John Cale S/D

wait what book?

No pressure;)

Ha, thanks again James!

Not to be that guy but I really didn’t like the sound on the expanded Paris 1919 & ended up going back to the 90s CD

Yes- what book?

Good question! I'll check the 90s CD too, wouldn't hurt to hear another shot at those orchestrations. Amazon has a series of remasters incl. Fear, Academy in Peril, Helen of Troy, and Slow Dazzle---the last two aren't on Spotify, sooo (or I could just buy a new record player and listen to my old records).

(But I couldn't afford a record player better than my CD boombox.)

The Island Years is on Spotify. It has everything from Fear, H.O.T, and Slow Dazzle plus rare & unreleased stuff.

^^ if you're only gonna own one Cale set, that's the one

Thanks yall! Speaking of covers, Wiki sez:
Songs from Paris 1919 have been covered by such notable musicians as Yo La Tengo, Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield, Owen Pallett, the Dave Soldier String Quartet, Love and Rockets' David J, Okkervil River, Jay Bennett and Edward Burch, and Sally Timms.[21]

John Cale will be performing at Levitation fest in Austin on Nov 9!

not in love with the idea of seeing him at a festival but the lineup does look pretty great even if i have seen a number of the bands before

Intriguing! Think you might go? Please report back if you do.
Okay, (Jon Not Jon) and that guy on Amazon, I agree that the 90s Warner Archives Paris 1919 does seem to sound better than Rhino UK---which is still worth having for "Burnt-Out Affair" and the forceful clarity of unorchestrated alt takes.

it's not til november -- anything can happen i guess! i'm definitely not NOT going!

Anyone catch his set at Levitation? Curious about what it was like.

He is coming to my city in January so I got tickets for that :) A little something to look forward to.

I was in Austin that night, but I saw Sleater-Kinney. Here's a review of that Cale show:

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2019-11-10/levitation-john-cale-black-angels/

omg, thanks! Will have to find a recording of that.

i watched some of his paris show with cate lebon — he looked/sounded great!

what a dream duo for me

yes that collab makes excellent sense

I saw him last night!!!

Who wants to hear about it?!!?

me!! I heard he played "Helen Of Troy"!

Did he remember you from the last time when you made him blush, LL?

I'll go ahead and share regardless. The set was really cohesive in sound -- the band was three dudes I didn't recognize and he went back and forth from guitar to an electric piano. Yhe arrangements (even of songs that have widely varying original versions) all shared a certain feel that was totally John Cale TM. I enjoyed that. He indeed started off w Helen of Troy and that was pretty much the vibe maintained throughout the...90+ min set. He seemed in good spirits. One short encore for "Emily" <3

He did not see me in order to recognize me in spite of my colorful outfit, lol

The only VU song he played was Waiting for the Man -- and this other thing I didn't recognize where he said the words "Velvet Underground" but it was more of a spoken word thing? Not sure what that was. The visuals were fine -- nothing too extraordinary. I had to avert my eyes from a super-emaciated woman toward the end but other than that it was very John Cale.

It was decidedly NOT a hits set -- it was a carefully organized and coherent set. I appreciated that. He played a few new songs too! One called "Wasteland" iirc? They were good. He did play "Fear is a Man's Best Friend" and that made me happy :) I think that was the only song my partner recognized because he has had to hear me sing it all the time lol

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/john-cale/2020/rubloff-auditorium-at-the-art-institute-of-chicago-chicago-il-1b9899f0.html

Spoken word thing = Style It Takes (from Songs for Drella)? What a great set.

nice, sounds like a great show. seems like he's definitely due for a new album.

"where he said the words "Velvet Underground" but it was more of a spoken word thing?"

could this be "style it takes"? but Cale's rendition on record is not spoken word…tho reed's songs on drella could be described accurately as such…

Hedda Gabler! Would love to see him again, it's been too long. Sounds like a great show, LL!

omg did not realize he played that, my fave

He was wearing a black suit that was half checkered/half plain black and his hair was fortunately all white. Dignified, but with a sense of humor. Easily the coolest dude of his generation!!!

It was a great show. I appreciate that he still cares to put together a set that varied/not just lean back and play some hits. He has plenty of hits but he worked w this band to play this set and it showed. Well done!!

