Best Member of The Velvet Underground

[Gabo]

The two albums after Cale are as good as the two albums with Cale. Lou

[RangeRoverA1]

Doug Yule See, this is hard for me. It's tough to be objective when The Velvet's 3rd album is my favorite album of all-time. And Doug is just perfect here. His voice and playing just brought such an intriguing element to the group and something of a contrasting personality for Lou to play off and it gave his songs and their subject matter different shades that Lou or John would never be able to touch. His bass playing is just spot on throughout. His lines/parts really enhance the songs and are very emotional. Very impressive for a guy who was basically just a kid when he was at it.

Jolly good stuff, Erik! Doug is definitely my favorite in the group. Wonderful singer & gifted musician (if I recall, he can play variety of instruments), he's got to sing one of the best songs in the band's catalog such as "Who Loves the Sun", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "Candy Says", "Dopey Joe" etc. I'm glad that Doug was chosen as a replacement for Cale. He was an organic fit to the rest of the company, adding balance, harmony, friendliness & his own unique style. I've recently been listening to "notorious" "Squeeze" & it's not that awful really. About half of the songs immediately became my favorites. Specifically: rocking & slightly stoned "Dopey Joe" recorded live; uptempo number "Jack & Jane"; mellow "Friends", cute Martha My Dear rip-off "Crash", insanely catchy "Caroline" & groovy final track "Louise", a.k.a. a mixed gem. Maybe the album doesn't seem to have enough potential, so-called "hooks", but it surely worth several listens coz it's not the thing you'll "get" from the start. I kid you not, the arrangements & vocals shine there!

Btw, did somebody notice that Doug's voice at times sounds like George Harrison's? There's sth. about phrasing, tone & intonation quality that can't help but remind me of the way George sang. You'd say odd, since the former is American & George is British. Either way, Doug still remained himself; don't think he intentionally copied the former Beatle.

[JK]

Couldn't see why poor old Nico didn't have a vote so I gave her mine. Love the first two VU albums, bits of the third, "Sweet Jane"...  

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Couldn't see why poor old Nico didn't have a vote so I gave her mine. Love the first two VU albums, bits of the third, "Sweet Jane"...  

I think it's because Nico is much more (and rightfully so) worshiped as a solo artist.

[JK]

Couldn't see why poor old Nico didn't have a vote so I gave her mine. Love the first two VU albums, bits of the third, "Sweet Jane"...  

I think it's because Nico is much more (and rightfully so) worshiped as a solo artist.

Point taken. In fact she shouldn't be in this poll at all, since the VU's debut album was attributed to The Velvet Underground and Nico. It's a bit like saying that Quiver were the best members of The Sutherland Brothers. I was never any good at polls anyway!

[RangeRoverA1]

Point taken. In fact she shouldn't be in this poll at all, since the VU's debut album was attributed to The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Totally agree with you, Mr. K. Other than being a chanteuse, Nico didn't do anything musically in the group at all. Thus, 'twas unfair to include her in this poll in the 1st place. That said, I still like her voice & am glad that she sang on such a cool jam session & my favorite song from the album "All Tomorrow's Parties", it's become one of her signature numbers forever. No one beat her out, even Lou Reed.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Point taken. In fact she shouldn't be in this poll at all, since the VU's debut album was attributed to The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Totally agree with you, Mr. K. Other than being a chanteuse, Nico didn't do anything musically in the group at all. Thus, 'twas unfair to include her in this poll in the 1st place. That said, I still like her voice & am glad that she sang on such a cool jam session & my favorite song from the album "All Tomorrow's Parties", it's become one of her signature numbers forever. No one beat her out, even Lou Reed.

Chelsea Girl, Marble Index, Desertshore, and The End are some of the greatest albums ever recorded.

Nico is in a class all her own.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Doug Yule See, this is hard for me. It's tough to be objective when The Velvet's 3rd album is my favorite album of all-time. And Doug is just perfect here. His voice and playing just brought such an intriguing element to the group and something of a contrasting personality for Lou to play off and it gave his songs and their subject matter different shades that Lou or John would never be able to touch. His bass playing is just spot on throughout. His lines/parts really enhance the songs and are very emotional. Very impressive for a guy who was basically just a kid when he was at it.

