John Davies Cale
(born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground.
Though best known for his work in rock music, Cale has worked in various genres including drone, noise and classical. Since departing from The Velvet Underground in 1968 he has released approximately 30 albums. Of his solo work, Cale is perhaps best known for his album Paris 1919
, plus his mid-1970s Island Records trilogy of albums: Fear
, Slow Dazzle
, and Helen of Troy
.
Cale has produced or collaborated with Lou Reed, Nico, John Cage, Cranes, Nick Drake, Kevin Ayers, Brian Eno, Patti Smith, The Stooges, The Modern Lovers, Squeeze, James Dean Bradfield, and Siouxsie & the Banshees.
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JOHN CALE TICKETS
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Early life and career
John Cale was born in
Garnant in the heavily industrial
Amman Valley.
Welsh is his first language - due largely to the influence of his maternal grandmother, Cale did not learn English until aged seven at school. Having discovered a talent for
viola, he studied music at
Goldsmiths College,
University of London. Whilst there he organised an early
Fluxus concert,
A Little Festival of New Music
, July 6 1963. He also contributed the short film
Police Car
and two scores published in
Fluxus Preview Review
, July 1963, to the nascent avant-garde collective
[1]. He then traveled to the
U.S. to continue his musical training, thanks to the help and influence of
Aaron Copland.
Arriving in
New York City, he met a number of influential composers. On 9 September 1963, with
John Cage and several others, Cale participated in an 18-hour piano-playing marathon that was the first full-length performance of
Erik Satie's "
Vexations". After the performance, Cale appeared on the television panel show
I've Got a Secret
. Cale's secret was that he had performed in an 18-hour concert, and he was accompanied by a man whose secret was that he was the only audience member who had stayed for the duration.
[2] Cale also played in
La Monte Young's ensemble the
Theater of Eternal Music also known as the Dream Syndicate, (not be confused with the 1980s band of the same name). The heavily drone-laden music he played there proved to be a big influence in his work with his next group, the Velvet Underground.
Three albums of his early experimental work were released in 2001. One of his collaborators on these recordings was Velvet Underground guitarist
Sterling Morrison.
The Velvet Underground
In early 1965, he co-founded
The Velvet Underground with
Lou Reed, recruiting Reed's college friend
Sterling Morrison and Cale's flatmate
Angus Maclise to complete the initial line-up. Cale was asked to leave the band in September 1968, due in part to creative disagreements with Reed.
The very first commercially available recording of The Velvet Underground, an instrumental track called "Loop" given away with
Aspen Magazine
, was a feedback experiment written and conducted by Cale. He then appears on the Velvet Underground's first two albums,
The Velvet Underground & Nico
(recorded in 1966, released in 1967) and
White Light/White Heat
(recorded in 1967, released in 1968). On these albums he plays
viola,
bass guitar and
piano, and sings occasional
backing vocals.
White Light/White Heat
features Cale on
organ (on "
Sister Ray") as well as two vocal turns: "
Lady Godiva's Operation", an experimental song where he shares lead vocal duties with Reed, and "
The Gift", a long
spoken word piece written by Reed. Though Cale co-wrote the music to several songs, his most distinctive contribution is the electrically amplified viola.
Cale also played on
Nico's 1967 debut album,
Chelsea Girl
, which features songs co-written by Velvet Underground members Cale, Reed and Morrison, who also feature as musicians. Cale makes his debut as lyricist on "Winter Song" and "Little Sister".
In 1968, John Cale married
fashion designer
Betsey Johnson.
[3] The marriage was short-lived as the couple divorced in 1971.
[4]
Apart from appearing on these three albums, he also played organ
[5] on the track "Ocean" during the practice sessions to produce demos for the band's fourth album
Loaded
, nearly two years after he left the band. He was enticed back into the studio by the band's manager,
Steve Sesnick "in a half-hearted attempt to reunite old comrades", as Cale put it.
[6] Although he does not appear on the finished album, the demo recording of "Ocean" was included in the 1997
Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition
re-issue. Finally, five previously unreleased tracks recorded in late 1967 and early 1968 were included on the
outtakes
compilations
VU
(1985) and
Another View
(1986).
Cale is said to have influenced the group's early sound much more than any other members (and often disagreed forcefully with Reed about the direction the group should take). When Cale left, he seemed to take the more experimentalist tendencies with him, as is noticeable in comparing the noise-rock experimental
White Light/White Heat
(which Cale co-created) to the more
pop-oriented
The Velvet Underground
, recorded after his departure. However, it is noteworthy that his first four solo albums are noticeably quiet and accessible. Cale's tendency towards confrontational and "noisy" music would take four years to reemerge.
