Saw John Cale

[j44ke]

John Cale played a concert at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) that was the 50th Anniversary of The Velvet Underground and Nico, the album with the Andy Warhol banana on the cover and they played the whole album. And they was John Cale and his band plus the Wordless Orchestra, Kurt Vile, Animal Collective, MGMT, Connan Mockassin, Caroline Polachek (who sang some of the Nico songs,) and Thee Oh Sees.

The lighting and set was terrific, energy was great, there were mistakes and sloppy moments, but even those were great. And the finale was a big giant wall of sound. I never thought I would ever see someone like John Cale and there he was playing music. I recognized faces in the crowd but I suck at placing them with names, but there were obviously a lot of musicians in the audience.

And everyone had these big shit-eating grins on their faces.

IT WAS FUCKING GREAT!

[hampco]

I saw him about 30 years ago in Madison, WI - still pretty good then!

[j44ke]

I saw him about 30 years ago in Madison, WI - still pretty good then!

Hah! I know I know. 50 year anniversary of an album I love. How can I possibly be that old?

[davids]

"...the album with the Andy Warhol banana on the cover..." Oh, you mean the foundational work of rock's second, better, version? One of the greatest, most influential records of all time? So much of the music I love begins with this record.

I wish I could remember the exact quote, but a reviewer once wrote about the Velvets that, "They heard rock and roll differently. They heard it correctly." Yep.

So, so cool that you got to hear Cale perform it.

[Corso]

Jorn, Good for you! No, GREAT for you!

50 years? Man…now I feel old. Time to find my CD. My album version didn’t survive college.

Yeah, even my wife now gives me crap about playing CDs in the car.

Albums, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs…got ‘em all.

[Matthew Strongin]

"...the album with the Andy Warhol banana on the cover..." Oh, you mean the foundational work of rock's second, better, version? One of the greatest, most influential records of all time? So much of the music I love begins with this record.

I wish I could remember the exact quote, but a reviewer once wrote about the Velvets that, "They heard rock and roll differently. They heard it correctly." Yep.

So, so cool that you got to hear Cale perform it.

Almost every Sunday morning when I get home from an early ride and my wife heads out for a run, I sit my son on my lap and we listen to music together. That album is on the play list almost every week. Actually, The Velvet Underground is one of the bands that always used to calm him down when he was an infant and it's still one that will get him to waddle over to me as I'm jumping around my collection. The kid's got good taste.

[davids]

Almost every Sunday morning when I get home from an early ride and my wife heads out for a run, I sit my son on my lap and we listen to music together. That album is on the play list almost every week. Actually, The Velvet Underground is one of the bands that always used to calm him down when he was an infant and it's still one that will get him to waddle over to me as I'm jumping around my collection. The kid's got good taste.

The one way my daughter's disappointed me is that she's not a music lover. It's almost become a joke:

Me: I've listening to St. Vincent a lot lately. Have you heard of her?
Her: Uh, yeah, I think that sounds familiar...
Me: Never mind, never mind. Let's just talk more about Russian literature or Middle Eastern politics, OK?
Her: OK Daddy.

[j44ke]

There is a saying - I think it was Lou Reed's? I am sure everyone has heard it - that went something like "We sold only X copies of that record, but everyone who bought it started a band afterwards."

I think a lot of those bands were in the audience.

I have now downloaded several Thee Oh Sees albums. Best if played loud.

And yes, I have the latest St. Vincent.

[colker]

I am jealous. JOhn Cale´s singing is superb.
Yeah.. VU reinvented Rock. They sang lullabies and the lyrics were complex, about displacement(sunday morning, pale blue eyes), morality (perfect day).
When they played hard it was a slow tempo. They were not in a hurry cause there isn´t anywhere to go after all.
VU was an alien in the 70s.. but when the 80s hit us hard w/ it´s cynical mindset and self conscious poses, Velvet Underground became the Pope:they knew it.

Their album sold only 500 copies but everyone who bought it started a band. Wasn´t Brian Eno who said that?

[alexstar]

St Vincent is a revelation. What a talent, musically and in terms of stage presence. Saw her at the Fox in Oakland on the Digital Witness tour a few years ago. Amazing show.

[twowheels]

Jorn, what a great opportunity, it sounds like it was a magical evening.

