Audio CD review:
John Cale, Bob Neuwirth - Last Day on Earth

John Cale, Bob Neuwirth - Last Day on Earth

Band: John Cale, Bob Neuwirth Title: Last Day on Earth Rating: Release Date: 26 April, 1994 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Overture: A Tourist/A Contact/A Prisoner 2: Café Shabu 3: Pastoral Angst 4: Who's in Charge? 5: Short of Time 6: Angel of Death 7: Paradise Nevada 8: Old China 9: Ocean Life 10: Instrumental 11: Modern World 12: Streets Come Alive 13: Secrets 14: Maps of the World 15: Broken Hearts 16: High and Mighty Road

Customer Reviews For all you tourists out there Some of the melodies here can stay with me for days each time I listen to the CD. I can't improve upon the well-written review above (the one which praises this CD), so I will be brief. The tune "Modern World" pops into my head about twice a month, on it's own. It is beautiful tragedy, and while you don't get a top-40 voice, you get a voice with tone, tone which can express more than pitch alone. John Cale is a favorite musician for me; you can hardly go wrong with anything he's ever put out. If he's doing it with Lou Reed, Eno or Neuwirth, so much the better. Just a Sketch Cale's mortuary tones blend surprisingly well with Neuwirth's more amiable voice. Only diehard fans of these artists would pursue this theatrical oddity. An astute director may well be capable of giving the thing legs. However, as a suite of music, it falls well short of any achievements either artist has achieved in their respective, lengthy careers. Check Cale's,'Paris 1919', or the more recent,'Locusts' for a more approachable introduction. A collaborative masterpiece This album is different however - less experimental and containing some of his most beautiful lyrics and melodies in a glorious collaboration with Bob Neuwirth, which is on a par with that other classic, Wrong Way Up, on which he worked with Brian Eno. John Cale is my all-time favorate musician but I do recognize that a lot of his work is not easily accessible to the mainstream rock fan. Presented in the form of a play, it's a cinematic work of breathtaking scope, sometimes deeply philosophical with brilliant flashes of humour. It kicks off with Overture (a) a Tourist (b) a Contact (c) A Prisoner, and then slides into the proper intro, Café Shabu, where a master of ceremonies discusses the patrons of a restaurant in a most witty and acerbic manner. The Bob Neuwirth-sung Pastoral Angst follows, with prominent banjo, the sound of chickens and stuff and a real bluegrass delivery but very intelligent, tongue-in-cheek observations on life. Next is John Cale with Who's In Charge and Short Of Time. Bob Neuwirth displays his beautiful voice to great effect on Angel Of Death with its lovely melody - this also has a strong folk/bluegrass feel. This is followed by John Cale on Paradise Nevada and Bob again on Old China, another melancholy song of yearning. Then follows the ethereal Ocean Life, a type of dreamy spoken poem by a female vocalist over a heavenly melody and evocative references to "Shelley Winters in Night Of The Hunter" amidst various world-weary ruminations on the human condition. It still blows my mind. Bob Neuwirth sings another anthemic, mournful song Modern World, followed by the faster paced Streets Come Alive and Secrets with its very catchy chorus. John Cale's Maps Of The World could easily have been a hit single with its addictive melody, in which he comments on the changing world maps in the early 90s when many countries regained their independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Next is a John Cale ballad Broken Hearts, and this opus magnum of an album closes with Bob Neuwirth's wistful The High And Mighty Road. Neuwirth has a unique voice and he does mostly slow, sad ballads while Cale is responsible for the faster, more "rock' tracks. This is such an incredible mix of the somber, the humourous and the hysterically funny, that I have no doubt the staging of such a play would be a massive success. If fate has then decreed that John Cale won't achieve great commercial succes, I hope that other artists with a keen ear and a knack for choosing brilliant material might discover these wonderful songs and record them. . . You can see a complete list of all John Cale, Bob Neuwirth discography, or go back to the John Cale, Bob Neuwirth tabs