Customer Reviews

Gold

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This set contains the three Island albums:
Fear
Slow Dazzle
Helen of Troy
plus some B-sides.

The same songs in the same order as "The Island Years" but almost twice the price.

To the previous reviewer, back in the day, 2001, I bought The Island Years as an American Import and paid $60 Au !!!
I have since seen this release and it is considerably cheaper than that.
One drawback with this release is it does not have the wonderful packaging including a box and substantial booklet.

During the Island years John Cale made some of his most accessible music, including tuneful songs like The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy, Mr Wilson (tribute to Brian Wilson), Ski Patrol (which reminds me of the John Berryman poem, Song Of The Tortured Girl) and also his most menacing: Fear, Gun, Guts, Heartbreak Hotel and the power trio of Dirty-ass Rock 'n Roll, Darling I Need You and Rollaroll, the high point of the Slow Dazzle album.

Cale is a great musician and producer. His impressive body of work is always interesting, including the collaborations with Eno, Bob Neuwirth and Lou Reed; it encompasses the highly experimental like Music for a New Society and melodious ballads like those on Paris 1919. One can see how artists like Patti Smith were influenced by Cale's style.

Not only is this the best entry point for those wishing to investigate the work of this genius and innovator, it is also handy to have the three seminal Island albums together in one place. For completists, I also recommend his anthology Seducing Down the Door: A Collection 1970-1990, with the warning that it only contains Dirty-Ass Rock 'n Roll without the other two of the power trio mentioned above.