The Velvet Forum

As a follow-up to the "vu bass" thread, I've decided to start "who plays what" threads with my informed guesses on who plays what on The Velvet Underground albums. "Informed" as in "I've read somewhere/I can deduct/I think I recognise...". Everyone's welcome and expressly invited to exchange views and opinions, the end goal being to put together a web page with the consensus on who plays what, as suggested by Kill Mick.

Part Four, Loaded:

A large part of what follows is thanks to Yule's track-by-track comments in the Lowdown on Loaded article.
Updated (finally) on 15 Sep 2009 to include the information provided by Mark and Doctor Bob in the body of this post.


WHO LOVES THE SUN
Yule - vocal, bass guitar, piano
Morrison - lead guitar
Reed - rhythm guitar, backing vocal
Yule or Barber - drums


SWEET JANE
Reed - vocal, left guitar
Morrison - right guitar
Yule - bass guitar (incl. fuzz lick at the end), drums, backing vocal


ROCK AND ROLL
Reed - vocal, rhythm guitar, backing vocal
Yule - lead guitar (wild solos), organ, bass guitar, drums, backing vocal
Morrison - rhythm and lead guitar (clean solos)


COOL IT DOWN
Reed - vocals, guitar
Yule - lead guitar, piano, backing vocal
Morrison - rhythm guitar
Castanaro - drums


NEW AGE
Yule - vocal, keyboards, bass guitar, drums
Morrison - part guitar (center)
Reed - rhythm guitar (right)


HEAD HELD HIGH
Reed - vocal, (overdriven) rhythm guitar, piano
Yule - lead guitar, bass guitar, organ, backing vocal
Morrison - (boogie) rhythm guitar
Castanaro - drums
Reed and/or Yule and/or Morrison - handclaps


LONESOME COWBOY BILL
Doug Yule - vocal, piano, bass guitar
Reed - guitar
Morrison - guitar
Billy Yule - drums


I FOUND A REASON
Reed - vocal, rhythm guitar
Morrison - lead guitar
Yule - bass guitar, backing vocal
Barber or Yule - drums
Sesnick? - tambourine


TRAIN ROUND THE BEND
Reed - vocal, rhythm guitar
Yule - lead guitar, piano, bass guitar
Morrison - guitar
Barber/Doug Yule/Billy Yule - drums (various overdubs glued together)


OH! SWEET NUTHIN'
Doug Yule - vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar
Reed - electric rhythm guitar (right)
Morrison - acoustic rhythm guitar (left)
Billy Yule - drums

yule's the rhythm section on "sweet jane" & "rock and roll". you think that'd get you in the r'n'r hall of fame or something.

Totally agree with Fuzz Box - Doug - GOOD JOB FELLAH!!

arjan wrote:SWEET JANE
Reed - vocal, left guitar
Morrison - right guitar
Yule - bass guitar, drums, backing vocal

As for the intro, it sounds like a leftover from the demo sessions that Geoff Haslam retrieved and tacked onto Sweet Jane (lower sound levels and all). Judging from the guitar style and the Live at Max's LP, I'd think that it's Morrison on lead and Reed on rhythm. Drummer sounds the same as the one on Satellite of Love, and so could well be Barber.

On "Sweet jane", you forgot Sesnick and his superb cowbell job.

paddy wrote:On "Sweet jane", you forgot Sesnick and his superb cowbell job.

That's the *demo* version on Fully Loaded. I'm talking about the "regular" album here.

We need more cowbell!

Forgot the tambourine on "I Found a Reason," too. Sounds like it's being played by a four year old (maybe they brought Ari back...). Also sounds like they tried to mix it out, and failed.

arjan wrote:
SWEET JANE
Reed - vocal, left guitar
Morrison - right guitar
Yule - bass guitar, drums, backing vocal

What about that distorted sound during some of the "Heavenly Wine and Roses" bridge, and also chugs along during the "Sweet Jane" outro? You know the one I mean? Dunno what it is. Sounds almost like a bass clarinet, but that's obviously not what it really is...