John Cale has spoken about his decision to re-visit his classic solo album ‘Paris 1919’.
Forever overshadowed by his work with The Velvet Underground, the New York group represent a mere diversion for John Cale. Check out his autobiography – the band get about 20 pages.
In a career that includes work with Patti Smith, Happy Mondays and Nick Drake the Welsh musician has moved from project to project, rarely looking at the past.
However at a recent concert John Cale re-visited his classic album ‘Paris 1919’. Released in 1973, the meditative song cycle saw the avant garde musician paired with deep fried boogie merchants Little Feat.
A potentially disastrous relationship turned into an inspired choice, with ‘Paris 1919’ benefiting from the band’s sensitive playing. For a one off concert in Los Angeles John Cale decided to re-visit the album, inviting a host of guests along for the ride.
Speaking to the LA Times, John Cale reflected on using Little Feat on the acclaimed album. “I didn’t know how it was going to work,” he said. “I didn’t know how flexible they were musically, but they let it rip.”
Lyrically, the album is deeply meditative reflecting John Cale’s literary heroes. However the album was apparently inspired by the atmosphere of nuclear dread which pervaded the early 70s.
“All the songs are about this Welsh guy lost in the desert of L.A., feeling nostalgic about all the things he loved about Europe,” he said.
The title itself is a reference to the Treaty of Versailles. “It was during the height of the Cold War, and I started thinking, ‘How did we end up here?’ In the ’70s, everywhere felt like a target — everyone was running to Argentina, because that was a nuclear-free zone. And that was all because of the Treaty of Versailles.”