Solo career
1970s
After leaving the Velvet Underground, Cale worked as a
record producer on a number of albums, including Nico's
The Marble Index
,
Desertshore
and (later on
Island)
The End
. On these he accompanied Nico's voice and
harmonium using a wide array of instruments to unusual effect. He also produced
The Stooges'
self-titled debut. He appeared on
Nick Drake's second album,
Bryter Layter
, playing viola and
harpsichord on two of the album's tracks. While meeting with producer
Joe Boyd, he came across Drake's music and insisted on collaborating with him. After a quick meeting, they collaborated on "
Northern Sky" and "Fly".
In 1970, in addition to his career as a producer, Cale began to make solo records. His first, the pastoral
Vintage Violence
, is generally classified as
folk-pop. Shortly thereafter, his collaboration with another classical musician,
Terry Riley, on the mainly instrumental
Church of Anthrax
, was released, although it was actually recorded almost a year prior. His classical explorations continued with 1972's
The Academy in Peril
. He would not compose in the classical mode again until he began composing for soundtracks in the 1980s.
In 1972, he signed with
Reprise Records as performer and in-house producer. His
The Academy in Peril
was his first project for Reprise. His fourth solo record
Paris 1919
(1973) steered back towards the singer-songwriter mode.
Paris 1919,
made up of songs with arcane and complex lyrics, has been cited by critics
[7] as one of his best. Artists he produced while at Reprise included
Jennifer Warnes' third album,
Jennifer
, as well as albums by Chunky, Novi & Ernie and
The Modern Lovers, which Reprise chose not to release (it was subsequently released by
Beserkley Records).
Cale's work as a producer continued and in 1974 he joined
Island, working on records with
Squeeze,
Patti Smith, and
Sham 69, among others. He produced a number of important
protopunk records, including debuts by Smith and The Modern Lovers. During this period, he also worked as a talent scout with Island's
A&R department.
Mid-1970s
thumb
Moving back to the
United Kingdom, Cale made a series of solo albums which moved in a new direction. His records now featured a dark and threatening aura, often carrying a sense of barely-suppressed aggression. A trilogy of albums -
Fear
,
Slow Dazzle
, and
Helen of Troy
were recorded with other
Island artists including
Phil Manzanera and
Brian Eno of
Roxy Music, and
Chris Spedding, who featured in his live band. This era of Cale's music is perhaps best represented by his somewhat disturbing cover of
Elvis Presley's iconic "
Heartbreak Hotel", featured both on
Slow Dazzle
and the live album
June 1, 1974
, recorded with
Kevin Ayers, Nico and Eno, and by his frothing performance on "
Leaving It Up To You", a savage indictment of the
mass media first released on
Helen of Troy
(1975), but quickly deleted from later editions of the record due perhaps to the song's pointed
Sharon Tate reference. It's also worth noting that both "Leaving" and "
Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" (from
Fear
) begin as relatively conventional songs that both gradually grow more paranoid in tone before breaking down into what critic Dave Thompson calls "a morass of discordance and screaming."
[8]
In 1977, he released the
Animal Justice
EP, notable particularly for the epic "Hedda Gabler", based very loosely on the
Ibsen play. His often loud, abrasive and confrontational live performances fitted well with the nascent
punk rock developing on both sides of the
Atlantic Ocean. Cale took to wearing a
hockey goaltender's mask onstage; see the cover of the
Guts
compilation (1977). This look predated
Friday the 13th
's villain,
Jason Voorhees, by several years. During one gig he chopped the head off a dead chicken with a meat cleaver, and his band walked offstage in protest. Cale's drummer — a
vegetarian — was so bothered he quit the group. Cale mocks his decision on "Chicken Shit" from the
Animal Justice
EP. Cale has admitted that some of his paranoia and erratic behaviour at this time was associated with heavy
cocaine use.
[9]
In December 1979, Cale's embrace of the punk rock ethic culminated in the release of
Sabotage/Live
. This record, recorded live at
CBGB that June, features aggressive vocal and instrumental performances. The album consists entirely of new songs, many of which grapple confrontationally with global politics and paranoia. The band used includes Deerfrance on vocals and percussion. An earlier live set, consisting mostly of new material, was recorded at CBGB the previous year. It was released in 1991 as
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
. The band on that recording includes
Ivan Kral of the
Patti Smith Group on bass and
Judy Nylon on vocals.
1980s
thumb
In 1981, Cale signed with
A&M Records and tried to move in a more commercial direction with the album
Honi Soit
. He worked with producer Mike Thorne towards this end
[10].
