John Cale: Paris 1919 (Remastered + Expanded) CD Track Listing

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John Cale Paris 1919 (Remastered + Expanded) (1973)
Paris 1919 (Remastered + Expanded)\n2006 Reprise/Rhino UK\n\nReleased March 1973\nRemastered Edition Released October 26, 1993\nRemastered + Expanded UK CD Edition Released June 19, 2006\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: One of John Cale's very finest solo efforts, Paris 1919 is also among his most accessible records, one which grows in depth and resonance with each successive listen. A consciously literary work -- the songs even bear titles like "Child's Christmas in Wales," "Macbeth" and "Graham Greene" -- Paris 1919 is close in spirit to a collection of short stories; the songs are richly poetic, enigmatic period pieces strongly evocative of their time and place. Chris Thomas' production is appropriately lush and sweeping, with many tracks set to orchestral accompaniment; indeed, there's little here to suggest either Cale's noisy, abrasive past or the chaos about to resurface in his subsequent work -- for better or worse, his music never achieved a similar beauty again. \n\n[The reissue features 11 bonus tracks in the form of alternate mixes, demos, rehearsals and outtakes from the Paris 1919 sessions.] -- Jason Ankeny\n\nAmazon.com Editorial Review\nJohn Cale has one of the richest resumes in pop, with experience in avant-garde music even before he met Lou Reed and they formed the Velvet Underground. His record productions include such landmarks as the debut by the Stooges and Patti Smith's Horses. But as a solo artist, Cale has often seemed caught between his sophisticated leanings and his fondness for punky attitudes. Two early albums, Vintage Violence and Paris 1919, were the work of a highly-developed pop musician; later albums found Cale the pop provocateur dominating the show. Cale's a fairly deadpan singer, but the sweet mix of rock band instrumentation and fuller orchestration make --Paris 1919 one of his strongest efforts, and the lovely "Andalucia" one of his very best songs. If the righteous boogie of "Macbeth" sounds familiar, that's because Lowell George and Richie Hayward, guitarist and drummer of Little Feat, formed the core of Cale's studio band. --John Milward \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nMusic to hold in your heart forever., July 31, 1998 \nReviewer: M. Campos (mhcampos@aol.com) from Seattle, WA\nCale's solo career, after leaving the Velvet Underground, was a spectacular series of failures: beautiful records that were neglected by a sensation-seeking general public. On Paris 1919 he performs (along with members of Little Feat) a wonderful song cycle harkening back to his Welsh heritage ("Child's Christmas In Wales") and to his fascination with love and moral dilemmas. "Andalucia" is a perfect love song, while "Half Past France" and "Endless Plain Of Fortune" foreshadow Cale's later obsession with desperate characters and mercenaries. Cale's oblique lyrics, blending with the gentle contrified music, makes this a record that you will listen to for years, that will become as familiar to you as the familiar features of a beloved face.\n\nQ Magazine (1/94, p.108) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...its melancholic melodies and enigmatic, wintry lyrics make this undoubtedly his best work...." \n\nWire (6/00, pp.36-7) - "...Excellent chamber pop....Cale's 1st masterpiece, it is one of the very few records anywhere to integrate orchestra and rock instruments so fully that you can't see the join..." \n\nCD Connection.com Review\nPersonnel includes: John Cale (vocals, piano); Lowell George (guitar); Wilton Felder (bass); Richie Hayward (drums); UCLA Student Orchestra. \n\nRecorded at Sunwest Studios, Los Angeles, California. \n\nPARIS 1919 is considered by many critics (and Cale fans) to be his best. Released in 1973, 1919 was recorded in Los Angeles with members of Little Feat, Wilton Felder and the UCLA Orchestra, 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. \n\nHis 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 rock albums of the 1970s. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW (Remastered + Expanded Edition)\n"Graham Greene" is annoying, December 16, 2006 \nBy Ron Heck\nI know I'm going to get a lot of unhelpful marks, but with the invariably perfect reviews this record is getting, I thought I should speak up. I've tried pretty hard to enjoy this CD, what with paying money for it and all, but I just don't get it. Sure, the songs are pretty, but also repetitive and somewhat bland. This isn't helped by the incredibly murky mix this album has. I was hoping the bonus tracks would provide a clearer picture of what the songs sound like, but they sound the same for the most part. \n\nThe problem is that I got this along with Vintage Violence, his first solo album. I love that one. It has a great energy to it that makes the softer tracks more engaging as well as a mix that is loud and clear. Though I can easily see Paris 1919 as a good rainy day depression disc, its hard to take most of the songs seriously enough to do so. "Hanky Panky Nohow" is a good song until the lame chorus which consists of the words "Hanky Panky Nohow." On Vintage Violence, the lyrics are just as nonsensical, but the compositions are simply more entertaining. That having been said, "Andalucia" is a great song and so is "Paris 1919" (especially the piano mix). \n\nI keep having to replay bits of the rest of the album to remember which of the other songs I liked and which I didn't. That isn't a good sign since I have listened to it close to six or seven times now. Comparatively, I've listened to Vintage Violence once and I still remember almost all of the songs. Now, if you'll excuse, I'm going to go hum "Fairweather Friend." \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW (Remastered + Expanded Edition)\nAll-time great album, inessential bonus tracks, August 18, 2006 \nBy Robert P. Inverarity (Silicon Valley, California, United States)\nI don't know what more I can add to the Paris 1919 discussion. It's arguably the best work by arguably