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Return of the velvet wizard
John Cale's back on top By Darrell Jonsson For The Prague Post (November 20, 2003) Still banging your head to the early albums of Patti Smith, the Stooges or the Velvet Underground? Gripping your seat while watching grisly scenes from American Psycho? Enchanted by the children's animated feature Shrek? John Cale was there. For more than three decades, Cale has appeared in some of the most influential and unlikely places as a musician, producer and composer. He is probably best known as co-founder of the Velvet Underground, the proto-punk '60s band that some say put the "velvet" in the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The band directly influenced Czech groups such as the Plastic People of the Universe and counted former President Vaclav Havel as one of its avid fans.
Departing Velvet Underground after the group's second album, White Light/White Heat in 1968, Cale ventured into lesser-known but often equally influential projects. In 1969 he produced, arranged and toured in support of the Marble Index album by former Velvet Underground member Nico. Layered with Cale's stunning string arrangements and abrasive textures of electronic distortion, that music was a haunting, unforgettable experience. Cale continued to break the conventions of rock music expression with his first solo records, Vintage Violence and Paris 1919, adding his twist to pop-songs-as-art. Employing the type of studio songcraft used by the likes of Brian Eno and David Bowie, conservatory-trained Cale took naturally to the Baroque and avant-garde potentials of rock. "I was more of a teenager than I thought," muses Cale when asked why he did not continue his classical calling. "You live a sheltered life when you're drawn into classical music at an early age." Cale grew up in Wales, just around the corner from the mythical birthplace of the wizard Merlin, who aged backward. Cale's development was merely delayed a bit, though it moved into fast-forward when he discovered his own particular form of musical wizardry. "I rediscovered my teenage life in 1963 when I put a band together, and that was it for me." Cale later returned to orchestration and composition for film and stage projects. Works like Eat/Kiss: Music for the Films of Andy Warhol and Nico: The Ballet, both released in the '90s, detour from the dry mechanical minimalism of other 20th-century composers, adopting a decidely more sensuous approach. "I really just came down on the side of the angels and told myself, 'I'm just going to write what I feel,'" Cale says. The angels seem to be with Cale on his new release, HoboSapiens. Combining rock's intensity, Cale's unique eloquence with arrangements and a newfound love of electronic sampling, the album portrays what he calls "a migratory soul, always going to where the grass is greener but never really getting there." Typical of the paradoxical tension in his lyrics and melodies, HoboSapiens expresses a state of mind that Cale calls "nostalgia for the future." On the current tour, Cale and his band are playing some of the new material, putting a fresh spin on old gems and delving deep into audio sampling. Cale is a well-known and well-loved figure in Prague; he helped open Archa Theater in 1994 and is always called out for multiple encores. Fans are already feeling nostalgic for this show.
Darrell Jonsson can be reached at
features@praguepost.com
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