The "Influential Records" Game Commentary, Part 2 (John Cale)

I have chosen to focus this entire entry on John Cale, because of the huge influence his records and performances have had on my life.

Any one of these four records could have been in my top ten; I chose Animal Justice to represent because I wanted to be different, OK? I first heard of John Cale from my aforementioned mentor. He had also played The Velvet Underground And Nico for me first as well and, while appreciating it’s insane avant-gardist experiments, I found it sonically a bit screechy and scratchy. Right off the bat, though, with Fear, I was hooked. I have never been as big a fan of Cale’s pretty music like Paris 1919, even though I certainly admired his ability to produce that kind of thing; they just always felt a little “quaint”. But including a pretty sounding song or two on a side with “Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend” or “Gun” turned the whole thing into a psychological act of terrorism, making you question your own sanity, if not his. I’ve had a dream where I was performing the bass solo breakdown at the end of “Fear Is A Man’s Best Friend” with Cale looking on, only to find that everything around had ceased to exist! I was impressed by his “Streets Of Laredo”-esque “Buffalo Ballet” as a following song to “Fear…”, but more so by “Barracuda”, especially the viola solo. “Gun” has always been a favorite (my punk band Terminal Mind used to cover it). The lyrics have always been a huge part of the appeal as well; he jousts with words on tunes like “You Know More Than I Know” and “The Man Who Couldn’t Afford To Orgy”. And I loved the layered guitars on “Momamma Scuba”.

And then my friend played Slow Dazzle for me, and I realized he had taken the basic melody of “Momamma Scuba” and amplified it into the nightmare cover of Elvis’s “Heartbreak Hotel”. It taught me everything there is to know about doing a successful cover: “Make it your own!” “Guts” and “Dirty-Ass Rock ‘n’ Roll” also shine for me, and I loved his story telling voice in the creepy “The Jeweller”. Perhaps this is where I should also mention his producing abilities: even the lighter fare shines as an example of perfect mixing and fluid tonal movement.

But my favorite LP is Helen Of Troy. What a monster. Not a bad song on it, everything sounding demented even when trying to act sane. “My Maria” has a kid of gothic catholicism to it, the title track is just plain creepy, “Engine” and “Save Us” are like lessons in experimenting with the accepted norms of songwriting, and “Cable Hogue” is just a great story. Then there’s side two! After kicking off with the proud lament “I Keep A Close Watch”, there’s the brilliant cover of Jonathan Richman’s “Pablo Picasso”. I love the freakout of “Leaving It Up To You”, with the rising hysteria of his shouted diatribe culminating in the mention of Sharon Tate (I got the import that had this song included, thankfully). The cover of Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me To Do”, however, has been perhaps the biggest influence on my playing and arranging. Chris Spedding’s bent note figure, repeated throughout, turns a cool blues tune into a dagger. And when I played bass in Terminal Mind, I studied those turnarounds in this song for inspiration. And finally, “Sudden Death”, which is the perfect way to end a creepy record!

I was already a fan by the time he released Animal Justice, so I bought it as soon as it arrived at Inner Sanctum. Right away, beginning with “Hi, my name’s Arthur, and I quit / CHICKEN SHIT!’, the EP seemed perfectly dialed in for the moment! I love how he makes you work for the lyrics by throwing in all the spoken word bits that tell the story of his band quitting over the dismembering of a dead chicken on stage, all the while stabbing you with the lead guitar! The cover of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” is certainly less extreme by comparison, but he makes up for it with the viola. And what can one say about “Hedda Gabbler”? The slow steady build up of the creepy family story, with electric piano and echoed slide guitar relentlessly pushing toward the climax of the repeated final lines; I still get choked up by that ending.

I made sure to catch his show at the Armadillo when he came through in April 1979, and I was not disappointed. It is still to this day one of the most powerful performances I’ve ever witnessed, intense from beginning to end. This was the Sabotage tour. The whole band were in black, and Cale had the chrome hardhat on for part of the set. Tight and relentless from beginning to end; THIS was how a set was supposed to be! I patterned my own performances on it from then on.

I missed him when he came back through a month later, because my band Terminal Mind was playing at The Vault, an old unused fur vault near some art studios above a used book store. I do remember Cale’s band dropping by near the end of our set. That was cool. And obviously I’m a fan of the record Sabotage. In addition to the intensity and the brutality of the songs and performances, I’m brought to tears by the chorus lyrics in “Captain Hook”.

I happened to be up in Dallas about a year later when he played The Hot Klub on the Honi Soit tour. The band, and the material, were a little more relaxed this time, but it was still a great show. And I saw him recently at Stubbs during the Levitation festival, and even though the sound was horrible, and he had rearranged some of my favorite songs into pieces that I barely recognized, he was and is still a formidable presence and performer.

Recently I’ve been listening a lot to Church Of Anthrax, which Cale released with minimalist composer Terry Riley in 1971. It feels just as relevant now, if not more so. I’m still discovering things in his work that inspire me.