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John Cale |
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 Cale is one of the most famous and influential underground rock musicians. His musical style is difficult to classify as he can change genres like a musical chameleon. Despite being schooled in classical and avant-garde music, much of what he's recorded has been decidedly song-oriented, though never truly mainstream.
Cale was born in Wales, in 1942, and was practically a child prodigy as he rapidly learned music, even composing and performing on the BBC before even reaching his teens. He moved to New York in 1963, thanks to a scholarship (courtesy Aaron Copland and Leanard Bernstein) where he soon became a member of LaMonte Young's minimalist ensemble The Dream Syndicate (not to be confused with the paisley underground 80's L.A. band of the same name). This led to his next musical endeavour...
The Velvet Underground. Cale was the bassist, viola player and keyboardist of the cutting edge avant garde band, founded by himself, vocalist/songwriter Lou Reed and guitarist Sterling Morrison in 1966. |
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Managed by pop-art icon Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground also enlisted the talents of vocalist Nico and drummer .
A 1969 power struggle with Lou Reed resulted in Cale's departure from VU. Yet this did not stop Cale from working in music. Almost immediately he began solo projects in a variety of genres, and producing records for others, most natably Nico, herself an "ex-Velvet." Among Cale's best work of this era are his LP VINTAGE VIOLENCE and CHURCH OF ANTHRAX. He would also later collaborate with Brian Eno and (even much later) former nemesis Lou Reed.
A pre-eminent producer at the dawn of the punk and new wave movement (Squeeze, Patti Smith, Sham 69 and others), he could almost be considered one of the "fathers" of punk. He even had a staff producer's position with Warner Brothers Records where he was responsible for a number of acts as unlikely as Jennifer Warnes! It was soon after this that he recorded his "live opus" SABOTAGE/LIVE for IRS label SPY Records. His next LP, HONI SOIT, came almost two years later on A&M.
A two-disc retrospective entitled SEDUCING DOWN THE DOOR is available and may be a good starting point for someone with an interest in this unique musician and his body of work. |
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