"hits" = "crowd faves" in this context, not chart toppers :)

also the tickets were extremely reasonably priced!! $25 for museum members/$35 for non-members

for 90+ min of JOHN CALE!!

damn that sounds awesome, i'm more than a little jealous tbqf

Set list looks interesting. Second tune and others are some of my personal hits.

Oh the Gun/Pablo Picasso pastiche was exceptionally good.

From Jessica at PitchPerfectPR:

Kelly Lee Owens Collaborates With John Cale On “Corner Of My Sky”
https://kellyleeowens.lnk.to/cornerofmysky

Inner Song Out August 28th via Smalltown Supersound

Kelly Lee Owens...specializes in tracks that move between conventionally pretty songs and stark dance music that pushes everything but the beat to the background.”
- Wall Street Journal

“‘Melt!’ makes for both a club banger and a political comment, a dazzling dance macabre for impending environmental collapse.” - Pitchfork

“[‘On’ is] anything but simple, though, mutating from an angelic choral pop song to a sweaty bubbling beat over the course of five minutes.” - Stereogum

“Mesmeric techno deliverance from start to finish.” - FADER

Producer/musician Kelly Lee Owens collaborates with John Cale on a foreboding new single, “Corner Of My Sky (feat. John Cale)," from her forthcoming album Inner Song, out August 28th on Smalltown Supersound. The two Welsh artists first met in London while working on a song for Cale, which prompted a future collaboration for Inner Song. In “Corner Of My Sky,” Cale sings in both English and Welsh over Owens’ droning, psychedelic lullaby. The track follows a string of previously released singles and videos - “On,” “Night,” and “Melt!”

Cale comments, “It's not usually this immediate that a productive afternoon brings a satisfying conclusion to a task. Kelly sent me a track she'd written - an instrumental that was a gentle drift - something comfortably familiar to what I'd been working on myself. On the first listen, the lyrics came with ease and a chorus and melody grew out of it. Even the Welsh phrases seemed to develop from a place of reflective memory which was a surprise since I hadn't written in Welsh for decades. Once finished, I realized there existed a built-in thread we'd created together and apart - and her kind spirit pulled it all together and in quick order.”

Owens elaborates, “I knew with this album I needed to connect with my roots and therefore having the Welsh language featured on the record felt very important to me. Once the music for the track was written and the sounds were formed, I sent the track straight to John and asked if he could perhaps delve into his Welsh heritage and tell the story of the land via spoken-word, poetry and song. What he sent back was nothing short of phenomenal. The arrangement was done during the mixing process and once I’d finished the track, I cried - firstly feeling incredibly lucky to have collaborated with John and his eternal talent and secondly for both of us to have been able to connect to our homeland in this way.”

Inner Song is the follow-up to Owens’ self-titled debut, which was recognized as one of the most critically praised albums of 2017. Inner Song finds Owens diving deep into her own psyche—working through the struggles she's faced over the last several years while embracing the beauty of the natural world. Sonically, Inner Song’s hair-raising bass and tickling textures drive home that Owens is locked into delivering maximal aural pleasure, whether it be on a techno banger, a glimmering electro-pop number, or a Radiohead cover.

it pains me to do this, but i was just listening through a "new release" playlist, and i have 2 questions:

1) is "lazy day" a real song by john cale or is this mislabeled?
2) is this the worst song of the year

ok, the last 2 minutes is better and makes me think that yes, john cale is in there

yeah that's, um... that's... wow. That's very bad.

I ... liked it. I’d rather hear him doing that than mellowing out.

after hearing that im not sure he can get any more clinically mellow

"Lazy Day" is his best tune in years.

I like it, reminds me of 5 songs era a bit with extra idgaf old dude swag

i'm sorry, to be more specific: the part 29 seconds in, the first vocals "lazy day, lazy day", til about 40 seconds in.

that was what prompted me to post it. actually, not just that it happens, but that it repeats again at 57 seconds

i do think it generally goes get better after a couple minutes into the song. there was just something gobsmacking about that first minute, having not heard any recent music of his

generally *does

I think this is actually pretty great? most times I've dipped into c21st John Cale I've been fairly unmoved, but this is cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_PD9HllOMM

^^dir by Abby Portner who also dir'd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln77F25hXVQ

It sounds like Was (Not Was) covering "Blackstar"