Where was Doug in 1993?

[tarbaby2]

I was wondering why Doug was left out of the 1993 reunion tour? Was he unavailable? Or was he not asked?

I'm just curious and would like to know.

[Doctor Bob]

I was wondering why Doug was left out of the 1993 reunion tour? Was he unavailable? Or was he not asked?

Sterling wanted Doug to be part of the reunion so that Sterl wouldn't have to play bass on the songs where John was playing viola or keyboard (Sterl wanted to play just guitar).

Lou and John were both adamant that Doug shouldn't be part of the reunion however, and so he was never invited.

[tarbaby2]

Don't you think it's kind of wierd that Lou didn't want Doug to be a part of it? Especially since he introduced Doug (I think it was on the End Cole Ave boot) as "my brother Doug"? That indicates sort of a "soul brother" thing to me. And then to leave him out in the cold like that seems pretty crummy. It would be even more cold if Doug really wanted to be a part of it.

[simonm]

to leave him out in the cold like that seems pretty crummy.

How about Lou joking that he hoped Doug was dead in 1972? (radio interview circulating with boot versions of the American Poet show). He did have him play on the Sally Can't Dance LP (and on tour?), but I guess they fell out again after that. Reed likes his grudges.

[Paddy]

Yule felt bad about being left in the shade, but he also said that had he been invited to join, he wouldn't have, cos he wanted to stay with his family...
Reed and Yule fell out again in early 1976 because Dougie took a walk on the Katz side... to form American Flyer. I believe it was a case of Lou going "I forgave you once and you've betrayed me again!" and Doug replying "For chrissake Lou, I've done it again because you're as fucked-up as you were 5 years ago..."

As for 1993 I believe they wanted to appear as the "classic" Velvets, the Warhol-championes band with that banana album the general public would be most likely to be familiar with. (Sadly, Nico was unvailable at that time, because otherwise she would have been on the bill.)
That reunion tour was lame anyway, twas just about making money (sorry to be blunt), about cashing in on the Velvet cult, and the Velvets supporting U2 was a ludicrous sight, something like Iggy Pop opening for Jon Bon Jovi.

One final word: to my knowledge John Cale NEVER said a single word against Doug Yule. In 1993 Lou Reed directed every single thing.

[MJG196]

I bet Moe had no objection either, but if there was going to be a reunion, it had to be the Classic lineup.

I hate to whine or gripe about this stuff because it is really pointless, but the '93 Tour did serve its purposes quite well. Will I ever buy a CD or DVD of it? No. If it would have led to an acoustic performance...well...that woulda been awesome. If we are to belive Bockris, Lou fu*ked that one up as well.

[Doctor Bob]

acoustic performance woulda been awesome. If we are to belive Bockris, Lou fu*ked that one up as well.

Acoustic performance of the Velvet Underground?

You people make me sick

As for Bockris...that man is scum.

[Pernod time]

My opinions.
1. There is no "classic" lineup, I am the biggest fan of John Cale, but the 2 Velvets albums without him are on the same level as the first 2.
2. Bit of a shame Doug Yule didnt play, I think the results might have been more interesting, lets face it any Velvets legacy problems lie with Lou's "difficult personality". John Cales great remark about Lou always pushing to the front when they visited Japan,not realising the power lies with the man who stands behind in Japanese culture for me said it all.

[Doctor Bob]

My opinions.
1. There is no "classic" lineup, I am the biggest fan of John Cale, but the 2 Velvets albums without him are on the same level as the first 2.
2. Bit of a shame Doug Yule didnt play, I think the results might have been more interesting

I'm pretty fond of the 1993 tour, especially the video (which is meant to be released on DVD next month lest we forget)...lots of people hate that album/tour though.

I have mixed thoughts on Yule's exclusion. On the one hand, of course he was a member of the Velvets and so had every right to be playing just as much as John Cale did.

On the other hand, the songs would have been difficult to arrange because on several songs if Yule was playing bass then Cale would have had nothing to play and would have had to sit those songs out (and vice versa).

In addition to this, the band never actually played in a lineup including both Yule and Cale, so it would have been artificial (some people would argue that the reunion was artificial in the first place so what difference does it make )

However if Yule had been invited, Sterling would have got to play a lot more guitar parts and trade solos with Reed more, whereas he got stuck playing bass instead. Having said that, that is what used to happen to him in '67 so it's quite appropriate, but then we all love Sterl's guitar work so much so it's natural to want more of it...

The main problem would be arranging the songs really, and the only way to have both Cale and Yule on the bill would be either to have Cale playing an additional instrument like keyboards on songs like Sweet Jane where it isn't appropriate, or to have one or other of them leave the stage for certain songs, neither of which are satisfactory. Not to mention the fact that Cale and Yule never knew each other so the "band chemistry" wouldn't have been right. Not that it was strictly speaking "right" anyway, it was destructive of course but then that was "right" for them...

[Mark]

I'm sure that if Cale and Yule had both been there, they're both such versatile musicians that I'm sure they would have found some way of expanding the arrangements so everyone had something to do - eg, for Sweet Jane Cale could have taken bass and Doug could have filled in with some extra guitar (as I believe he did on the album). All wishful thinking now of course...