In a musical catalogue as rich and diverse as the one built by John Cale, there’s no such thing as an outlier release. All his albums carry an indelible Cale stamp: whether exploring Beach Boys inspired classic songcraft on his early-1970s albums, trading fuzzed out organ riffs with Terry Riley on Church Of Anthrax, essaying modern classical miniatures on The Academy In Peril, through to the confrontational and gritty Sabotage, the art house film soundtracks for Les Disques Du Crépuscule.
The premise of 1989’s Words For The Dying therefore might sound somewhat bizarre, but the results speak for themselves. The album consists mainly of oral work, read or sung by Cale. It was written in 1982 as a response to the Anglo-Argentinian Falklands War, using poems written by fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas. Originally performed live for Dutch television at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in November 1987, with the studio version finally being laid down partly in the pre-Glasnost USSR, utilising the Orchestra of Symphonic and Popular Music of Gostelradio. As well as “The Falklands Suite”, there are also two orchestral interludes, two other solo piano pieces, "Songs Without Words", and finally "The Soul of Carmen Miranda", featuring Cale’s voice and a minimal electronic backing track. The album was recorded in Moscow, New York, London and Suffolk, England, and was produced by Brian Eno.
Eno and Cale had collaborated numerous times before, appearing on each other’s solo records in the 1970s, releasing a live album alongside Nico and Kevin Ayers, and the year after Words For The Dying came out, they released their one and only co-billed album, the much-loved Wrong Way Up. The process of making Words For The Dying was documented in a monochrome fly-on-the-wall film by Rob Nilsson, capturing the sometimes tense process of bringing Cale’s artistic vision to life. Lou Reed selected the album as one of his 'picks of 1989', and in its retrospective review, Fact Magazine described it as "arguably the last great album John Cale recorded".
credits
released January 1, 1992
Produced by Brian Eno
“The Falklands Suite” performed by the Orchestra of Symphonic & Popular Music of Gosteleradio, USSR; conducted by Alexander G. Mikhailov; recorded at Gosteleradio Studios, Moscow; engineered by Sasha Karasiov; and the Choir of Llandaff Cathedral Choir School, South Wales; Choirmaster: Dr. Michael Smith. John Cale; recorded at The Strongroom, London and Wilderness Studios, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England; engineered by Stephen Taylor and Brian Eno.
“Songs Without Words I & II” performed by John Cale; recorded at The Living Room, New York City, USA; engineered by Paul Rice and Blaise Dupuy.
“The Soul Of Carmen Miranda” performed by John Cale and Brian Eno; recorded at Wilderness Studios, Woodbridge; additional viola and violin: Neil Catchpole.
From the Velvet Underground to producing iconic works by the Stooges, Nico and Patti Smith, John Cale's career is truly
impossible to summarise in a short bio, encompassing pop, rock, post punk, electronic, and classical music, as well as collaborations with Brian Eno, Terry Riley, and Lou Reed....more
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