Customer Reviews

Music for a New Society

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It still amazes me how many people can be so well-versed in rock n'roll history/politics, yet consistently overlook Cale as basically the founder of modern music. As if making the Velvet Underground art rock instead of just rock - (just look what Lou did with the band after he was kicked out) - then going on to make the quintessential "alternative" album "Paris 1919" in 1973 (for God's sake!) as well as producing the first Stooges album, the first Patti Smith album, and creating punk almost single-handedly in his subsequent 70s albums ("Slow Dazzle", "Helen of Troy", "Fear") and tours - were not enough proof! Sadly, "Music For a New Society" seems to have been the last real innovation Cale has come up with - luckily, it is one of the most interesting and challenging albums to have appeared in the 1980's, along with Waits' "Frank Trilogy", and Springsteen's "Nebraska", it should go down in history as being one of the few albums of the 80s to almost top an already brilliant career - and in the case of those already mentioned - surpass anything the artist has accomplished since.

This is still, quite simply, a stunning, brave record, twenty years after its release.
Cale's music has rarely been accessible in a commercial sense, and this recording seems to represent the extreme in that concept. Madness and violence are main themes in this record, but from the opening electric piano riff of "Taking Your Life In Your Hands", it becomes apparent that the route to Cale's no-man's-land is not going to be what one would expect. 'Traditional' rock arrangements are eschewed in favor of disjointed sonic treatments. Panoramas of depression, loss, hopelessness, and suicide sit side-by-side with poignant passages of sheer beauty and forlorn longing, as if to tell us that in our most hellish moments we can still attain a state of grace. That Cale trusts us as his fans to brave this ride through this particular darkness of his vision stongly suggests that we can indeed understand and appreciate our new society only after we weather the storms of its history. And the world is still a better place because we have people like John Cale to express those emotions that elude our conscious interpretation. If you posess an adventurous musical spirit, and are confident enough within your soul to withstand a journey through the darkest corners of life, this record is for you. I recommend it thoroughly. It is a record you will never forget.

Listening to this is like being alone in a world without meaning. Your stomach gnarls, the hall echoes and your thoughts float aimlessly. When the melody rears its head it does so from somewhere far away, as if coming from somewhere beyond or beneath the ambience of music. Glimpses of well known melodies (from other people's music) take strange form, like a twisted memory, before disappearing again. Like reverie, stream-of-consciousness, you seem to enter J.Cale's head and go along with his vague longings, yearnings for something gone. This is like nothing I have ever heard. I don't know what it does, but it succeeds masterfully. Very experimental, but at the same time unsettlingly personal. Unique indeed.

This is like no other album in John Cale's discography. It's also one of those discs where you're absolutely stumped for a comparison to anyone else. It's stark and miserable and powerful and vague, sometimes all at once. The only constant is Cale's dramatic singing and the spare lyrics to each song which somehow seem to connect emotionally even when they don't say much. John Cale has made good albums, awful albums and great albums. This is a great album.

Cale is always at least interesting (if not always enjoyable) and there are some wonderful moments here, but too much of this record is given over to "songs" that are little more than poetry recitations over background noise. You should adjust my rating up or down one star depending on your appreciation of such extreme avant-garde-isms.

If you are a fan, this is definitely worth owning for "Taking Your Life In Your Hands", "Chinese Envoy", and a stunning rendition of "I Keep A Close Watch" (far superior to the version on "Helen Of Troy"). Also of interest is his wife Rise's reading of "Rise, Sam and Rimsky-Korsakov". If you are new to Cale, this may not be the best place to start. Most of his music is much more accessible than this...

This is by far Cale's most imaginitve rock album full of very sentimental and emotional tracks. It is expensive on CD, but I bought it on Cd and I even own already on Cassette and Vinyl. If you like John Cale just a little bit you will still be blown away buy his originality on this album. By far one of his best top 3. Next to Paris and Vintage Violence and Church of Anthrax.

In this album John Cale does his far most difficult work, surpassing the heady touch of his Velvet works and Nico's Marble Index. There is not a single cheerful song in the whole set: the apparent sweetness of "Take your life in your hands" reveals all its bitterness through its lyrics, "If you were still around" and "Damn life" are both quite lamenting, "Rise, Sam and Rimsky-Korsakov" is some reading with radio behind it... and most other songs move within these points. However, two numbers are not included; the sweet melody of "Thoughtless Kind" is accompanied by an obsessive background of mechanical rhythm, laughs and the impression of an aggressive nothing, and "Sanities" is the most unpleasant, cold-sweated piece of music I remember: it seems like a priest is doing some kind of recitation over an extremely dissonant mix of noise and instruments on the low background... really frightening to the brain (since her mother, white with time, told her she was a failure...). Modernist for some, shivering for me. On the whole, the album does not feet for teenagers wanting to satisfy their nihilism (go and find the Doors), but offers a good trip to mental alienation with really powerful music.

This is the most personal and unsettling album Cale has put out, and yet many view it as his best. Not a single disappointing track to be found. The wall of sound production is amazing. Nothing like Cales other albums. It seems he wants nothing to do with those songs ,with the exception of I Keep A Close Watch, which is the best version he recorded, he reveals alot of personal details in this album lyrically speaking, and it was this album that made him look to sobriety. So its very apparent of his moment of personal grief and nervous breakdown. Yet it isnt taxing on the ears or psyche, like Reeds shrieking Metal Machine horror. Instead its delicate and humble and self exploring. A real work of poetry and amazing music. This is my favorite next to Paris 1919 and Church of Anthrax. If you only like John Cale just a little bit, this album will make you like him all the more better. It did for me. This album he speaks and sings as if you were the only person in the room.

Even though John Cale achieves here one of his best efforts, the album (as many others of his) doesn't give the feeling of being really complete -the recitation with atmospheric background in "Sanities" and "Sam, Rise and Rimsky-Korsakov" {is it really Rimsky-Korsakov?}, the remake of an old track ("Close Watch") and the copping of three classical themes at the three last pieces (one each) spoil some very brilliant moments ("Take Your Life In Your Hands" and "Broken Bird" have a beautifully warm mood, "Chinese Envoy" seems as if it had been composed for a chamber music group and "Thoughtless Kind" sounds indeed sarcastic). The music isn't truly depressing either -only the elegiac "If You Were Still Around" is believable, "Damn Life" brings me the feeling of having the E-Street-Band around and "Changes Made" sounds like a remainder of the Island albums-, but it still takes some time to think if more suitable lyrics could be found for it. To sum up, it changes from superb to meandering, from delicate to vulgar -it has nice material, but it is quite difficult to rate it in an objective way.

This album is so bleak and desolate, it's almost painful to listen to. Like another reviewer said, it's like a series of poetry recitations over very stark, alienating music with some very avant-garde sounds thrown in. Cale is my favourite musician and I do like most of his experimental work, but this album is not a pleasure to listen to. It's not that it doesn't contain elements of beauty - Taking Your Life In Your Hands, Thoughtless Kind and I Keep A Close Watch certainly have their moments, while I love the track Risé, Sam and Rimsky-Korsakov just because it's so different from the rest - less cold and clinical, with an otherworldly touch, almost like Ocean Life from Last Day On Earth. If you like musicians like Lydia Lunch or Swans at their most unbearably depressing, you'll enjoy this album, although "enjoyment" is not a word I could associate with it.