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John Cale - Paris 1919 Audio CD

A fair review of the John Cale "Paris 1919" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all John Cale reviews here, or go back to the John Cale tabs.

John Cale Band: John Cale
Title: Paris 1919
Rating:
Release Date: 1993-10-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Child's Christmas in Wales 2: Hanky Panky Nohow 3: Endless Plain of Fortune 4: Andalucia 5: Macbeth 6: Paris 1919 7: Graham Greene 8: Half Past France 9: Antarctica Starts Here

one of the great albums of all time.
small short stories sung perfectly. lush, hypnotic, elegant, subtle and beautiful. mr cale's great voice is one of the most underrated instruments in rock history. over the course of 25 years i have listened to this album as much as any other album i have (up there with nick drake, v. morrison's "astral weeks," and miles davis's "kind of blue"). it still strikes chords in me that few other albums reach, all these years on. my life is richer for this recording. thanks, mr cale.


yes it's an anachronistic lush masterpiece


Cale chose his Desert Island Discs on BBC 4, thusly:
[FYI]

1. He's so enamoured of place-names!--lots of Sagittarius in his horoscope I believe. She Belongs To Me - Bob Dylan
runners up=
Some Kinda Love - Velvet Underground
In My Room - Beach Boys
She Said, She Said - Beatles
Switching Off - Elbow
Alexandra Leaving - Leonard Cohen
Song Of Athene - Westminster Abbey Choir
Here Comes The Flood - Peter Gabriel

Interesting!.


A Classic Album!
Therefore I was happily surpised to discover that this in essence is an album of mostly great songs - tastefully arranged and produced. I must admit I was a little sceptical about this album beforehand; having heard that this was a very classical inspired album and that I might find it a little hard accessible.

The classical thing is more or less only come forward on the title track and "Endless Plain of Fortune" - and even those two tracks are really just rock-ballads with an orchestered accompaniment - and both very strong tracks.

The rest of the songs are not very unlike the best material on "Vintage Violence" and "Fear".

The opening track "A Child's Christmas in Wales" is a gorgeous tune, greatly played and built up by Cale and his band, featuring Bill Payne, Richard Hayward and (not least) Lowell George on guitar. The melodic slide guitar really add to making this a song you wanna hear over and over again. "Half Past France" is another track in the same category is "Half Past France".

The most immediately catchy track is the acoustic "Hanky Panky Nohow".

Another outstanding acoustic track is "Andalucia" - heartbreaking lyrics and vocals.

The song where the Little Feat contribution is most obvious is the shuffle rocking "Macbeth", which unfortunately seems a little out of place, being pretty wild and noisy compared to the rest of the album.

"Graham Greene" is a quite funny song with a reggae-beat.

Overall Cale lyrics are mysterious, at times slightly dark, but usually delightfully thought-provoking.

The album was produced by Chris Thomas (Badfinger - Procol Harum) and with Cale's songs and arrangements he has been a part of creating another classic.


Sweet and spooky deja vu
Granted, it's not much like the other two albums cited, and probably has more in common with Vintage Violence. This album may easily qualify as my favourite John Cale album (a toss up between Paris 1919, Fear, and Honi Soit). Paris 1919 shows a much more tender side to Mr. Cale, and because of this, the album almost seems to coddle you through the speakers. It seems to be a reminiscent whiff, an attempt at recapturing certain moods and atmospheres, all of which make this album feel very familiar. This is not to say that there aren't more melancholic or upbeat moments; but regardless of individual songs, the overall impression given is of some tender longing, some whistful moodiness, and a hint of subtle menace here and there.

As other reviewers have mentioned, Mr. Cale is backed by the core of Little Feat (Lowell George, Ritchie Hayward, Bill Payne) adding superb musicianship to the mix on favourite tracks like "A Child's Christmas in Wales", "Hanky Panky Knowhow", "Andalucia", "Macbeth", and "Antarctica Starts Here". Though it's only about half an hour, this album is definitely worth the price of admission and would make a splendid introduction to the ouevre of Mr. Cale.


Wanting Farmer John Cale
Coming after the heady, if problematic days of the Velvets, there's barely an acknowledgement of it as he strides into his rock format. No use thumbing the pages of Cale's elegant scrapbook of an autobiography, 'What's Welsh For Zen?, to glean hard data on this one melodic gem. The abrasive thrashing rock of 'McBeth'(while indicating his imminent direction) serves the one discordant note. Throughout,Cale namedrops to effect learnedness without destroying the mood of a distant past. Language had been severed from lineal meaning, in rock, since Bob went electric. Pete Brown writing for Jack Bruce's towering masterpieces, 'Songs For a Sailor', & 'Harmony Row'; Keith Reid with Procul Harum, were mixing up the lyric medicine, presumably with other pharmacuticals & making sumptuous music on a par with 'Paris 1919'. That date? The birth of Surrealism,(and similar writing to Cale's efforts herein) perhaps? The Russian Revolution? Cale's singing on 1919 had a world weary distance to it, which suited the reflective jabberwocky of the songs; stretched out vowells on,'planing lakes', 'elephants that sing','looking out from here at half past France. ' It was far from banal music, however saccharine the orchestral moves from strings, viola & piano Cale painted. These lyrics were baffling but made perfect poetic sense when sung. 'Locusts' was something of a revisiting to this pastoral mood but lacks the roundedness. 'Fragments of a Rainy Season' is a good retrospective concert. And some of the fuge written around the hommage to Andy Warhol is very moving stuff. Go John!.


You can see a complete list of all John Cale discography, or go back to the John Cale tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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