Hobo Sapiens

John Cale

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 7, 2004)
• Original Release Date: September 7, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Or. Music
• ASIN: B0002VEPSK
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,429 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Zen

2. Reading My Mind

3. Things

4. Look Horizon

5. Magritte

6. Archimedes

7. Caravan

8. Bicycle

9. Twilight Zone

10. Letter from Abroad

11. Things X

12. Over Her Head

13. Set Me Free (US Bonus Track)

Editorial Reviews

Guardian Unlimited, Ocotber 3, 2003

The word Hobosapiens derives from an article John Cale wrote about Bob Dylan, but there's little other evidence...

Product Description

Inspired by the uninhibited bravado of Beck and the nonchalant eclecticism of The Beta Band, amongst others, Cale has spent much of the last two years billeted in his Greenwich Village basement studio, mastering the 21st century musician’s paint box, Pro Tools - revelling in the freedom and complete creative control the digital technology affords. The first fruit of this recording renaissance, in which shimmering, disembodied electronics couch remarkable new songs and densely detailed arrangements are ratcheted up to new heights, is HoboSapiens, Cale’s first full-length album of songs in seven years. A twelve-track cavalcade of sample-laden rock, Grand Guignol balladry and unclassifiable instrumental exotica, HoboSapiens is a consummate John Cale album in the noble tradition of Paris 1919, Fear, or Music For A New Society - albeit with a modernist twist. Holding a magnifying glass to global human Diasporas, its lyrics zoom cinematically from Zanzibar to Pacific Palisades via Niagara Falls and the Norfolk Broads – its frame of reference positively encyclopedic.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 10 stars, actually, October 15, 2004

By	Philippe Landry (Louisiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Magritte" is easily one of the best pieces Cale has written in a while. It's got the same elegant sadness as "The Endless Plain Of Fortune" but with a tinge of the viola arrangements from Nico's "No One Is There". "Caravan" delves into sublte La Monte Young droning and "Things" sounds like it could easily fit on Vintage Violence. "Things X", a rework of "Things", seems like a continuation of the ideas put forth in "Sister Ray", "Gun" and the Sabotage album but with lots of glitched electronics -- a real noise jam. "Zen" is a gorgeous, souful slice of electro-gospel. "Letters From Abroad" is a mixture of guitar weirdness and big beats. The whole album is brilliant. We get the classic Cale mixture of country/rock, noise, classical, pop and intelligent/literate lyricism. Definately right up there with Fear & Paris 1919!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, March 22, 2005

By	C. Kueny (Placitas, NM) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Other reviewers have gone into the details, so let me just add a couple of comments. As I was considering whether to shell out for the expensive import, I listened to samples of each song that are up on Cale's web site. That was an amazingly useless exercise--none of the songs seemed remotely interesting. I finally got the album once it was released domestically, having faith in it because 1) it's John Cale and 2) reviewers seemed unanimous in singing its praises. After a few listens, I was completely blown away. I have listened to it compulsively, quite unlike my reaction to his last album, Walking on Locusts. It's wonderful to find music that takes so many listens to even begin to digest. I too consider it among his best. (It's so good that it made me completely forget that I had just bought the wonderul Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave, which I have finally gotten back to.) Another reviewer complained about the "special effects" as another example of Cale's over-producing. I agree about the over-production of some of his past work, and I can believe that seeing him play the music in totally stripped-down form might be the ultimate experience. (I can only judge by the sublime "Fragments of a Rainy Season," as I have sadly never seen him live.) But at least on the first few dozen listens, most of the instrumentation, loops, etc. work for me. If you like Cale's work at all, buy this today. If you don't know his work, buy it anyway, and if you don't like it after a few listens, listen a few more times, as it can take a little time for Cale's music to creep into the darker recesses of one's soul. I got hooked on this one and have played it a LOT; it also showed up two nights in a row in my nightmares when I had the flu recently.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning return by John Cale, October 9, 2004

By	The Headhunter (Lebanon, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

There is no describing Cale, so I won't even try. His movie soundtracks of the past 10 years have been wonderful, but it's an occasion when he fills a disc with tunes. Cale has created more new sounds than anyone will ever have time to emulate. Don't confuse what he's doing in HoboSapiens with anyone else's work. Listen carefully and you might hear the deep classical roots, the edge of pop, the raw rock & roll, the stream-of-consciousness lyrical quality of words and music, and Things you've never heard before. All that and more. I hate to compare any of Cale's records with any other, because he goes out on a limb every single time, but as a package I think HoboSapiens stands with Paris 1919. Maybe we're talking 2019. Cale seems to be saying he's found a new thread of life (Hey, kick me - what do I know but what I hear on the disc?), and he's spun it out into a powerful collection of songs that have the kind of integrity that Paris 1919 is justifiably famous for. There's not a weak cut on this disc; not one awkward transition. It all holds together like a living Thing. Cale has pulled rabbit after rabbit out of this hat, easily making this my record of the year.

It's worth noting that the UK edition of this CD was available for almost a year before this US edition was released. I spent $36 for it. Nice to see there's a US edition (with the "bonus" cut easily accessible, while the UK edition makes you "rewind" manually to find it) at a "regular" price. But I've got no regrets because I've had more time to imprint the Thing on my brain. Like I said: it's easily my record of the year. Cale is in top form. Take THAT, Lou Reed :-)