Moe Tucker - Dogs Under Stress

Moe Tucker - Dogs Under Stress - 1994

Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944, in Levittown, New York) is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group the Velvet Underground. Tucker first began playing the drums at age 19. When she was asked to join the Velvet Underground, Tucker had dropped out of Ithaca College and was working for IBM as a keypunch operator. The band's original percussionist, Angus Maclise, had left in November 1965 because he felt the band sold out when it took a paying gig. Tucker was drafted because Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison remembered her as the younger sister of one of his college friends who played the drums. Tucker was frequently noted for her androgynous appearance.

Tucker's style of playing was unconventional. She played standing up rather than seated (for easier access to the bass drum), using a simplified drum kit of tom toms, a snare drum and an upturned bass drum, playing with mallets rather than drumsticks. She rarely used cymbals; she claimed that since she felt the purpose of a drummer was simply to "keep time", cymbals were unnecessary for this purpose and drowned out the other instruments.

Apart from drumming, Tucker sang co-lead vocals on three Velvet Underground songs: the acoustic guitar number "After Hours" and the strange poem set to music "The Murder Mystery", both from 1969's The Velvet Underground album, as well as "I'm Sticking with You", a song recorded in 1969 but left (officially) unreleased until it appeared on the 1985 outtakes compilation VU. Lou Reed said of "After Hours" that it was "so innocent and pure" that he could not possibly sing it himself. In the early days, Tucker also occasionally played the bass guitar during live gigs

01. Crackin' Up

02. Me, Myself and I

03. I've Seen into Your Soul

04. I Don't Understand

05. Crazy Hannah's Ridin' the Train

06. Danny Boy

07. Little Girl

08. Saturday Night

09. Train

10. Poor Little Fool

11. I Wanna

Moe Tucker - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Alto Saxophone

Sterling Morrison - Guitar, Background Vocals, Electric Sitar

John Sluggett – Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Piano, Violin, Drums, Maracas, Background Vocals

Don Fleming – Guitar

Phil Hadaway – Bass, Guitar, Accordion, Horn, Keyboards

Sonny Vincent – Acoustic & Rhythm Guitar, Background Vocals

Daniel Hutchens – Acoustic & Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Background Vocals

Victor DeLorenzo - Percussion, Background Vocals

Miriam Linna – Drums, Background Vocals

David Doris, Kate Mikulka – Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone

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