The Island Years [Import]

John Cale | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 30, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1996
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Island Records
• ASIN: B000001E9K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,659 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Lou Reed has hogged the spotlight since the breakup of the legendary Velvet Underground, but his former bandmate John Cale has had a much more consistent solo career. Cale never scored a breakthrough hit like Reed's "Walk On the Wild Side," but this new two-CD collection of Cale's mid-'70s releases-including all of the Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy albums plus assorted unreleased rarities-is the perfect opportunity to reassess his influential merger of art-rock smarts, classical melodicism, theatrical drama, and punk-rock abandon. Cuts range from beautiful, lulling ballads such as "Buffalo Ballet" and "I Keep A Close Watch" to full-throttle sensory assaults like "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" and an Elvis Presley cover that will make your blood run cold. Jim Derogatis

Product Description

This double CD combines all three of his mid-'70s Island albums (Fear, Slow Dazzle, & Helen of Troy) into one package, with the addition of some interesting bonus tracks- outtakes from Slow Dazzle and Helen of Troy, the B-side 'Sylvia Said,' 'Leaving It Up to You' (which only appeared on early copies of Helen of Troy before 'Coral Moon' took its place), and 'Mary Lou' (from the 1977 Guts compilation). This was undeniably one of Cale's most fertile periods. Slipcase. Island. 1996.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars agressive/raw tender/lovelorn= strange mix (but it works), January 4, 2003

By 

allismile0 "allismile0" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island Years (Audio CD)

This is a fantastic box set that collects most of John Cale's output during his stay with Island Records. The Three albums featured- Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy are all among his best work and ranks with anything that came out of the art rock genre during the 70's. He maintained an edgy approach that had made VU such a bombastic band in their first two albums but he also showed a great talent for melodies that had first come out in Vintage Violence and further progressed in Paris 1919.
Fear (1974), the first album cover is my personal favorite. He's got a pretty good musicians backing him up in the likes of Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera Brian Eno, and Andy MacKay, Archie Leggatt (who did some Kevin Ayers albums) and even Richard Thompson shows up to play slide guitar on one song. The songs jump from highs to lows in the most extreme way making Fear a very strange listen. The opening track, Fear is a Man's best Friend- jumps and jiggles in a paranoid sort of way only to fall intirely apart to move into the wistful and breezy Buffalo Ballet. There is no steady direction which I think was the purpose of the theme, and the album just seems to continue in that vein.
Next album is Slow Dazzle (1975) which retains many of the same musicians but adding on ace gutiarist Chris Spedding to the mix. Mr Wilson the first song on the album is a sublime homage to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys )it's amazing how well he captured the late 60's sound of the beach boys without totally ripping the sound off). Another really daring song of this album is the completely freekish version of Heartbreak Hotel- it sounds like a lovers triangle gone horribly wrong- both in the way the melody is totally angulated and Cale's raunchy vocal approach.
aND finally there's Helen of Troy, which actually works as a pretty good summation of Cale's pop career from Vintage Violence to H.o.T. He kept Eno on for the third strait album with Phil Collins coming in on drums (Of Genesis and Brand X fame) and Chris Spedding taking over full time on guitar. You've got the raunchy rockn'roll of the title track, orchestrated beauty of "I keep a close watch" and a stunning cover of Pablo Picasso (he truely was an a**hole).
There are some great singles in this box set not available on the individual albums like Coral Moon and Sylvia Says. Too bad Island records decided to discontinue this box set, although I don't think it's to hard to find used somewhere on this vast internet.
This music is everything you could ever imagine a man classically trained, with a sneering attitude towards anything nice and sugary but with a heart of gold could express with great art/pop music. Too bad Island records decided to discontinue this box set, although I don't think it's too hard to find used somewhere on this vast internet. Highly recommended

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the best material Cale (or anyone) has recorded., March 31, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Island Years (Audio CD)

This set comprises of three complete albums, all released during John Cale's tenure on Island Records-- "Fear", "Slow Dazzle", and "Helen of Troy". Together, these three contain some of Cale's best and most well-loved works, and while the efforts are mostly uneven in spots, having everything in one spot emphasizes just how good the material is. The set also includes one b-side, three unreleased songs, and the song that was substituted for the controversial "Leaving It Up to You", "Coral Moon", when "Helen of Troy" was pressed. ALl the material features Brian Eno, and the first two albums have Phil Manzanera on guitar (he's later replaced by Chris Spedding). I'll discuss the albums a bit first, although I've reviewed each separately and more details are available there.

