Track Listing

1. Child's Christmas In Wales
2. Hanky Panky Nohow
3. Endless Plain Of Fortune
4. Andalucia
5. Macbeth
6. Paris 1919
7. Graham Greene
8. Half Past France
9. Antarctica Starts Here
10. Burned Out Affair
11. Child's Christmas In Wales
12. Hanky Panky Nohow
13. Endless Plain Of Fortune
14. Andalucia
15. Macbeth
16. Paris 1919
17. Graham Greene
18. Half Past France
19. Antarctica Starts Here
20. Paris 1919

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4725 in Music
• Released on: 2006-06-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

CD Description
PARIS 1919 is considered by many critics (and Cale fans) tobe his best. Released in 1973, 1919 was recorded in Los Angeles with members of Little Feat, Wilton Felder and the UCLAOrchestra, and stands as one of the best "rock/classical" fusions, mainly because Cale (who is a classically-trained musician) avoids the heavy-handed pomp and pretensions that besiege so much "art-rock". He also manages to maintain the qualities of tunefulness and whimsy.
His lyrics are absurdist/Dadaist-style poetry and word play, sung in a plaintive, unaffected, almost choirboy style. The songs have a longing,haunted feel to them-"Half Past France" is a perfect distillation of the musings that often accompany late-night travel. Throughout, the usual rock instrumentation is colored and caressed by exquisite pedal steel guitar, French horn, harmonium and strings. Cale remembers to rock out, too: "Macbeth"is a dense, driving, Move-styled take on the Shakespeare play, complete with raving, keening slide guitar and thundering drums. PARIS 1919 stands as one of the "lost" classic rockalbums of the 1970s.

Customer Reviews

A great album with so so extras
Mention the name John Cale in casual conversation and there is a risk you will be discussing the pervasive influence of the Velvet Underground on contemporary music till you eyelids wither from boredom. That or you will be regaled on how "Music For A New Society" is a bleak masterpiece. Or just as likely the other person will look at you like you have suddenly acquired a badger sprouting from your left nostril and enquire "John who?"
What is beyond doubt is Cale is a great artist , and while "Music For A New Society " is a very fine album there is a very persuasive argument that his masterpiece is "Paris 1919". Released in 1973 Cale titled the album after the 1919 Paris peace conference where the burnished glitterati of the world set out its agenda and order for the 20th Century. There are nine songs spread over 31minutes encompassing powerful themes-ennui, homesickness, turmoil, and the erosion of political boundaries- to ambiguous often imponderable lyrics.
The music is stately and melodiously sumptuous, utilising plump orchestration and tense layers of keyboard. Whether it is the baroque magnificence of the title track or the lilting yet gorgeous ballad "Andalucia" the album is relentlessly brilliant. "Hanky Panky Nohow" is an esemplasitc tower of melancholic melody. "Half Past France" sounds uncannily like a track off Enos "Before And After Science" four years before it was released. "Childs Christmas In Wales "glows with layers of tender instrumentation and effulgent detail. "The Endless Plain Of Fortune" is wonderfully sombre and portentous with a lovely high register guitar counter pointing the monochromatic walls of orchestration. "Macbeth" is by contrast verging on glam rock with a stomping arrangement and juicy scowls of guitar. "Graham Greene" is a perky vaudeville misprint with it's eccentric but caustic couplets including the choice line "Welcome back to Chipping and Sodbury". Final track "Antarctica Starts Here" is sung in a stage whisper and is a repressed little song with softly stroked keyboard notes, gentle acoustics and sparse but languid bass backing.
At the risk of being controversial I would say that this expanded version is rather superfluous. The extra tracks apart from one new song -"Burned Out Affair" which is nothing to get carried away about -are all demos or inferior versions ruined by extraneous chatter. The original album is perfect as it is ....these just break the spell that Paris 1919 so effortlessly and ravishingly casts.

Welcome expanded reissue of classic Cale album
Rhino are on pleasant form at present, reissuing the original `Nuggets', issuing those legendary Judee Sill albums, releasing the definitive Replacements' compilation, and now reissuing a remastered/expanded version of `Paris 1919', one of Cale's most popular albums. First things first, the packaging and sound is much better, it's nice to see the compact disc look like a Reprise record, but the many bonus tracks are merely curios, like most DVD-extras. The out-take `Burned Out Affair' is rather great, but I'm not sure I'd listen to any of the other versions again - perhaps this is due to the fact `Paris 1919' is kind of perfect anyway?

Following his exit from the Velvet Underground, Cale flipped between the avant and rock worlds, frequently fusing them together - whether as arranger/uncredited producer on Nico's `The Marble Index', or as producer of The Stooges' debut, or collaborating with Terry Riley (`Church of Anthrax'), or releasing the overlooked and rather splendid `Vintage Violence' (a precursor of the material here). Recorded with a band - Cale alongside Lowell George, Wilton Felder & Richie Hayward - with the UCLA Symphony Orchestra and producer Chris Thomas, `Paris 1919' remains one of Cale's strongest albums - though I'm as enamoured with `Fear', `Helen of Troy' & `Music for a New Society'. This probably is the one, however...

It's pop music, of sorts, `Child's Christmas in Wales' has the studio nous of Steely Dan and operates in a similar plain to the Eno-era work of Roxy Music. `Half Past France' and `Paris 1919' make clear that this is one of those European albums, alongside Nico's `The Marble Index' and `Desertshore' - Cale fusing his classical/avant-classical sensibilities with some gorgeous songs. Hard to single out a track on the album - it's so perfect - one of those albums that can just be played all the way through. `Macbeth' can be seen to anticipate the `Dirty Ass Rock'N'Roll' side of his canon, but otherwise this remains fixed at some point between classical and rock and roll.

Cale has often recorded great tracks - `The Jeweller', `Gun', his definitive take on Cohen's `Hallelujah' (ripped off by Jeff Buckley), `Riverbank', `Cable Hogue', `Mr Wilson', `Mercenaries (Ready for War!)' etc, I would have said his work is often well served by compilations like `The Island Years' and `Seducing Down the Door', if not the fantastic live solo recording `Fragments of a Rainy Season.' But `Paris 1919' needs to be owned too - a classic album given a thoughtful reissue.

A brilliant record, but....
Firstly, this is a great, great album and ought to be owned by any serious fan of music. That said, it is not without its flaws, which prevent me awarding the full 5 stars. I have serious reservations with the sound of this album. There is a flat, murky quality to the recording which hamstrings the beautiful, lush orchestrations. Also, John's voice is consistently too low in the mix so one finds oneself scrambling for the lyric sheet to work out what he is singing. His voice here sounds untypicaly thin, losing the lovely richness of its bottom end which is one of its greatest charms. I would recommend anyone investigating the back catalogue of John Cale to start with his first Island album, "Fear", which is better produced, much more varied than "Paris 1919" and, in my humble opinion, the better record.