10 Rock Albums Made Out Of Obligation

The main draw that came with every Velvet Underground record came from Lou Reed's attention to detail. Even when the band were unleashing hell on records like White Light/White Heat, the artistic drive of Reed kept the Velvets' identity intact, whether they were working with Nico on their first record or bringing in people like Doug Yule on their self titled record. Loaded may have felt like the record that closed the book on the Velvets for good, but Yule and the label had other plans.

Then again, most of the Velvet Underground fanbase have been known to steer clear of Squeeze, basically being a Doug Yule solo album that just happened to have the Velvet name put on the packaging. Although there are a decent handful of songs on here that could have made for something cool, Doug is not nearly the same guy to replace Lou's strengths in the band, sounding unsure of himself in spots and putting together lyrics that would have been laughed out of the room on any original Velvet session.

While there are a few decent performances on the record from the likes of Deep Purple's Ian Paice behind the drum kit, it's not enough to save the album from landing at the bottom of the totem pole for Velvet Underground fans. The idea of having a new Velvet Underground album may have been cool, but what's the point when Lou was already halfway through making Transformer and Berlin at the time?