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LP
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CS 1037LP
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Sony Music pressing on 180-gram vinyl. Reproduction of original '360 Sound' red labels. "John Cale had the strongest avant-garde credentials of anyone in the Velvet Underground, but he was also the Velvet whose solo career was the least strongly defined by his work with the band, and his first solo album, Vintage Violence, certainly bears this out. While the banshee howls of Cale's viola and the percussive stab of his keyboard parts were his signature sounds on The Velvet Underground and Nico and White Light/White Heat, Cale's first solo album, 1970's Vintage Violence, was a startlingly user-friendly piece of mature, intelligent pop whose great failing may have been being a shade too sophisticated for radio. Cale's work with the Velvets was purposefully rough and aurally challenging, but Vintage Violence is buffed to a smooth, satin finish, with Cale and his group sounding witty on tunes like 'Adelaide' and 'Cleo,' pensive on 'Amsterdam,' and lushly orchestrated on 'Big White Cloud.' (Cale also gets a lot of production value out of his backing group, credited as 'Penguin' but actually members of Garland Jeffreys' band, Grinder's Switch.) And anyone expecting the fevered psychosis that Cale let loose on later albums like Fear and Sabotage/Live is in for a surprise; Cale has rarely sounded this well-adjusted on record, though his lyrical voice is usually a bit too cryptic to stand up to a literal interpretation of his words. If Cale wanted to clear out a separate and distinct path for his solo career, he certainly did that with Vintage Violence, though it turned out to be only one of many roads he would follow in the future." -- Mark Deming/AMG
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LP
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VL 900105LP
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2025 restock. Fear is the first of John Cale's three studio albums for Island Records, all of which were released in a period of just over a year. During this time Cale was also producing records for other artists, working on albums such as Horses (1975) by Patti Smith, one of the most influential of all proto-punk records. In addition to his lead vocals on Fear, Cale also played keyboards, guitars, viola, violin and bass, and was joined by Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson, Roxy Music's Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera, and other artists who were signed to Island at the time. "Gun" features an unusual two-man guitar solo from Manzanera and Eno, with the latter using a synthesizer to process the former's guitar playing in real-time. Includes two bonus tracks, "Bamboo Floor" and "All I Want Is You." 180-gram vinyl.
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CD
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SYNTAX 35125CD
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Originally released in 2005, Process is an original soundtrack recording by John Cale and marks the beginning of his creative relationship with avant-garde filmmaker CS Leigh. The film, featuring Beatrice Dalle and Guillaume Depardieu, was described by Variety as being "one of the most adventurous works" screened at 2004's Berlinale," with Leigh displaying "a take-no-prisoners arthouse rigor." With Cale being "no stranger to taking music in experimental directions" (Rolling Stone), the coming together of director and composer was a natural and inspired union. Leigh explains: "When I was working on Process in the earliest stages I knew I wanted to work with Cale. He has made groundbreaking contributions to difficult cinema and understands the architecture of film sound better than anyone I know. Cale gives you more than music. He gives you a sound landscape that permeates every frame and resounds beyond the borders." Cale's work for Process is a haunting, discordant collection of mostly solo piano pieces, described by the Edinburgh International Film Festival catalog as being a "menacing and incendiary score." Cale has created a sound that perfectly compliments the radical approach of CS Leigh, of whom Le Figaro writes: "His aesthetic sense is taken to extremes. His incisive images disturb, shock. You cannot stay indifferent watching Process." Continuing in this vein, the soundtrack is at once ominous, provocative yet poignant.
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