John Cale Share your appreciation, favorite listens, what you are listening to now, favorite bands with Cale & pairings that included Cale, photos and stories. I have to start with this, my first sighting of John Cale, though at th etime none of us had any idea who he was or what he had in store for us all... John Cale on I've Got A Secret in 1963 Share what John Cale classic you are listening to nowadays.
Right now ...a very nice digital download of "Fragments Of A Rainy Season". I have the Domino vinyl reissue and we won't get into the brickwalled disaster, it's been covered. I do listen to the vinyl after some fine tuning on my stereo setup -- it is listenable, though I would have hoped for more. Fragments Of A Rainy Day...Paris 1919 ...nice vid from a wonderful concert
This one caught my attention on Northern Exposure..absolutely love this Eno Cale song and album. Eno Cale, Lay My Love
I came to the incomparable John Cale very late in the game - roughly 10 years ago - but he now stands for me as one of the absolute towering figures of our culture. He's one of only a handful of artists where I can listen to every single thing he's ever released without exception. That said, I much prefer his post-VU work. Of late, I've been cycling through the Island years stuff, but also spending a lot of quality time with Music for a New Society. The Rockpalast shows, especially the '83 one where he's coked out of his mind, are touchstones. For me our greatest living musician.
Interview with John Cale on The Velvet Underground and Nico The Quietus A Will Of Iron: John Cale Interviewed The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | A Will Of Iron: John Cale Interviewed
John Cale and Nick Drake John Cale was brought in do a recording session for Joe Boyd at Joe's famous Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea. John asked to hear a few of Joe's artists' recordings. Roll tape. He was unimpressed with Incredible String Band and a few others. Then Joe played Nick Drake and John was blown away. He asked immediately to meet Nick. Joe said sure. John said now. So Joe quickly called up the reclusive Nick Drake and told him that John Cale was on his way over. Now! John and Nick found a connection right away and they stayed up all night. I can only imagine the magical music that was shared. The next day, John arrived in the studio and told Joe he needed a celeste, organ and piano etc for a Nick Drake song. Joe said what about your material scheduled for today? John excitedly said no...we're doing this. No argument. John had come up with the beautiful arrangement overnight for Nick's amazing song. Nick on vocals and guitar. John on piano. Produced by John Cale. For this masterpiece..."Northern Sky" Nick Drake – vocals and acoustic guitar John Cale – celeste, piano and Hammond organ Dave Pegg – bass Mike Kowalski – drums
My favourite album of him wil always be Fragments of the Rainy Season (thankfully I still have the cd I had bought at his concert in 1992). His work with VU is a classics as well as his productions from the late 60s and early 70s. Other prime favourites are his album with Terry Riley, most of his concert albums, the album with Eno, Words for Dying - and I have a soft spot for the underdog called The Artificial Intelligence. With all the love I have for the man, I am usually somehow underwhelmed by his solo albums, surprisingly mostly beacuse of production and his singing voice. I have never got around the fact that a songwriter, player, producer like him often makes somehow less than great solo albums. (By the way I greatly enjoyed his concert in Prague last year from a front row.)
Cale is the most frustrating artist you could ever wish to follow. Read him during interview he talks of getting so much work done these days and how he wasted a lot of time with drugs. Back to reality if you take away the soundtracks no one listens to and the re imagined MFANS he's done 3 rock albums in 22 years. His latest effort was due Xmas 2016, he's said there have been problems but no one outside the circle seems to know what they are, maybe Domino rejected it, maybe he no longer has a label, maybe he has serious health issues. I'm half expecting a "RIP John Cale" thread when i come here.
Currently listening to this cd of unreleased performances of Cale @ CBGB's 78/9 (different to "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues")
John Cale New York in the 60s 5xLP set. If he had nothing else this would have secured his position in the annals of my personal record collection. As it is, he also co-made the best two Velvet Underground albums, produced The Stooges debut album and Nico's greatest album The Marble Index, recorded a great album with Terry Riley, played on a number of historic Theatre of Eternal Music recordings, made a number of very good solo song-based records, including the wonderful single - The Man Who Couldn't Afford to Orgy. Amongst his solo song album work, Helen of Troy remains my top favourite.
I got into rock music in the early 1970s after an obsession with pop and AM music - Beatles, Monkees, Elton John. Got into Bowie, and via him the Velvet Underground. John Cale's Fear was an early purchase, not long after it came out in 1974. It remains one of my top five favourite albums - so evocative! I love the follow-up album as well - Slow Dazzle. I had the privilege not long ago of hearing Chris Spedding talk about his involvement in the sessions - his musical partner Steve Parsons from Sharks was raving about Paris 1919, but Spedding disliked it and found it overly fussy. Little did he suspect that a few years hence he would be collaborating with Cale in a much more earthy type of rock, which was unique in that a portion of the lyrics were improvised on the spot. Every time I listen to Fear or Slow Dazzle I recall wondering what the songs were about, but also now bring the decades of my experience to interpreting the songs. And I also love Paris 1919, as does Spedding now, I suspect! Incredibly, he released those two albums and a third, Helen of Troy, all in the space of one year! Now available in the compilation The Island Years or Gold.
John Cale and Lou Reed made one of my favorites also. Unlike some, I love Cale's voice. A resonance and depth...and his spoken word tracks too, like the ones from White Light/White Heat Songs For Drella Style It Takes
Listening guide? I'd say start with "Paris 1919", "Fear" and "Fragments Of A Rainy Season". After that I'd check out the main albums in chronological order up to "Artifical Intelligence". Don't forget the great Eno collaboration "Wrong Way Up". After that I wasn't really familiar with Cale's stuff due to being unavailable on vinyl but only two weeks ago, I picked up "Walking On Locusts", "Black Acetate" and "Hobo Sapiens" on cd for 3€ each. Haven't yet played them. Saw him live twice, early 1992 and late 2018. Both shows were different but both absolutely breathtaking, two of the best things I ever saw.
I have always liked Vintage Violence. Nice tunes. But Guts is on my unlistening guide...too disturbing, I think.
I am a big fan and think John can never be overrated in terms of his importance for popular music. His solo work is also really great on the whole. I don't like his r n b-style output from the last 10 years but everything else is good to mindblowingly great. For the newbie: Fragments of a Rainy Season The Island Years Paris 1919 Then: Sabotage Vintage Violence Honi Soit Wrong Way Up Songs For Drella Hobosapiens Black Acetate Music For A New Society Church of Anthrax Then: All the rest