“LIFE-OR-DEATH, SEARCHING MUSIC”
“OKAY, what was the difference between The Velvet Underground with John Cale and with Doug Yule?” Well, they were two different bands, and some of this had nothing to do with them.
By the summer of 1968, Lou Reed was thinking of a different direction for the band – appealing to a wider public for one thing – and was making new songs that were more melodic, and less antisocial.
Cale did not just quit. He was ousted. And not everyone in the band was happy about it. But they decided to press on and so would need a replacement on bass and keyboards for Cale. I’d say that for their emerging sound, Doug Yule was a very good choice and helped them create a new and unexpected sound as well as a more inclusive serene relationship to the audience. In other words, he helped them go where they were headed already.
JOHN Cale, from Wales, came to the US when he was 21 or 22 on a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to play viola at Tanglewood. He then
