![]() ![]() But apart, Lou Reed would go on to have a much more successful solo career with angry New York City-inspired songs. Cale’s lyrics adopted a more intellectual aesthetic and sonic perspective whereas Reed’s influence was more literary, more novelistic, 1 st person narrative. Cale suffered a nervous breakdown at roughly the same age as Reed, but, despite that and other similarities, they were the opposites of each other, and in a Lennon-McCartney way filled in the other’s musical gaps. It is maybe interesting to note that when Cale and Reed met, Cale was a softly spoken Welshman, a classically trained musician with highbrow concepts of music theory, and Reed was an aggressively gay NYC rock ‘n roller with access to meds and shock treatment. Reed’s second album, the Bowie-produced Transformer, would hugely out-sell John Cale’s Vintage Violence, a disarmingly radio-friendly and oddly hippyish album (the VU hated the west coast scene) bereft of the avant garde and La Monte Young and John Cage influences, and the prior obsession with drone. It was a big moment when Cale left – without his experimentalism, the band would become more radio-friendly, structured, have clear verses and structures, bridges and choruses, Velvet-lite.Īnd yes, although Cale had a head start, Lou Reed’s solo career took off faster. White Light/White Heat was an artistic turning point for both founding members. And yes, the Velvet Underground continued after John Cale’s departure. Yes, White Light/White Heat, in contrast to the Banana album, was even more poorly received, un-promoted, and the supporting gigs to promote it unappreciated. ![]() Hearing the new songs and rarer songs actually pointed me directly to his back catalogue and latest album Black Acetate, and now, rather than feeling like being left out of a party, where only the die-hard in-crowd know what’s going on, I had been pointed in the right direction. And then I had to apologise to several friends I had dragooned into coming with me on the strength that he was a founding member of the Velvet Underground.īut the opposite later occurred. Ha-ha! Therefore, I didn’t get what I wanted. But I wanted to hear ‘Dying on the Vine’, ‘Fear is a Man’s Best Friend’, ‘Guts’ (“The bugger in the short sleeves fucked my wife” is one of the funniest opening lines), ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Afford to Orgy’, ‘Cable Hogue’, ‘Big White Cloud’ (and I think he missed a trick by not playing his haunted and aggressive version of Heartbreak Hotel). We could have seen The Blockheads or Seasick Steve or MGMT instead. There’s certainly a ‘why-should-he-just-reel-out-the-hits?’ argument, and it’s an old one. It is maybe an unremarkable feat, but by playing a kinda un-gig, a letdown set utterly bereft of any hits, an album track jukebox without choice, really turned me onto his back catalogue. The band even ended the set with a ten-minute jam, FFS! The Velvet Underground: John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed & Mo Tucker along with Andy Warhol and Nico. The set comprised of nothing from Vintage Violence, Paris 1919, Fear, Slow Dazzle, and nothing remotely Velvety. “We’ve come to break your hearts!” And break our hearts he did. “Hello campers!” hissed John Cale from the Park stage at Glastonbury 2008. Max Ashworth charts the final flings of Swansea’s greatest son and the band that launched a thousand ships – settle in the for fascinating story of John Cale and the Velvet Underground. ![]()
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