Category: John Cale

Patti Smith Group / John Cale / Television :: The Palladium, New York City, December 31, 1976

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As mentioned in a recent Aquarium Drunkard Book Club, some of the most entertaining parts of Thurston Moore’s Sonic Life memoir come during his teenage years, way before Sonic Youth was even a twinkle in his eye. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Fan? From the suburbs of Connecticut, Moore made countless trips into NYC to soak in the punk/CBGB/Max’s Kansas City worlds, catching shows by The Ramones, Suicide, the Dead Boys, Sid Vicious … and Patti Smith, of course. Thurston paints an evocative portrait of this New Year’s Eve blowout, which doubled as Patti’s raucous 30th birthday party. He was dangerously high on mescaline.

Hear it for yourself …

You’re A Ghost :: John Cale’s Paris 1919, Re-Imagined

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“Paris 1919 is John Cale’s furthest excursion into musical imagination, illuminating horizons heretofore unsighted,” went the PR copy for John Cale’s third solo effort, which was released 50 years ago this month. To celebrate Paris 1919‘s 50th anniversary, here’s a re-imagined version of the LP, featuring some choice covers, oddities and even a few appearances from Cale himself. Take down the flags of ownership and listen in.

John Cale :: Rond Point, Marseilles, France, April 12, 1975

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The mighty John Cale has re-emerged — he’s touring Europe as we speak and has a new LP coming out early next year (You can check out the Weyes Blood-assisted “Story of Blood” now). In the meantime, let’s go back to the mid-1970s when John was just getting going as a touring act. He’d obviously played live plenty before, but following the release of 1975’s Slow Dazzle, he really leaned into being a traveling musician.