John Cale Vinyl Re-issues

John Cale Vinyl Re-issues

This December we're thrilled to be re-issuing three classic albums from John Cale on LP, each re-issue faithfully replicates it's original Island Records release and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

Released in October 1974, Fear is an incredibly important in the 50+ year career of John Cale.

Fear marked Cale's return to recording in London after the best part of a decade in America. Signing to Island, he made fast friends with two key admirers, Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno, who assisted him in returning his music to the rawer sound of his earlier work, as opposed to the lush textures of his previous studio album, Paris 1919. The tense, clipped "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend" harks back to the work of the Velvet Underground, as does the standout, "Gun", eight minutes of overdriven bleakness with Eno duelling with Cale's guitar solo on synthesisers. Much is rightly made of these tracks, but there is also the sweetness of the gospel of "Buffalo Ballet" and the Beach Boys homage "The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy". The pretty, semi-autobiographical "Ship Of Fools" offers listeners an opportunity to hear Cale reference the South Wales city of Swansea, its seaside suburb, Mumbles and his home village of Garnant. In its often-skeletal simplicity, the often triumphant Fear is an album that brought an angular aggression with it.

John Cale - Fear

Released on 6 December 2024
Catalogue number: UMCLP079

Pre-order LP

Side 1:
1. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend
2. Buffalo Ballet
3. Barracuda
4. Emily
5. Ship Of Fools
Side 2:
1. Gun
2. The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy
3. You Know More Than I Know
4. Momamma Scuba

Following on quickly from Fear, and capitalising on that album's energy Slow Dazzle is another fiery release by Velvet Underground founder John Cale.

Released in March 1975, initially, the album offers a false sense of mellow security: "Mr Wilson", a tribute to Brian, the leader of Cale's beloved Beach Boys starts the on a much sweeter note than "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend", as does "Taking It All Away"; by "Dirty Ass Rock'n'Roll" Slow Dazzle is off to darker terrain, business as usual. Cale, however, cannot resist a pop song and a ballad – "Ski Patrol" is a great two-minute vignette, and "I'm Not The Loving Kind" is soul-baring. The album's reputation, however, rests on two tracks – "Guts", a bald telling of Cale's wife's infidelity and his pitch-black cover of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel". 50 years later, these songs still pack a tremendous punch.

John Cale - Slow Dazzle

Released on 6 December 2024
Catalogue number: UMCLP081

Pre-order LP

Side 1:
1. Mr. Wilson
2. Taking It All Away
3. Dirty-Ass Rock 'N' Roll
4. Darling I Need You
5. Rollaroll
Side 2:
1. Heartbreak Hotel
2. Ski Patrol
3. I'm Not The Loving Kind
4. Guts
5. The Jeweller

Recorded quickly between John Cale producing Patti Smith's Horses and his going out on an Italian tour, Helen of Troy became Cale's third and final studio album for Island Records.

Helen Of Troy is a raw, fascinating listen. The title track with its horns and spoken word is one of Cale's best: after the sweet bubblegum of "China Sea", the album gets increasingly stripped down – the acoustic guitar and piano of "Cable Hogue" and the punkish cover of The Modern Lovers' "Pablo Picasso" have long been favourites on the album. "Leaving It All Up To You" – in which Cale becomes increasingly disturbed – garnered controversy at the time and was actually removed from later pressings of the album because of its references to the Manson murders. Cale never lost his ability to shock. Taking its title from the opening line of Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line", "I Keep A Close Watch", a track Cale would record again several years later, with its Robert Kirby-arranged strings and horns, is the closest Cale has veered toward a power ballad. It is a work of great beauty among all the jagged edges of Helen Of Troy.

John Cale - Helen of Troy

Released on 6 December 2024
Catalogue number: UMCLP081

Pre-order LP

Side 1:
1. My Maria
2. Helen Of Troy
3. China Sea
4. Engine
5. Save Us
6. Cable Hogue
Side 2:
1. I Keep A Close Watch
2. Pablo Picasso
3. Leaving It Up To You
4. Baby, What You Want Me To Do?
5. Sudden Death