Time to pull the album out and give it a spin.

[davids]

I never really got this record:

Sleater-Kinney_-_TheHotRock.jpg

Then someone said, "Murder Mystery" and it all clicked into place. Holy hell. A whole phase of their remarkable career based on one strange 30-year-old song.

And yeah, I know that's not on VU & Nico, OK?

[j44ke]

Sorry to say, I never got Sleater-Kinney. Perhaps it was all my music training, but all that out-of-tune singing was grating. Admirable for consistently singing a 1/2 tone (usually flat) off every note played by the band, but stressful for my ears.

[dogrange]

Sorry to say, I never got Sleater-Kinney. Perhaps it was all my music training, but all that out-of-tune singing was grating. Admirable for consistently singing a 1/2 tone (usually flat) off every note played by the band, but stressful for my ears.

It's not just you. There really is no aspect of what they do that is interesting in any really interesting way.

[davids]

Sorry to say, I never got Sleater-Kinney. Perhaps it was all my music training, but all that out-of-tune singing was grating. Admirable for consistently singing a 1/2 tone (usually flat) off every note played by the band, but stressful for my ears.

At first I had to force myself to listen to Corin. She is an acquired taste, like learning to love scotch. Once her voice clicked for me, I was enthralled. She sings like no one else. Combine that voice with the way Carrie's and Corin's guitars play with each other, circling, teasing, challenging, reinforcing and supporting. And Janet's perpetually thrilling creative rhythm, drums that glue the guitars together.

S-K was the best rock band in the world for a while there. Maybe, aside from Radiohead, the last great rock band.

It's not just you. There really is no aspect of what they do that is interesting in any really interesting way.

There are those who would disagree with your assessment.

[joosttx]

I met/hungout witj Laurie Anderson backstage at a concert in Utrecht. Did have the nerve to ask her about Lou Reed. Saw her again Several years later on a Brigde in Portland, Or. "my God, you bug guys travel". Still couldnt ask about Lou.

[j44ke]

I met/hungout witj Laurie Anderson backstage at a concert in Utrecht. Did have the nerve to ask her about Lou Reed. Saw her again Several years later on a Brigde in Portland, Or. "my God, you bug guys travel". Still couldnt ask about Lou.

Houston, you are an international man of action, I can tell.

We used to see Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed when we did the windy day route through the Springs in the Hamptons. Very funny to wave at them like neighbors and then have them wave back like neighbors, which is what they were but they were also Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. With their dogs.

My wife recommends Anderson's Heart of a Dog. You can rent it now on Amazon. Ostensibly about the death of her favorite dog, but it is also about loss in general and about Lou.

[davids]

Anderson has an installation at MassMOCA now.

The paintings - many of which feature her dog - are excellent. I'm a little ashamed to say that my expectations were pretty low. I had thought she peaked with "Oh Superman"...

[j44ke]

Anderson has an installation at MassMOCA now.

The paintings - many of which feature her dog - are excellent. I'm a little ashamed to say that my expectations were pretty low. I had thought she peaked with "Oh Superman"...

Interesting you say that, because as I understand it, the music she recorded and lyrics she wrote up to and including Oh Superman was accumulated over a number of years of work and performance. Following that production, she moved on to creating work largely in response to commissions from arts grants and institutions (Brooklyn Academy of Music being one.) Her movie, Heart of a Dog, was evidently a return to more natural origination.

Tough to create naturally for a commission I think and to work within/against the constraints of audience, boards, patrons, etc., but even tougher to decline them when they are offered.

[davids]

Interesting you say that, because as I understand it, the music she recorded and lyrics she wrote up to and including Oh Superman was accumulated over a number of years of work and performance. Following that production, she moved on to creating work largely in response to commissions from arts grants and institutions (Brooklyn Academy of Music being one.) Her movie, Heart of a Dog, was evidently a return to more natural origination.

Tough to create naturally for a commission I think and to work within/against the constraints of audience, boards, patrons, etc., but even tougher to decline them when they are offered.

Hmm. I'm not sure about the timeline.

I did see her perform sometime in the late 80s, probably doing a version of United States I - IV. It was way too mannered for my tastes.

But I will always treasure the memory of playing "O Superman" for a room-full of our parents at our college graduation party, reveling in their confusion and discomfort. "Hi Mom!" indeed.