After producing a series of varied albums in moods and success, John Cale finally hit his stride with what is generally considered his best (at least of the Island period), 1974's "Fear". The album's most well known tracks-- the opener, "Fear is a Man's Best Friend", and "Gun", are somewhat paranoid exercises. The former features some chamber-esque piano, a loping bassline, and a manic reading of its title over a growling bass as a coda, the latter, a straightahead rock tune is famous for its dual solo-- Manzanera's guitar was run through Eno's synthesizers and somehow the two produced something magical. In contrast with this, there's "Buffalo Ballet", a pained, almost lazy-feeling ballad that lives on a razor-edge of tension. The rest of the material is decent as well, including a bizarre rocker ("Barracuda"), is a good enough bizarre rock song, a few pop songs and ballads ("Emily", "Ship of Fools", "You Know More Than I Know". But there's also some less than stellar material ("The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy", "Momamma Scuba") that are extraneous and not particularly exciting.

My favorite of Cale's Island years is "Slow Dazzle"-- it doesn't quite have the heights of "Fear", but it doesn't have as much of the fluff that album has either-- it does, however, have "Heartbreak Hotel". Likely to horrify Elvis fans, this is often cited as the original goth songs-- heavy, distorted guitars, wailing keyboards, and a hissed and screamed vocal set the mood of paranoia and haunting illustrated so well regardless of style-- almost glam, explosive rock ("Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll", "Guts"), songs of loss ("Taking It All Away", "Darling I Need You"), even in a simple little ballad ("I'm Not the Loving Kind"). Leaving behind one goofy pop song ("Ski Patrol") that doesn't do so well and the bizarre spoken word piece that I still can't make my mind on whether it works or not ("The Jeweller"), this one is superb.

Finally there's "Helen of Troy", in my assessment the weakest of the three. Its largely an experimental record in terms of moodand style, but I fear it doesn't succeed as well as you'd like. There are some stunningly brilliant moments-- some nice ballads (the overblown "I Keep a Close Watch", and the guitar churning "My Maria" with its almost operatic harmonies), a brilliant cover ("Pablo Picasso"), and one of the most disturbing pieces ever recorded-- "Leaving It Up To You". A tale of doom and horror, Cale whimpers, spits, wails and screams his way through this one-- this was deemed so disturbing the label yanked it from the album and replaced it with the gentle (and dull) "Coral Moon". The album after these though is kind of weak, filled with decent songs that just can't rise up enough to be noticed ("Helen of Troy", "Engine", "Save Us"< "Cable Hogue").

The bonus tracks are interesting-- "Sylvia Said" is a great little ballad, "All I Want Is You" is brilliant pop, although the rest is largely forgettable, including the dull "Coral Moon".

Still, this set is a great value and is highly recommended as it contains much essential John Cale material.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegance And Anarchy, June 23, 2008

By 

Mike B. - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Island Years (Audio CD)

On these landmark mid-70's albums, John Cale expertly blends his classical training with his anarchic protopunk tendencies. He achieves this with aplomb and grace.

His history is fairly well known, so I won't go into great detail. The native Welshman won the Leonard Bernstein scholarship to study music, with the help of composer Aaron Copland. In New York he fell in with the LaMonte Young crowd of avant-jazz noise and dissonance-makers, recording with them as the Dream Syndicate. He then co-founded the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed, and stayed for their first 2 albums before leaving to pursue a solo career.

That career began with 1970's "Vintage Violence", and culminated with the brilliant "Paris 1919", on which he wrote and sang stately, elegant pop with members of Little Feat and others. "Paris 1919" is widely acclaimed to this day, and Cale continues to perform songs from it in concert. It was his first "masterpiece", if you'll allow me to use that over-used word from time to time.

He then signed with the Island record label, and released these 3 albums that are collected in their entirety with bonus tracks on this 2-CD set. I believe they are the pinnacle of his career. Guest musicians include Phil Manzanera and Eno of Roxy Music, guitar "gun for hire" session ace Chris Spedding, and Phil Collins. Manzanera is on fire throughout, and no one's ever gotten better work out of Spedding. These are rock records through and through. Of these, "Fear" and "Slow Dazzle" are perfect, "Helen Of Troy" a little less so (there's a few duff tracks not quite up to his standards).

I reiterate - there's 2 John Cale's - the one that plays almost classical piano and beguiles us with his perfect elocution on stately ballads, and the one that bangs out dischord and screams. In concert, you never knew which Cale you were going to get. Both Cale's show up on these records, and I'll say this for him - he's the best screamer in rock. And his ballads are gorgeous.

His output after these is of varying quality. I highly recommend "Walking On Locusts" and "HoboSapiens", which are every bit as good as his Island releases. If you can find his CD "Fragments Of A Rainy Season", it provides a good overview of his career from a solo "man and his piano" perspective without other accompaniment. The 2-disc compilation "Seducing Down The Door" spans many years and is worthwhile.

I can't conclude without mentioning his fruitive career as a producer. Cale produced the debut albums of the Stooges, Patti Smith, Squeeze, and the Modern Lovers - and arranged and produced all of Nico's best albums. I also want to mention that this collection goes well with Kevin Ayers' "The Island Albums", which collects together the 3 great albums Ayers recorded for Island.