According to my searches, there have been no threads dedicated to my main man John Cale.
I’d known his name for a while, I guess. I knew he was the one who invented the version of “Hallelujah” that most people are familiar with. Then one night my roommate and I were driving late at night listening to the radio when the DJ put on “Chinese Envoy”. I sort of did a double take and said, “Who would put up money to have this crap recorded?” When we heard the DJ say it was from John Cale’s album Music for a New Society we were intrigued and acquired the album as soon as possible. It’s about a year later and I’ve amassed most of his catalog and I love it all, even and especially Music for a New Society and “Chinese Envoy”. He’s easily in my top 10 favorite artists of all time. Is he in any one else’s? Why isn’t there more love for John Cale?
Some of my favorite tracks:
“I Keep A Close Watch”
“Buffalo Ballet”
“Cable Hogue”
“Paris 1919”
Cale fan here. I would recommend the CD Fragments Of A Rainy Season as a good place to start. His version of Heartbreak Hotel gets to me every time. Other favorites:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Darling I Need You
Thoughtless Kind
The John Cale that I’ve heard, I’ve loved - “Paris 1919” is a current favorite of mine.
I’ve been meaning to check out “Church of Anthrax” for a while, mainly because he works with Terry Riley on it and I’m curious about the results. If any other Cale fans check in, maybe they have an opinion on it.
John Cale is a good reason to briefly stop being a lurker.
I would highly recommend picking up The Island Years collection. It has all of Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy, with a few bonus tracks. Basically it’s a nice easy way to get 3 (great) albums at once.
I also don’t think a Cale thread would be complete without mentioning his profound effect on the Velvet Underground albums he was a part of. He was the real producer of The Velvet Underground & Nico, in terms of what we would normally think of as a producer of a rock album.
I only know him in terms of The Velvet Underground. Of course, that makes him a rock god who will have my eternal devotion, shoegazer that I am. Still, hard to believe he’s Welsh.
I’m more of a Terry Riley fan than a John Cale fan, but I like it…not the best work of either man, but pretty cool. There’s one song with lyrics, the rest is a semi-rocked-up version of Riley’s minimalism. Good luck finding a copy.
He’d probably like that.
Damn, that makes me wish I didn’t already have Fear on CD!
My favorite is Vintage Violence - I like Cale as pop songwriter more than Cale as “experimental” guy hanging with Riley and Tony Conrad. Paris 1919 is a close second. My band usually closes our shows with a cover of “Hanky Panky Nohow.”
Another one I wish I didn’t already have on CD (and I only own, I think, four Cale CDs). I’ve just discovered this morning that it was reissued recently with a slew of bonus tracks–demo versions of all the songs.
Well, I acquired a copy and am listening right now. I’m through the first side. I like it! Except for Terry Riley’s soprano sax playing. It’s better than it is on his own recording of “In C”, but … I’m not crazy about it.
Thanks for finally getting me motivated to hear it!
Big John Cale fan here - I used to be completely nuts on him, now I’m just in awe of him. Music For a New Society is one of the most unique records ever, as is Nico’s The Marble Index which he orchestrated and performed. Anybody have any thoughts on his last four or so albums? I haven’t bought them yet because I’m boycotting copy protected CDs …
I saw John Cale live about 20 years ago in Cambridge MA. One of the best shows ever.
He made Heartbreak Hotel sound like the most profound song ever written. He ended ballads by suddenly pounding on the piano and screaming. The whole time, you just never knew what to expect.
Meant to add, I dug up a copy of Vintage Violence. I like “Gideon’s Bible” and “Big White Cloud”.
Can’t recommend, though, the famous June 1, 1971 concert recording by ACNE: Ayers (Kevin), Cale, Nico and Eno with Mike Oldfield and Rabbit Bundrick in tow.
For such a stellar lineup, it’s a lackluster collection of songs.
I hate to show such ignorance–especially around here–but I can never remember which one’s John Cale, which one’s John Prine, aand which one’s John Hiatt.
Of course, I wasted half my life listening to top 40 radio.
It’s easy. I can’t speak for the others, but John Cale is the one who had long hair in the early sixties, used to smash pianos with an axe, and played viola on ‘Heroin’ by the Velvet Underground. I’m pretty sure the other two didn’t.
Not that Cale had a lot to do with that album anyway…he only has one song on his own (and a cover, at that), plus contributing instrumentally to the Eno songs and one of the Ayers songs. I like this album more for the Eno material than anything else.
I almost forgot about the Cale-Reed Songs for Drella album, of which I’m a big fan. I have the version with the fuzzy cover.