After singer, guitarist and main songwriter Lou Reed quit the Velvet Underground in August 1970, the band carried on: Doug Yule assumed leadership and moved to lead vocals and guitar, and Walter Powers joined to play bass guitar. This version of the Velvet Underground, which still featured original member Sterling Morrison and longtime drummer Maureen Tucker, played around 30 dates to promote the band's fourth album, Loaded (1970).
Almost a year after Reed's departure, Morrison also left the band; he was replaced by Boston-based keyboardist Willie Alexander. The band now contained no founding members (although Tucker had been a member since before the recording of the Velvets' debut album). They then went to tour the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, still in support of Loaded, which had had a March 1971 release date in Europe. Two dates of this tour, November 5, 1971 in London and November 19 in Amsterdam, were recorded by members of the audience, and appear as discs one and two of this set, respectively. The Amsterdam concert was also recorded from the soundboard by Dutch radio stationVPRO and subsequently broadcast on FM radio. A few tracks from this broadcast were recorded by a fan and appear as tracks 11–14 on disc four of this set.
Once the European tour was completed, initial plans were for the Yule–Alexander–Powers–Tucker line-up to record a new studio album in England. However, band manager Steve Sesnick sent Alexander, Powers and Tucker back to America, and Yule recorded Squeeze backed by session musicians.
Sesnick then assembled a backing band around Yule to once again tour the United Kingdom in support of Squeeze. Shortly before the tour started, however, Sesnick quit as the Velvets' manager. Yule and the band struggled through the dates, then called it quits. One date of this tour, December 6, 1972, at St David's College, Lampeter, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc three of this set.
In the spring of 1973 at the urging of a tour manager, Yule and some friends toured New England with a new group, which included some Velvet Underground material in their set lists. The tour manager insisted on billing the band as being the Velvet Underground despite demands from Yule not to do so. Yule fired the manager after three dates and the tour dissolved shortly thereafter. One date from this tour, May 27, 1973 in Boston, was recorded by an audience member and appears as disc four of this set.
The version of "Sweet Jane" on disc 4 contains the original deleted verse, while Lou Reed Live does not.