Jolly good stuff, Erik! Doug is definitely my favorite in the group. Wonderful singer & gifted musician (if I recall, he can play variety of instruments), he's got to sing one of the best songs in the band's catalog such as "Who Loves the Sun", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "Candy Says", "Dopey Joe" etc. I'm glad that Doug was chosen as a replacement for Cale. He was an organic fit to the rest of the company, adding balance, harmony, friendliness & his own unique style. I've recently been listening to "notorious" "Squeeze" & it's not that awful really. About half of the songs immediately became my favorites. Specifically: rocking & slightly stoned "Dopey Joe" recorded live; uptempo number "Jack & Jane"; mellow "Friends", cute Martha My Dear rip-off "Crash", insanely catchy "Caroline" & groovy final track "Louise", a.k.a. a mixed gem. Maybe the album doesn't seem to have enough potential, so-called "hooks", but it surely worth several listens coz it's not the thing you'll "get" from the start. I kid you not, the arrangements & vocals shine there!

Btw, did somebody notice that Doug's voice at times sounds like George Harrison's? There's sth. about phrasing, tone & intonation quality that can't help but remind me of the way George sang. You'd say odd, since the former is American & George is British. Either way, Doug still remained himself; don't think he intentionally copied the former Beatle.

I've always wondered what Doug would be doing now if Squeeze had been released as a "Doug Yule" solo album! I know he's alive and well and doing a pretty cool bluegrass thing, but I still wonder...... Someone should reissue it as "Squeeze: Doug Yule" and see if the reappraisal train rolls onto the tracks or not. People don't realize the position he was in when VU's original lineup disbanded with another album contractually obligated.....

[hypehat]

Point taken. In fact she shouldn't be in this poll at all, since the VU's debut album was attributed to The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Totally agree with you, Mr. K. Other than being a chanteuse, Nico didn't do anything musically in the group at all. Thus, 'twas unfair to include her in this poll in the 1st place. That said, I still like her voice & am glad that she sang on such a cool jam session & my favorite song from the album "All Tomorrow's Parties", it's become one of her signature numbers forever. No one beat her out, even Lou Reed.

I would think singing would classify as a 'musical' contribution. She belongs in this poll.  If John K's problem is one of nomenclature and you really enjoy her contributions to the first album this is a weird discussion to be having! She was in the band!

[RangeRoverA1]

I would think singing would classify as a 'musical' contribution. She belongs in this poll.  If John K's problem is one of nomenclature and you really enjoy her contributions to the first album this is a weird discussion to be having! She was in the band!

Nothing weird at all. All I did was agreeing with john k re Nico being out of place in this poll. And I very well know myself that "singing" counts as musical contribution. But the thing is, no one in the group actually liked her & sometimes even ridiculed her, it was Warhol who introduced her to VU. I also recall, Nico herself was quite reluctant on the idea of being in the band with some strangers she never knew before. So I can't argue with any of them.

I like Nico's voice very much, she's maybe in my Top-10 female singers, but within VU she's not that much significant. If she only sang constantly, in each LP, then fine, she indeed would belong in this poll. But having leads in 3 songs & doing backgrounds in 1 in the entire career of Velvet Underground I hardly can qualify as "the real member of the group". As some people stated here, Nico got more recognition & fame as a solo artist & remains such today. And I agree with it.

[rn57]

I just voted for Sterling partly because I have a soft spot for him because I met him at 4 am one night in the back of an Austin club during SXSW in '91.  We talked a little bit about Anglo-Saxon poetry, the subject he got his doctorate in when he went back to college after the Velvets....and also about the band rehearsing with Nico. He did a funny imitation of her saying, "Looouuu....Sterrrlinnngg....you mussst playy mooorree like Jeeemy Payyge..." (Jimmy Page was the guitarist on her Immediate 45, "The Last Mile" b/w "I'm Not Sayin'" which she made before coming to New York.)