the most unfairly obscure popular music genius of his time. If you don't already own it, stop reading and buy it! \n\nThe reissue is what I'm really reviewing, and if I were to rate it on its own I would give it three stars. It's a case of quantity over quality, with unfortunate results. \n\nFirst, the good. The booklet has great new liner notes by a writer who thoroughly understands the album. Burned Out Affair, despite a flat, possibly drunken vocal, is quite interesting. Though I'm glad it was cut from the album proper, I'm equally glad to hear it. Two alternate versions are fantastic: the Drone Mix of Hanky Panky Nohow and the hidden instrumental take of Macbeth (with masterful electric slide guitar) give new insights into the material and are great listening on their own. \n\nSecond, the bad. Pretty much all the other sketches are not particularly interesting at best. The piano mix of Paris 1919, the vocal mix of Antarctica Starts Here, and the informal takes of Endless Plain of Fortune and Graham Green are all good listening, just nothing special or revealing. Some, however, have mumbled partial vocals, muddy arrangements, lyric mistakes, and pitch problems. \n\nSure, these things happen while recording. This is probably the most honest set of rehearsals and takes I've ever seen on a commercial record -- there appear to be no overdubs or edits of any kind. I'm not at all convinced that's a good thing, however. It seems to me that including alternate versions of every song was overkill, and even undermines the album itself with material that obviously was never meant for public consumption. \n\nIf they'd just stuck to new and revelatory versions, we'd have three or four great bonus tracks. As it is, there's an entire alternate album that's not worth more than a couple listens. \n\nCertainly this reissue is worth buying, for the first time or even for the second. Just don't expect anything much of the bonus tracks. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW (Remastered + Expanded Edition)\nMake that twelve!, June 30, 2006 \nBy Daniel P. Whitworth "whitworth59" (San Diego, CA United States)\nThere is an unlisted 21st track-- an instrumental version of 'Macbeth' featuring some fine slide guitar from Lowel George!\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nLike Frank Zappa, John Cale is a fascinating, mercurial figure. Everything he has done over the years--from his electric viola work and his development of destructive sound effects for the Velvet Underground onward--bears witness to a formidable intelligence and a commitment to what remains viable in the avant-garde tradition. Last year, Cale released his first Reprise album (following two excellent albums for Columbia), The Academy in Peril, which Warners justly called their first "classical" album. Paris 1919, by contrast, is pop-oriented with strong classical underpinnings. Indeed, it comes far closer to being a finished work of art than any previous attempt to effect a rock-classical synthesis.\n\nThe subject of Paris 1919 is nothing less than the entirety of Western European high culture, viewed roughly from a post-World War I, Dada-Surrealist perspective. The album is an epic reassessment of history, geography and art itself. Much of its music is in the Pink Floyd-Procol Harum genre--densely textured and post-Romantic. (Paris was produced by Floyd-Harum wizard Chris Thomas.) The strings of the UCLA Symphony Orchestra are used to magnificent effect, enhanced with what sounds like a mellotron.\n\nCale's lyrics are something else entirely. He has scored a major coup by adapting, often brilliantly, the spirit of Dada-Surrealist poetry into the pop idiom. The contrast between the somewhat destructive playfulness of Dada and the Romantic thrust of the music sets up tensions that are never resolved, nor are they meant to be. At its most accessible, the poetry is highly allusory and multifaceted. The clearest example is in the album's most beautiful cut, "Andalucia," in which impressions of a woman, a place and history are woven inextricably into a moving and mysterious entity: "Andalucia, when can I see you/When it is snowing out again/Farmer John wants you/Louder and softer closer and nearer/Then again/Needing you taking you keeping you leaving you ..." The song and the arrangement are ravishing, and to top it all off, Cale sings with a plaintiveness reminiscent of Steve Winwood.\n\nOn other cuts that have a similarly heavy sound, the lyrics are more playful: "There's a law for everything/And for elephants that sing to keep/The cows that agriculture won't allow ..." is one of several hilarious pronouncements made in Cale's "Hanky Panky Nohow," a song that, paradoxically, has a mystical, sensuous musical setting. The central image of the title cut, whose arrangement is somewhat similar to Nilsson's wonderful "Mourning Glory," is that of a woman appearing as a ghost "from the clock across the hall." And a typically Surrealist fascination with time appears again in "Half Past France." The album's one all-out rocker is the screaming, tearing "Macbeth," which perfectly conjures up the ghostly violence of the play.\n\nThough at first all of this might seem simply to be sublime nonsense, much of it improvised, Cale employs imagery that is fundamentally cohesive in an impressionistic way and further unified by its elegiac spirit. His cerebrations are as Romantic as they are anti-Romantic, perhaps more the former, since the music finally impells us to take him very seriously. Wit, humor and irony are here in abundance. So too are metaphysical contemplation and sadness.\n\nParis 1919 is one of the most ambitious albums ever released under the name of "pop." In spite of and because of its irreconcilable contradictions, it requires a great deal of listening in order for its full implications to be perceived. As usual, John Cale is several steps ahead of the times. It is up to us to catch up with him. Paris 1919 is a pop masterpiece. (RS 133 -- May 10, 1973) -- STEPHEN HOLDEN
This rock cd contains 21 tracks and runs 79min 14sec.
Freedb: 15129015
Buy: from Amazon.com

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