by Atlantic until November of that year. Reed often said he was completely surprised when he saw Loaded in stores. He also said, "I left them to their album full of hits that I made". Reed was perturbed about a verse being edited from the Loaded version of " Sweet Jane ". " New Age " was changed as well: as originally recorded, its closing line ("It's
10070-879: Was go back and do all that work again - practice constantly, listen to other people's music, study other people's phrasing, work on learning new tunes and old standards, work on horn lines and piano lines, pratice scales. My slogan became G.O.Y.A. (Get Off Your Ass). I had to work like a madman, especially when I didn't want to work. And it took a lot of humility. It was the beggining of the end of arrogance. When he overcame his self-exile and his bout with alcoholism, he took on his most challenging project yet: solo versions of three Igor Stravinksy ballets , namely Scheherazade (1982), L'Oiseau de Feu, Petrouchka (1983) and Le Sacre Du Printemps (1983). Coryell prepared for three months for recording Le Sacre Du Printemps . He got so "obsessed" by it that he got hand sores and blisters hands from over-rehearsing his parts. Three weeks before
10176-454: Was on drums. Also at these appearances, the band often played an extended jam they had dubbed "Booker T", after musician Booker T. Jones . Some of these performances have been released as a bootleg ; they remain the only record of MacLise with the Velvet Underground. According to Morrison, MacLise is said to have regretted leaving the Velvet Underground and wanted to rejoin, but Reed specifically prohibited this and made it clear that this stint
10282-631: Was one of the things to do if we were going to move away from that…" Steve Sesnick was soon brought in as a replacement manager, much to the chagrin of Cale, who believes that Sesnick tried to push Reed as band leader at the expense of band harmony. Both Cale and Reed called Sesnick a "snake" in different interviews after leaving the band. In September 1967, the Velvet Underground began recording their second album, White Light/White Heat , with Tom Wilson as producer. The band performed live often, and their performances became louder and harsher and often included extended improvisations . Warhol arranged for
10388-468: Was only temporary. MacLise still behaved eccentrically with time and commerce and went by his own clock: for instance, he showed up half an hour late to one show and carried on with a half-hour of drumming to compensate for his late arrival, long after the set had finished. In December 1966, Warhol and David Dalton designed Issue 3 of the multimedia Aspen . Included in this issue of the "magazine", which retailed at $ 4 ($ 38 in 2023 dollars ) per copy and
10494-436: Was packaged in a hinged box designed to look like Fab laundry detergent, were various leaflets and booklets, one of which was a commentary on rock and roll by Lou Reed, another an EPI promotional newspaper. Also enclosed was a 2-sided flexi disk : side one produced by Peter Walker , a musical associate of Timothy Leary ; and side two titled "Loop", credited to the Velvet Underground but actually recorded by Cale alone. "Loop",
10600-527: Was pleasantly surprised to discover that Reed's experimentalist tendencies were similar to his own: Reed sometimes used alternative guitar tunings to create a droning sound. The pair rehearsed and performed together; their partnership and shared interests built the path towards what would later become the Velvet Underground. Reed's first group with Cale was the Primitives, a short-lived group assembled to issue budget-priced recordings and support an anti-dance single written by Reed, "The Ostrich", to which Cale added
10706-567: Was recorded primarily in Scepter Studios in New York City during April 1966, but for reasons unclear, some songs were rerecorded at TTG Studios in Los Angeles , along with the new song " Sunday Morning ", later in the year with Tom Wilson producing. The album was released by Verve Records the following year in March 1967. The album cover is famous for its Warhol design: a yellow banana sticker with "Peel slowly and see" printed near
10812-400: Was released on March 12, 1967 (after a lengthy delay by Verve), and reached No. 171 on Billboard magazine's Top 200 charts. The commercial growth of the album was hampered by a legal claim: as the album's back cover included a photo of the group on stage with an unauthorized image projected behind them of actor Eric Emerson from a Warhol motion picture, Chelsea Girls , Emerson made
10918-522: Was responsible for Coryell's career turn, showing him in 1976 the Django Reinhardt song " Nuages ". He also strengthened, in parallel, his role as a music educator . He gave private lessons and started writing a monthly column for Guitar Player magazine. In 1979, he formed The Guitar Trio with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia . The group toured Europe briefly, releasing a video recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London entitled Meeting of
11024-411: Was the "drone strum", an eighth-note rhythm guitar style used by Reed. Although Cale was the band's usual bassist, if he switched to viola or keyboards, Morrison would normally play bass. Despite his proficiency on the instrument, Morrison hated playing bass. Conversely, some songs had Reed and Morrison playing their usual guitars with Cale on viola or keyboards, but with nobody playing bass. The album
11130-536: Was the darkly comic " The Gift ", a short story written by Reed and narrated by Cale in his deadpan Welsh accent . The meditative "Here She Comes Now" was later covered by Galaxie 500 , Cabaret Voltaire , and Nirvana , among others. The album was released on January 30, 1968, entering the Billboard Top 200 chart for two weeks, at number 199. Tensions were growing: the group was tired of receiving little recognition for its work, and Reed and Cale were pulling
11236-403: Was used in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums ; "I'm Sticking With You" has a rare Moe Tucker–Lou Reed dual-lead vocal track, with Doug Yule accompanying on piano, and was included in the film Juno . The rest of the recordings, as well as some alternative takes and instrumental tracks were later bundled on Another View which was released in 1986. After Reed's departure, he later reworked
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