In 1968, New York and John Cale were resigned to the history of the Velvet Underground, for whatever reason, and Doug Yule joined the band. Doug was to become the forgotten Velvet to some extreme, blamed often for the Velvets becoming a "vehicle for Lou Reed's softer side; a homogeneous entity devoid of the white hot intensity which was fueled by the uncompromising spirit of John Cale". The thing is, the V.U. was always that vehicle to some extent. The only real difference was in the performance of the songs by the new line up.

John Cale was basically irreplaceable, what Doug Yule brought to the band allowed the band to record softer songs, such as Pale Blue Eyes, Sweet Jane, and What Goes on, without fear. They moved away from the avant garde art scene, and became a true rock n roll band, and in doing so, moved away from New York.

Doug Yule had left Boston University after one year, and managed to dodge the draft up for the Vietnam War. He'd been playing in numerous bands, including organ for a cover band, and guitar in another band, but didn't have any recording experience before he joined the velvets. It was a phonecall from Steve Sesnick that drafted him into the V.U., and Yule later said of the moment, "And of course I figure, here it is. Here's the elevator up. I finally hit it, because to me, this was a big band. They were gaining popularity. They were quite popular before I joined.".

The new line up transferred to Boston, and the tea party became the home for the v.u. during their most productive time. Perhaps Doug was in over his head, but he had the confidence (although he himself described it as arrogance), to try and keep up. The records show that he was much more to the v.u. than just that, Doug became an important contributer to the v.u's live and recorded work in what might now be considered their most revered period.

Yule's biggest mistake was probably trying to carry on the V.U. after Reed's departure. Many regarded this as arrogance in the extreme, Lou was after all, the major songwriter, and to some extent was the velvets. Without him, the audience was less likely to accept them.

Perhaps the most important clue as to the importance of Yule within the V.U. came when they reformed without him. The performances were somewhat slated, leading us to ask what was missing. Could the answer be, Doug Yule?