Andy Warhol provided the cover art, in black and white, but against Warhol's wishes Cale colorized it. The new direction did not succeed commercially, however, and his relationship with A&M ended. Around this time, Cale married his third wife, Rise Irushalmi. (His first two marriages were to fashion designer
Betsey Johnson and to Cynthia Wells, better known as Miss Cynderella of
The GTOs).
He signed with
Ze Records, a company he had influenced the creation of and which had absorbed Spy Records, the label he had cofounded with
Jane Friedman. The next year, Cale released the sparse
Music for a New Society
. Seeming to blend the refined music of his early solo work with the threatening music that came later, it is by any standard a bleak, harrowing record. It's been called "understated, and perhaps a masterpiece."
[11]
He followed up with the album
Caribbean Sunset
, also on Ze Records. This work, with much more accessible production than
Music for a New Society
, was still extremely militant in some ways. It has never seen release on CD. A live album, John Cale Comes Alive, followed it and included two new studio songs, "Ooh La La" and "Never Give Up On You". His daughter
Eden Cale was born in July 1985.
In a last effort at commercial success, Cale recorded
Artificial Intelligence
for Beggars Banquet records. This album, written in collaboration with
Larry "Ratso" Sloman, was characterized by synthesizers and drum machines and is entirely written in the pop idiom. It was not significantly more successful than its predecessors, despite the relative success of the single "Satellite Walk". It has been voted Cale's worst album by the Sabotage2 mailing list.
Thereafter, in part because of his young daughter, Cale took a long break from recording and performing.
He made a comeback in 1989 with vocal and orchestral settings of poems by
Dylan Thomas. Notable among these is "
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", which he performed on stage in the concert held in Cardiff in 1999 to celebrate the opening of the
Welsh Assembly. The music was recorded in 1992 with a Welsh boys' choir and a Russian orchestra, on an Eno produced album:
Words for the Dying
. This album also included a pair of electric piano "Songs Without Words" and a Cale/Eno collaboration, "The Soul of Carmen Miranda".
1990s and beyond
In 1990, he again collaborated with Eno on an album entitled
Wrong Way Up
. This was another of Cale's uneasy working relationships, and he remains bitter about his experience with Eno.
In 1991 Cale contributed one song, "
Hallelujah", to the tribute album to
Leonard Cohen I'm Your Fan
. Some consider this to be one of his best ever recorded songs. Cale's version of "Hallelujah" appears in the film "
Shrek".
In 1992, Cale performed vocals on the song "First Evening" on French producer
Hector Zazou's album
Sahara Blue
. All lyrics on the album were based on the poetry of author
Arthur Rimbaud. In 1994, Cale performed a spoken word duet with
Suzanne Vega on the song "The Long Voyage" on Zazou's album
Chansons des mers froides
. The lyrics were based on the poem "Les Silhouettes" by author
Oscar Wilde and Cale co-wrote the music with Zazou. It was later released as a single (retitled "The Long Voyages" as it featured several remixes by Zazou,
Mad Professor, and more).
Songs for Drella
saw him reunited with
Reed, in a tribute to one-time Velvet Underground manager and mentor
Andy Warhol. Though the reconciliation was fruitful, old differences resurfaced, causing tension. In his autobiography, Cale revealed that he resented letting Lou take charge of the project. The collaboration eventually led to the brief reunion of the Velvet Underground in 1993.
Nico
, an instrumental ballet score and tribute to
the singer was performed by Scapino Rotterdam plus an added selection from
The Marble Index
in 1998, with the score released as
Dance Music
. That same year, Cale was also the organizer of the "With a Little Help from My Friends" festival that took place at the
Paradiso in
Amsterdam.
[12] The concert was shown on Dutch national television and featured a song especially composed for the event and still unreleased, "Murdering Mouth" sang in duet with
Siouxsie Sioux.
[13]
Cale has also written a number of
film soundtracks, often using more
classically influenced instrumentation. His autobiography,
What's Welsh for Zen?
, was published in 1999.
With 2003's E.P.
Five Tracks
and the album
HoboSapiens
, Cale again returned as a regular recording artist, this time with music influenced by modern
electronica and
alternative rock. The well received album was co-produced with
Nick Franglen of
Lemon Jelly. That record was followed with 2005's album
BlackAcetate
.
In 2005, Cale produced
Austin singer-songwriter
Alejandro Escovedo's eighth album,
The Boxing Mirror
, which was released in May 2006. In June 2006, Cale released a radio and digital single, "Jumbo in tha Modernworld", that was unconnected to any album. A video was created for the song as well.
