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February 16, 2007
Obscurer Than Thou: the Velvet Understudy
by David Klein
When a great band breaks up, it isn’t pretty. Usually somebody dies. The Beatles fell apart in acrimony; the Stones refuse to break up, but things are often harsher when the star of your huge rock band dies suddenly and expectedly. After Jim Morrison’s final soak in a Parisian bathtub, the remaining Doors got together and in essence decided, “Hey, let’s just continue as The Doors, with our spindly keyboardist Ray Manzarek as lead singer, and hope the fans will dig our new direction.” Needless to say, the post-Jim Doors sunk into well-deserved oblivion until they reemerged years later, with some unreleased Lizard King poetry they’d set to music. Led Zeppelin knew enough to simply hang up its enormous wings after drummer John Bonham consumed his final “forty-four ‘measures’ of vodka. (I’ve always loved that genteel phraseology in the oh-so-British coroner’s report.) Zep showed uncharacteristic restraint in realizing that they would never be the same without Bonzo, so why tarnish their legacy? (Until Live Aid, of course, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves). The surviving band mates of Keith Moon, who, incidentally, gave Led Zeppelin its name, were not ready to make the hard choices. They opted to replace the insanely talented Moon with someone talented but not insane (i.e., Kenney Jones of the Faces franchise)—which makes sense on paper, but didn’t yield much (some would say anything) in the way of essential Who songs. Thank God the remaining members of Nirvana didn’t take this approach and tap, say, Chris Cornell to front Nirvana 2.0.
Which brings me to the Velvet Underground. I know, I know: Lou Reed didn’t die like the other people I just mentioned. He just went solo. But to the remaining VU members, what’s the difference? At least until that reunion thing twenty years later. And the comparison is also specious in that, unlike the Who, the Velvets were largely unsung at the time. They didn’t have the means to like, go out and sign up Nick Drake up for the job of new lead singer. And it must be said that, unlike the other bands, the Velvets had already withstood the loss of a founding member, John Cale, who left after 1968’s White Light White Heat, taking with him his overt avant-garde leanings, his back-up vocals, and his viola. Nevertheless, the Velvets actually did have some great music in them at that point. But when Lou Reed went solo in 1971, when it would have seemed so apt for the rest of the band to shuffle off into obscurity, the band, or the name of the band, at any rate, soldiered on. Doug Yule, who had joined the band around the time of Loaded, originally as the bassist and later guitarist and singer, thought he could keep things going. Crazy idea in itself, but what’s crazier is that, instead of finding some sullen, artsy-fartsy would-be Lou type, or at least someone with a New York accent, the final version of the VU was fronted by Willie “Loco” Alexander, a stalwart of the Boston rock scene. I’m sure you’ll agree that there is something very, very wrong about the idea of the Velvet Underground being led by Bostonian. Can you see “Waiting for the Man” set in Southie? “Feelin’ wicked bad/more dead than alive”? I don’t think so.
The rest of the story, Willie Alexander mp3's, and more pictures of Willie Alexander that will confuse your sexuality after the jump...
Nevertheless, the Lou-less, Cale-less VU released one record with Willie Alexander as lead singer, 1973’s Squeeze. At that point only Yule remained; Sterling Morrison had long since left for the groves of academia, and Maureen Tucker had finally commenced her lengthy disappearance. Squeeze, which sold even fewer copies than the famously low-selling VU records, is now, of course, a collector’s item due to its utter obscurity. But I won’t champion it because a) I don’t own it and b) that’s not the kind of obscurity I want to single out for praise. By the same token, I am writing to praise Willie Alexander, and not for being a footnote in hipster history.
Willie was not an innovator but he had charisma. With a singing style combining elements of Mick, Iggy and Cher, he added a mush-mouthed, glam delivery all his own. Willie’s two major-label releases in the late ‘70s garnered little excitement outside of the Boston region, favorable press, or sales. Prominent rock critic of the era Dave Marsh was not alone in heaping scorn upon Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band (1978) and the follow up Meanwhile…Back in the States. Ira Robbins, who headed up the influential and invaluable Trouser Press magazine, dismissed them as a merely competent bar band. But I say they can all take a powder because Willie’s salacious singing style combined with the ace fretwork of fleet-fingered Billy Loosigian (he’s loose and Armenian: he’s Loosigian) still deliver a certain specific vintage of ‘70s rock, unmoored by a desire to imitate the complicated art-rock stylings of the day, and rooted in a more basic hard-rocking flavor. This is the way you wanted to play guitar in 1978: with swagger and extreme wailing. So I offer you:
Willie Alexander - “Mass. Ave.”
This swaggering track epitomizes the sound of Willie & the Boom Boom Band’s major-label releases: prancing T. Rex vibe, Willie’s cocky half-spoken delivery, like Iggy with a touch of Dr. Frank N. Furter, and Loosigian’s lightning licks. And to end it, an indulgent sloppy fadeout.
Willie Alexander - “Kerouac”
The vulnerable side of Mr. Alexander comes through here, with an off-key piano adding poignancy to Willie’s straightforward tribute to the king of the Beats.
Although Willie was nothing like the man he temporarily replaced, this track’s opening like sure sounds like one that Lou might have written (after a long night, perhaps):
“I wanna sing like a Puerto Rican hooker/in a black limousine”
Previously: Obscurer Than Thous...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at February 16, 2007 08:28 AM
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Comments
That's why New Order are such a miracle...would "Ceremony" have been better with Ian Curtis? Probably. Would "Love Vigilantes"? Almost certainly not.
A VU-less Lou is the worst idea ever though.
Posted by: Jeff K at February 16, 2007 08:57 AM
Great post David. Really enjoyed it and agree with JK on the VU-less Lou being the worst idea....EVER!
Posted by: Kelli Douglas at February 16, 2007 04:20 PM
This does rule though:
Posted by: Dan Selzer at February 17, 2007 11:19 AM
