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06-03-2015 06:47 AM |
Velvet Underground - Squeeze
Changing the leader of the band is a serious hit and miss chance, but in this case it was following four seriously great albums led by either Lou Reed and John Cale (first two) or just Reed (S/T and Loaded). Not to dismiss the talents of Doug Yule and understanding the circumstances of how this came to be, it was still like seeing your favorite dark hangout with a strong cult following that kept it in business for years turned into a nice Singer Songwriter place but without the kind of artist that would make it a go-to place. The classic four albums were a tough act to follow!
My Not-So-Obvious pick
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Blasting Off
This is a case of the band having the original visionary with a whole different line up, recording in LA and trying to keep the name alive. Some decent songs, but the burn out from not having any kind of major hits from their Late 80's albums which seemed to try to break out (Nothing Wrong and the slightly under-valued Blow) resulted in something sounding like things were on Auto-Pilot running low on fuel. In their case, it's another case of a hard act to follow - the classic first two albums and the collection of classic singles sides that burned the house down. I could have said Nothing Wrong for the very foggy production that ruined it (especially the original UK version - the US version added some great songs, but also had a worse sound on all of it to accommodate the weight of material per side which made the songs of the original cut sound worse on the original vinyl pressing!), but this was a case of knowing when to stop (Pre-2K's return).
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