In March 2007 a 23-song live retrospective,
Circus Live
, was released in Europe. This two-disc album, composed of recordings from both the 2004 and 2006 tours, featured new arrangements and reworkings of songs from his entire career. Of particular interest is the
Amsterdam Suite
, a set of songs from a performance at the Amsterdam
Paradiso
in 2004 (archived by the venue on their ). A studio-created drone has been edited into these songs. The set also included a DVD, featuring electric rehearsal material and a short acoustic set, as well as a "Jumbo in tha Modernworld" for 2006 single.
In May 2007, Cale contributed a cover of
LCD Soundsystem song "All My Friends" to the
vinyl and digital single releases of the LCD Soundsystem original. Cale has continued to work with other artists, contributing viola to the forthcoming
Danger Mouse-produced second album by
London psychedelic trio
The Shortwave Set and producing the second album of American
indie band
Ambulance Ltd.
On 11 October 2008, Cale hosted an event to pay tribute to Nico called "Life Along the Borderline" in celebration of what, five days later, would have been her 70th birthday.
[14]. This event featured many artists including
James Dean Bradfield,
Mark Lanegan,
Mark Linkous of
Sparklehorse,
The Fiery Furnaces,
Guillemots,
Nick Franglen of
Lemon Jelly,
Peter Murphy,
Liz Green, and
Lisa Gerrard of
Dead Can Dance. The event was reprised at the
Teatro Communale in
Ferrara, Italy on May 10, 2009, with
Mercury Rev, Mark Lanegan, Lisa Gerrard, Peter Murphy,
Soap&Skin and Mark Linkous.
In 2009, Cale will be representing
Wales in the
Venice Biennale. He will collaborating with artists, filmmakers, and poets, and is focusing the artwork on his relationship with the
Welsh language.
[15]
Substance abuse
John Cale was heavily involved in the New York drug scene
[16] of the '60s and '70s with
cocaine as his drug of choice
[17]. He says his drug addiction negatively impacted his music during the 1980s and that he decided to clean up following a series of embarrassing concerts and the birth of
his daughter [16].
Discography
Notes
- Fluxus Codex, Jon HEndricks, Harry N Abrams 1988 p221
- YouTube: John Cale on ''I've Got a Secret''.
- John Cale The Velvet Evolver
- {{imdb name|0129816}}
- Fricke, David. Liner notes to the ''Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition'' compact disc, 1997
- Fricke, David. Liner notes to the ''Peel Slowly and See'' box set, 1995
- Paris 1919 from Allmusic.com
- Fear from Allmusic.com
- Mitchell, Tim ''Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale'', 2003, ISBN 0720611326
- Thorne, Michael. The making of John Cale's Honi Soit album
- Music for a New Society from Allmusic.com
- Mojo, September 1998, Martin Aston, p.22
- Video of Siouxsie & John Cale "Murdering Mouth"
- A Tribute to Nico - Live Event Featuring John Cale, Mark Lanegan and more at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England
- John Cale to Represent Wales in Venice Biennale
- {{cite web |title=BBC News Online: John Cale's 'shambolic' drug past url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8101850.stm
- {{cite web |title=WalesOnline: John Cale tells of his shock at Wales' drug problems url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/06/08/john-cale-tells-of-his-shock-at-wales-drug-problems-91466-23812896/
- {{cite web |title=BBC News Online: John Cale's 'shambolic' drug past url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8101850.stm
References
- Fluxus Codex, Jon HEndricks, Harry N Abrams 1988 p221
- YouTube: John Cale on ''I've Got a Secret''.
- John Cale The Velvet Evolver
- {{imdb name|0129816}}
- Fricke, David. Liner notes to the ''Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition'' compact disc, 1997
- Fricke, David. Liner notes to the ''Peel Slowly and See'' box set, 1995
- Paris 1919 from Allmusic.com
- Fear from Allmusic.com
- Mitchell, Tim ''Sedition and Alchemy : A Biography of John Cale'', 2003, ISBN 0720611326
- Thorne, Michael. The making of John Cale's Honi Soit album
- Music for a New Society from Allmusic.com
- Mojo, September 1998, Martin Aston, p.22
- Video of Siouxsie & John Cale "Murdering Mouth"
- A Tribute to Nico - Live Event Featuring John Cale, Mark Lanegan and more at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England
- John Cale to Represent Wales in Venice Biennale
- {{cite web |title=BBC News Online: John Cale's 'shambolic' drug past url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8101850.stm
- {{cite web |title=WalesOnline: John Cale tells of his shock at Wales' drug problems url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/06/08/john-cale-tells-of-his-shock-at-wales-drug-problems-91466-23812896/
- {{cite web |title=BBC News Online: John Cale's 'shambolic' drug past url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8101850.stm