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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A collaborative masterpiece,
By
This review is from: Last Day on Earth (Audio CD)
John Cale is a favorite of mine but I do recognize that a lot of his work isn't accessible to the mainstream rock fan. This album is different however - only the introduction is experimental and it contains some of his most beautiful lyrics & melodies in a fruitful collaboration with Bob Neuwirth. Last Day on Earth is on a par with the classic Wrong Way Up where he teamed with Brian Eno.
Presented in the form of a play, it's a cinematic work of wide scope, profoundly philosophical but interspersed with brilliant flashes of humor. It kicks off with classical music in Overture (a) a Tourist (b) a Contact (c) A Prisoner before sliding into the proper intro, Café Shabu. The vocals on these two tracks are a dialogue that ultimately leads to the local observer (Neuwirth) discussing the eccentric patrons in a witty & acerbic manner; the stranger (Cale) replies with poetic gravitas. A burst of bluegrass follows; on Pastoral Angst Neuwirth's philosophical monologues alternate with banjo music over farmyard noises of chickens, dogs & sheep. Next is the duet Who's In Charge and then Bob's atmospheric Short Of Time. Neuwirth's expressive voice celebrates the Angel Of Death with grace & resignation before John Cale returns for the mid-tempo, country-tinged Paradise Nevada. The contrast with Bob's melancholia on the yearning Old China is most striking. Guest vocalist Jenni Muldaur recites the stately Ocean Life, a wistful rumination with an expansive arrangement of synthesizers, strings, whistle & guitar. The poem includes a reference to "Shelley Winters in The Night of the Hunter" in a list of world-weary observations on the human condition and the state of the world. This piece is haunting and unforgettable. Neuwirth's elegant dirge Modern World is followed by Cale's jerky Streets Come Alive. Bob returns with the lilting Secrets whilst John Cale's uptempo & hook-filled Maps Of The World ought to have been a hit; the song wryly comments on the changing world maps of the early 1990s when many countries regained independence after the implosion of the Soviet Union. Cale stays for the ballad Broken Hearts, and this breathtaking album closes with Bob's mournful The High And Mighty Road. The timbre of Neuwirth's voice is highly distinctive; he sings mostly slow, sad ballads while Cale is responsible for the more uptempo `rock' tracks. The thought-provoking subject matter is presented in such an incredible succession of serious, somber, humorous and irreverent scenarios that a stage adaptation would be ideal. John Cale has produced seminal albums for legendary musicians like Nick Drake, The Banshees and Patti Smith. It seems fate has forever denied mainstream commercial success to his own work, so one hopes that other artists with a discerning ear might discover these extraordinary songs and bring them to a wider public.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
For all you tourists out there,
By
This review is from: Last Day on Earth (Audio CD)
I can't improve upon the well-written review above (the one which praises this CD), so I will be brief. Some of the melodies here can stay with me for days each time I listen to the CD. The tune "Modern World" pops into my head about twice a month, on it's own. It is beautiful tragedy, and while you don't get a top-40 voice, you get a voice with tone, tone which can express more than pitch alone. John Cale is a favorite musician for me; you can hardly go wrong with anything he's ever put out. If he's doing it with Lou Reed, Eno or Neuwirth, so much the better.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another good Cale collaboration,
By The Headhunter (Lebanon, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Day on Earth (Audio CD)
If you're a John Cale fan and enjoy his experiments, this work with Bob Neuwirth is an easy listen. If you like the raucous John Cale and rock n' roll, you'll either hate it or learn there's a whole other side to John Cale.It's a theatre set -- ruminations on travel, two guys sitting at a cafe, wandering the world. There are a lot of ballads, and some of the tunes are quite lovely. Having never heard Neuwirth's work before, I was very impressed when I first heard this. This is a CD I return to because, like lots of Cale's work, it's very lyrical. Cale & Neuwirth co-wrote the songs and they share the vocals. The David Soldier String Quartet (with which Cale has worked quite a bit, when he does more complex and serious music) provides a lot of the sound, while Neuwirth's banjo lends a little something different. Cale reprises the "Ship of Fools" style on "Angel of Death" (he might want to kick me for saying that). Neuwirth is just stunning on "Old China" and "Modern World" (probably the gem on this CD). If Cale ever did a Broadway tune, "Broken Hearts" is it, and it's absolutely lovely -- and that from a "reviewer" who is not a fan of Broadway tunes. If you enjoy the breadth of Cale's work, don't miss this one. It's quite good, if unconventional. If you don't like the unconventional, you wouldn't be listening to John Cale to begin with.
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