The two albums, which he recorded with The Velvet Underground at the end of the 1960s, would have been enough to make John Cale immortal. After leaving the style -forming volume, the Welsh started an unprecedented solo career in 1970. The classically trained composer and multi -instrumentalist who plays viola, bass, guitar and keyboards is nothing strange between pop, avant -garde, music theater and classical music. The 83-year-old has been very productive again since 2023. Poptical Illusion, his 18th studio album, was published in 2024.
As a solo artist
Vintage Violence (1970)
Two years after John Cale left the groundbreaking The Velvet Underground in a dispute (with Lou Reed), he presented his first solo album. While the Doom factor of Cales former band was just characterized by his viola and keyboard game, he strikes completely different tones as a solo artist on vintage violence. With his accompanying musicians-including Garland Jeffreys on the guitar-he plays a kind of baroque pop that is smart and pleasing at the same time and sometimes sounds so sun-like that he lends connection lines far back into the 1960s. As if Nick Drake had thrown in lucky pills.
Five stars
The Academy in Peril (1972)
Anyone who ponderes John Cal’s solo monkey should not forget that the artist has an apprenticeship in classical music and avant -garde, which brought him to the National Youth Orchestra of Wales at the age of 13 and then to renowned Goldsmiths College in London. His second album The Academy in Peril is reminiscent of every grade, not only in the two tracks that he recorded together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album is a successful exercise in classical music of the 20th century, which becomes even more remarkable when the rock instruments are in the foreground.
Four and a half stars
Paris 1919 (1973)
Paris in 1919 is rightly considered the masterpiece in the stylistically open solo catalog John Cales. The album, the title of which is supposed to commemorate the winner of the First World War, acts like a 100 % successful elaboration of Cales SoloBüt. Only a few musicians had such a refined, artistic pop at the time: on offer – most likely Scott Walker. Paris 1919 is a collection of wonderfully arranged and lovingly instrumented songs that have nothing to do with The Velvet Underground. In the accompanying band: Lowell George and Richie Hayward from the Southern Rock band Little feat.
Six stars
Fear (1974)
An album that has come together a lot, which John Cale has honored until then as a solo artist, but which also gives indications of where the multistilist journey will go in the coming years. The typical Cale pop rock receives a light glam skirt painting here, which should be due to the zeitgeist. The fourth solo album of the Welsh also delivers Proto-Dream pop (“Ship of Fools”), Beach-Boys-Harmonlingsang (“The Man Who Couldn’t Afford to Orgy”) and a kind of Cale-infected gospel song (“Buffalo Ballet”). Among the guests: Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera by Roxy Music and Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention.
Five stars
Helen of Troy (1975)
Even on his sixth solo album, the musical all -rounder gains new aspects to song format. With an excellent volume in the back (UA with Chris Spedding, Brian Eno and the then still Mainstream-unanimous Phil Collins), John Cale sounds on Helen of Troy in his subtle craziness and overwhelming, such as an anticipation of the New Wave, especially like the blueprint of Talking Heads. There is also a cover version of “Pablo Picasso”, months before Jonathan Richman publishes his original.
Five and a half stars
Music for a New Society (1982)
John Cale is a multi -instrumentalist. He plays viola, bass, guitar, keyboards and also sings quite passable. On his seventh studio album, he puts the keyboard at the center of the action. Minimalist arrangements face progelodies, the songs of the same religious devotions and Cale sound like a preacher from the Echo Chamber. He gets his topics from the depths of the human soul, it is about disappointed hopes, pain and a mother who commits an killing spree.
Five and a half stars
With others
John Cale & Terry Riley – Church of Anthrax (1971)
In the 1960s, Cale played La Monte Young at the minimally music legend. For his second album after leaving the Velvet Underground, he teamed up with another legend: minimal composer Terry Riley. Church of Anthrax is neither rock music nor contemporary classical music. With its extensive Jams, which are shaped by the organ game of the two protagonists, it moves in between on the thin line. The sound with umpteen overdubic guitar and bass is so dense in places that individual instruments are difficult to identify. But that has to be that way. Everything is one, everything is in the flow.
Four and a half stars
Lou Reed & John Cale – Songs for Drella (1990)
In 1987 the legendary pop artist Andy Warhol died as a result of an operation. Three years later, Lou Reed and John Cale put a musical monument to their mentor and co -finder Velvet Undergrounds. The homage to “Drella” – a suitcase from Dracula and Cinderella, a nickname Warhols – is raw, karg instrumented, minimalistically arranged and in places reminds of music theater. Peace after 22 years of radio silence does not last long. Before the album is released, John Cale explains that he will never work with Lou Reed again. Three years later, Velvet Underground reformed in the classic line -up.
Six stars
Brian Eno & John Cale – Wrong Way Up (1990)
What comes out when two musicians like Brian Eno and John Cale, who are primarily known for their joy of experimentation, absorb a common album? A collection of uncompromising experimental pieces that is inressible? In the case of Wrong Way Up, it is the exact opposite. The album is one of the most commercial in the discographs of both participants. Contemporary electronic music, influences made of art rock and trace elements of Prog-Rock fit into a wonderful pop-not in the sense of Roxette, which in 1990 cite the charts in many countries, but a slightly more overhanged pop that is provided with small barbens.
Five stars
John Cale & Bob Neuwirth – Last Day on Earth (1994)
The songwriter and bob-dylan-associated Bob Neuwirth is an unusual cooperation partner. But nothing is common on Last Day on Earth. It is a song cycle on the subject of travel, an order work by St. ann warehouse in Brooklyn, a facility for performing arts. The journey, which leads to Nevada, China, over the country and the sea, is laid out between music theater and radio play and lives from their opposites: Cales postmodern (string) arrangements, Neuwirths Spoken-Word contributions and selective banjo game.
Four and a half stars
Soundtracks
23 Solo Pieces for La Naissance de l’amour (1993)
John Cale recorded a whole series of soundtracks in his over 50-year-old solo career. The feature film “La Naissance de l’amour” for Philippe Garrel’s feature film is a further evidence of the versatility of the musician. There is only him and his piano and 23 impressionist, introspective miniatures that exceed the border to classical music. Cale wanted to “let the piano breath”. He succeeded.
Five stars
Le Vent de la Nuit (1999)
Another score for Philippe Garrel. This time for “La Vent de la Nuit” with Catherine Deneuve in the leading role. In the solo piano pieces, Cale remains with the melancholic mood of the 23 solo pieces. The ice breaks and the mood brightens when it is accompanied by Slide guitarist Mark DeffenbauGH.
Four and a half stars