JOHN CALE

JOHN CALE
THE ISLAND YEARS (1996)
320 KBPS

This is a fantastic box set that collects most of John Cale's output during his stay with Island Records. The Three albums featured- Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy are all among his best work and ranks with anything that came out of the art rock genre during the 70's. He maintained an edgy approach that had made VU such a bombastic band in their first two albums but he also showed a great talent for melodies that had first come out in Vintage Violence and further progressed in Paris 1919.
Fear (1974), the first album cover is my personal favorite. He's got a pretty good musicians backing him up in the likes of Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera Brian Eno, and Andy MacKay, Archie Leggatt (who did some Kevin Ayers albums) and even Richard Thompson shows up to play slide guitar on one song. The songs jump from highs to lows in the most extreme way making Fear a very strange listen. The opening track, Fear is a Man's best Friend- jumps and jiggles in a paranoid sort of way only to fall intirely apart to move into the wistful and breezy Buffalo Ballet. There is no steady direction which I think was the purpose of the theme, and the album just seems to continue in that vein.
Next album is Slow Dazzle (1975) which retains many of the same musicians but adding on ace gutiarist Chris Spedding to the mix. Mr Wilson the first song on the album is a sublime homage to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys )it's amazing how well he captured the late 60's sound of the beach boys without totally ripping the sound off). Another really daring song of this album is the completely freekish version of Heartbreak Hotel- it sounds like a lovers triangle gone horribly wrong- both in the way the melody is totally angulated and Cale's raunchy vocal approach.
aND finally there's Helen of Troy, which actually works as a pretty good summation of Cale's pop career from Vintage Violence to H.o.T. He kept Eno on for the third strait album with Phil Collins coming in on drums (Of Genesis and Brand X fame) and Chris Spedding taking over full time on guitar. You've got the raunchy rockn'roll of the title track, orchestrated beauty of "I keep a close watch" and a stunning cover of Pablo Picasso (he truely was an a**hole).
There are some great singles in this box set not available on the individual albums like Coral Moon and Sylvia Says. Too bad Island records decided to discontinue this box set, although I don't think it's to hard to find used somewhere on this vast internet.
This music is everything you could ever imagine a man classically trained, with a sneering attitude towards anything nice and sugary but with a heart of gold could express with great art/pop music. Too bad Island records decided to discontinue this box set, although I don't think it's too hard to find used somewhere on this vast internet. Highly recommended.

Disc 1
1. Fear Is a Man's Best Friend
2. Buffalo Ballet
3. Barracuda
4. Emily
5. Ship of Fools
6. Gun
7. The Man Who Couldn't Afford to Orgy
8. You Know More Than I Know
9. Momamma Scuba
10. Sylvia Said
11. All I Want Is You
12. Bamboo Floor
13. Mr. Wilson
14. Taking It All Away
15. Dirty Ass Rock 'N' Roll
16. Darling I Need You
17. Rollaroll

Disc 2
1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. Ski Patrol
3. I'm Not the Loving Kind
4. Guts
5. The Jeweller
6. My Maria
7. Helen of Troy
8. China Sea
9. Engine
10. Save Us
11. Cable Hogue
12. (I Keep A) Close Watch
13. Pablo Picasso
14. Leaving It Up to You
15. Baby, What Do You Want Me to Do?
16. Sudden Death
17. You & Me
18. Coral Moon
19. Mary Lou