John Cale: Guts
1977
Island Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Guts 2. Mary Lou 3. Helen of Troy 4. Pablo Picasso 5. Leaving It Up To You 6. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend 7. Gun 8. Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll 9. Heartbreak Hotel
I first became aware of this album a couple decades ago when I was looking at the Island Records sleeve insert included in the "Harder They Come" soundtrack, which I'm certain I went over this before (http://fridaynightrecordparty.blogspot.com/2013/11/jimmy-cliff-harder-they-come-soundtrack.html)... I used to sit in my bedroom and stare endlessly at this colorful, exciting list of Island Records releases and solemnly swore to buy every single record depicted....Particularly exciting was some album by John Cale entitled "Guts" depicting him playing a Flying V while dressed as Jason Vorhees...
Turns out this album is a compilation that collects all of the down and dirtiest tracks from John Cale's post-Velvet Underground solo albums from the Island Records era..In reality, John's albums also contained gentle baroque pop and even some country & western touches, but punk was all the rage in '77, so I'm sure this was the record company's not so-so-subtle reminder that John helped invent the genre back in the 60's...And as someone who is naturally inclined towards harrowing rock, this shit is fan-freakin'-tastic...Check out the title of the 8th track: "Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll "...That's a pretty apt description of what you're getting...A lot of it has the suave-yet-abrasive feel of early Roxy Music...There's also a bit of Brian Eno's jerky, experimental pop in its DNA, which makes a lot of sense considering the band line-up consisted largely of Roxy alumni (the musicians credited to this album is pretty staggering...).
Best tracks? "Fear is a Man's Best Friend" is pretty incredible...It starts out as mildly unhinged boogie pop that slowly unravels under the weight of nervous shouting and the most out of control basslines I've ever heard and ...Although best known for his shrieking viola, John's Velvet Underground vocals were always so mannered and composed...As a result, it's super fun to hear him lose his shit here...Who knew that he was such a fine rock n' roll screamer? The campy, staccato melody of "Gun" has also managed to worm its way into my subconscious and I kinda like it there..."When you've begun to...Think-like-a-gunnn..." Super fun stuff...You should also check out his sinister cover of "Hearbreak Hotel" that shines a light on how creepy the lyrics are...
Yea, so fans of Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, or lovers of dirty ass Rock N' Roll will love the hell out of this...I was expecting so much less for some reason...I think the only other John Cale album I had ever heard prior to this was 1990's "Songs for Drella," which was more in line with what I was expecting...Totally worth the 20 year wait...
Here's "Fear Is a Man's Best Friend"...Enjoy
John Cale: Caribbean Sunset
1984
Mango Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl
Track Listing: 1. Hungry For Love 2. Experiment Number 1 3. Model Beirut Recital 4. Caribbean Sunset 5. Praetorian Underground 6. Magazines 7. Where There's A Will 8. The Hunt 9. Villa Albani
Shortly after buying (and falling in love with) "Guts" I found this at the same record store and took a momentary glance at the cool dude on the cover: Bitchin' shades, Cosby Sweater, chillin' on a beach with his hands behind his head, not a care in the world...I momentary thought to myself, "Yup, generic yacht rock and/or 80's pop," before noticing the name "John Cale"...What?!?!!
Was this some joke?" To me, when I hear the name John Cale, I expect some nervous energy...Maybe a few dark, urbane observations...Was he really capable of taking the Jimmy Buffet route and writing an album of callow beach-pop called "Caribbean Sunset"? There was no way on Planet Earth that I was not going to buy this album...I had to know...
And I'm here to report that yea, he is fucking with you...Kinda....
It is marginally more accessible than most of the other stuff I've heard, but "Experiment Number 1" and "Praetorian Underground" are hardly "Margaritaville"...I'd describe the bulk of the album as gritty new wave...Opening track "Hungry For Love" recalls both Joy Division, Roxy Music and Talking Heads...The song seems to be aiming for inspiring grandeur but touches like an ominously out of tune piano solo kind of undermine the feel-good spirit, which of course is the entire point...You know John's never going to make things that easy for you...
Who knows maybe this is John Cale's twisted idea of a pop album...Perhaps he did expect the middle eastern funk of "Model Beirut Recital" to be plastered all over MTV...Although, I'm sure radio programmers probably balked at all the coked-out jabbering, clench-jawed proclamations and shouting...Oh well...
For some reason, this album never even gained the respect of John Cale fans..The general consensus is that its a bit of a mess...Which I can see to some extent. Check out "The Hunt" for a prime example of this: It starts out like its going to be a good-time J Geils band "Freeze Frame" type of thing before the sprightly keyboard figure starts to turn into something closer to the Munsters theme...Then it becomes shouty punk punctuated with primal screams...I don't know though...To me, it sounds great...Tons of energy and intriguing atmosphere...I say give this thing a long overdue CD release, forcing a reassessment of the album...It strikes me as one of those records that would make more sense now than it probably did at the time of release...I hear bands putting out stuff in the vein of "Villa Albani" all the time now...A mysterious, Kraftwek-y type of world music...I think this would go over great now...
Anyway, let's wrap things up...Here's "Praetorian Underground" by John Cale...Enjoy...
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