it's a good question -- dunno what the answer is though! I kinda think of Nick Drake's Bryter Later being sort of similar (and Cale played on it), but the sensibilty of the two songwriter's is wildly different.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Some of Peter Hammill's 70s solo albums maybe?
― anagram, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link
hm, i don't know those -- the van der graf generator guy? I guess Scott Walker might sorta fit in.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 16:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Brian Eno's "Another Green World" - particularly Everything Merges With The Night
― tomofthenest, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 16:45 (fourteen years ago) link
bill fay's first two albs - self-titled and TIME OF THE LAST PERSECUTION - share some of the same general tone
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
damn those bill fay records are great. good call.
― Brio, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 18:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe Epic Soundtracks' RISE ABOVE?
― doug watson, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 19:17 (fourteen years ago) link
John Martyn Bless the Weather?
I'm disappointed there's no option to vote for the picture on the cover. Andalucia's my favorite, though. Fact: if you are named Amanda, it's fun to pretend he's saying Amandalucia.
― figgy pudding (La Lechera), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Slapp Happy's Acnalbasac Noom has the same laid-back uptight-intellectual vibe.
― bendy, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe Epic Soundtracks' RISE ABOVE?that's a good one, i love that record. Maybe not quite as lush/layered as Paris 1919, but I always though Epic and Cale's phrasing was kinda similar.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:33 (fourteen years ago) link
it might be sorta obv, but cale's discography has paris 1919-y songs scattered throughout
"riverbank", "the soul of carmen miranda", "china sea", "bamboo floor", "gideon's bible"..lots of stuff from 'vintage violence' actually
― iatee, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:44 (fourteen years ago) link
ooooh gideon's bible is my FAVORITE ALL TIMEnot sure why
― figgy pudding (La Lechera), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:45 (fourteen years ago) link
it might be sorta obv, but cale's discography has paris 1919-y songs scattered throughoutyeah, there are definitely a few songs (esp. on Vintage Violence and maybe a few on Music for a New Society), but I think what's special about Paris 1919 is that not even Cale is sure how he did it. I think I've read an interview where he admits that it's great, but he's not sure why or how it happened. I guess just the stars aligning or something.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Second the recommendation of Time of the Last Persecution by Bill Fay. A lot of interesting arrangements and instrumentation going on there. Compared to Paris 1919, tho, it is a decidedly bleaker/more dirge-y album.
― Turangalila, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I dunno, I think it can pretty much all be chalked up to the arrangements. yeah he was at some crazy songwriting peak, but imo he'd stay at that peak for 'fear' and 'slow dazzle'. I don't think the paris 1919 songs stand out when they're played w/ the rest of his material (like in 'fragments') - stripped of the fancy arrangements and they're still def among the best songs he's written but not in some mystical realm beyond his other good stuff.
― iatee, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 21:58 (fourteen years ago) link
xp
yeah, it's probably that weird combo of Little Feat + Cale's Euro sensibility + SoCal + orchestral arrangements that makes it so unique.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:01 (fourteen years ago) link
also: Antarctica Starts Here - 1
:(
― iatee, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Very well put, iatee. I agree.
― The Magnificent Colin Firth (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
i definitely hear a lot of paris 1919 in vintage violence but i got them both at the same time and had a huge cale period for a while (all way down to the haircut) so they're sort of inseparable to me in other ways as well. on the following records it seems like he just set out to rock first and write songs second.
― sonderangerbot, Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Another good parallel would be Al Stewart's Past Present & Future, also released in 1973 (and to some extent the following year's Modern Times). The same considered, reflective songwriting, the personal refracted through the historical. Those who only know Stewart for "Year of the Cat" should check this album out, it might surprise you.
― anagram, Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:18 (fourteen years ago) link
more paris 1919 v2 songs: 'sylvia said', 'dixieland and dixie'
― iatee, Thursday, 11 March 2010 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
if you wanna have the full experience
http://www.sallepleyel.fr/francais/evenement.aspx?id=11113
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 13 March 2010 11:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Bunch of awesome suggestions. Hey, this Al Stewart record is great! I was vaguely aware of him...
― SourPatchCorpse, Saturday, 13 March 2010 15:54 (fourteen years ago) link
wish I was in paris :(
― iatee, Saturday, 13 March 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah no kidding ... the recording sounds sweet.
― tylerw, Saturday, 13 March 2010 17:44 (fourteen years ago) link
might go for the occasion
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 13 March 2010 17:46 (fourteen years ago) link
this live show is gorgeous. not sure about the guitar solo on "Child's Christmas" but most of it is close to perfect. Cale's voice sounds great these days ...
― tylerw, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:14 (fourteen years ago) link
love the Femme Fatale/Rosegarden Funeral of Sores mix, which I guess he's been doing for a while now?
― iatee, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:16 (fourteen years ago) link
^^ yes, by the time the live set was over i was not digging all that guitar at all.
― nerve_pylon, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
kinda digging the psych-y guitar on Half Past France tho. Kind of unexpected.
― tylerw, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
always kind of hated this album but I feel like shit right now and it sounds great
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I'll probably love this album forever now or something
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:27 (fourteen years ago) link
hopefully!
― iatee, Thursday, 25 March 2010 19:52 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.uclalive.org/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=15
― tylerw, Monday, 9 August 2010 17:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Cale rocking the soul patch
― Falkor Johnson (askance johnson), Monday, 9 August 2010 17:37 (thirteen years ago) link
would love to see paris 1919 live.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 9 August 2010 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link
$15 UCLA students, damn that's a steal
― iatee, Monday, 9 August 2010 19:06 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, no kidding. kind of cool -- i think the original Paris was recorded with the UCLA orchestra
― tylerw, Monday, 9 August 2010 19:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Go see this. It was fantastic at the Royal Festival Hall. Some songs are improved by the new arrangements - Half Past France almost had me in tears.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Monday, 9 August 2010 19:24 (thirteen years ago) link
wish I could :(
― iatee, Monday, 9 August 2010 19:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I am hoping he brings the live show to NYC. It would be crazy if he didn't right? RIGHT?
― FRESH MEAT (MFB), Monday, 9 August 2010 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
right
― iatee, Monday, 9 August 2010 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
also be pretty surprising if there wasn't an album released out of these shows ... Royal Festival Hall bootleg is great.
― tylerw, Monday, 9 August 2010 19:29 (thirteen years ago) link
i would have voted andalucia.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 9 August 2010 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link
"Andalucia" is knocking me out lately, in particular the melody of the vocal on "Andalucia, when can I see you". I am leaving you in a day and a year too, or at least I hope so, I love you.
I'm sorta caught in this album right now: it's kinda songwriting-by-Baedeker (Paris, Barbary, Dunkirk, Andalucia, Dundee, Berlin) but that speaks to me, looking backward but not inward.
― Euler, Friday, 15 October 2010 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i have no emotional connection to this album whatsoever but it's still one of my favorites of all time because it's so damn pretty
― only built 4 cuban linux... (ciderpress), Friday, 15 October 2010 17:52 (thirteen years ago) link
gonna go with "andalucia"
― Notinnymane (k3vin k.), Saturday, 6 August 2011 06:10 (twelve years ago) link
Efficiency efficiency they say
― chawki (buzza), Saturday, 6 August 2011 07:30 (twelve years ago) link
this is the best album ever
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 5 October 2012 18:17 (eleven years ago) link