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Rating: What Cale hinted at in "Vintage Violence," is radically forgotten in "Paris 1919."
The music is no longer the same: the viola that once accompanied guitar and drums is swallowed by the entire orchestra, the sound gradually approaches that of Europe, and the electric guitar finally (though only occasionally) explodes.
"Paris 1919" is the most European album John Cale has ever recorded: the sweet ballads, the orchestral arrangements, recall a typically "British" style of music, a music foreign to the influences that the American Sound exerted in previous works. From the very beginning, with the engaging riff of "Child's Christmas in Wales," the musician takes us back in time, to his beloved Wales, blending this atmosphere of joy with nostalgia for his homeland. The melancholic vein becomes increasingly pronounced in the moving "Hanky Panky Nohow" (what a piece!), and in the gloomy "The Endless Plain Of Fortune."
"Andalucia" clearly echoes the melancholic tones of the first track, while the sighs of "Antarctica Starts Here" and the melody of "Half Past France" complement the rest of the album. Great importance should be given to "Macbeth," which is undoubtedly one of the most aggressive tracks in the entire "caleian" repertoire (only with the subsequent "Sabotage" will we encounter such a raw sound again). The creative pinnacle of the work is the "title-track" itself: the driving accompaniment of the violins and the refined melody are the perfect recipe for an absolute masterpiece. Only "Graham Greene" does not hold up to the other songs, resulting in a cloying ditty.
Thus, I conclude my review, avoiding clichés like "John Cale is a genius"… "his music will never die"… and so on, leaving any further judgment to you.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Hanky Panky Nohow (02:46)
If the sacheting of gentlemen
Gives you grievance now and then
What's needed are some memories of planing lakes
Those planing lakes will surely calm you down
Nothing frightens me more
Than religion at my door
I never answer panic knocking, falling
Down the stairs upon the law
What law?
There's a law for everything
And for Elephants that sing to keep
The cows that agriculture won't allow
Hanky Panky nohow
Hanky Panky nohow oh
04 Andalucia (03:55)
Andalucia when can I see you
When it is snowing out again
Farmer John wants you
Louder and softer closer and dearer
Then again
Needing you taking you keeping you leaving you
In a year and a day to be sure
That your face doesn't alter
Your words never falter -- I love you
I'll be here waiting later and later
Hoping the night will go away
Andalucia Castles and Christians
Andalucia come to stay
You were lost, once before, on a day much like this
When you'd made up your mind not to come
And I couldn't persuade you
Or wait till tomorrow -- or pass the time
05 Macbeth (03:07)
Welcome home Macbeth
It's been a long long time
And everyone knows you're here
It's easy to see they care
Banquo's been and gone
He's seen it all before
He took it and then he did walk it
He shook it and then he did rock it
And you know it's true
You never saw things quite that way
She knew it all
And made you see things all her way
Somebody knows for sure
It's gotta be me or it's gotta be you
Come on along and tell me it's alright
It's alright by me
Alas for poor Macbeth
He found a shallow grave
But better than a painful death
And quicker than his dying breath
06 Paris 1919 (04:06)
She makes me so unsure of myself
Standing there but never talking sense
Just a visitor you see
So much wanting to be seen
She'd open up the door and vaguely carry us away
It's the customary thing to say or do
To a disappointed proud man in his grief
And on Fridays she'd be there
And on Wednesday not at all
Just casually appearing from the clock across the hall
You're a ghost la la la
You're a ghost
I'm in the church and I've come
To claim you with my iron drum
la la la
The Continent's just fallen in disgrace
William William William Rogers put it in its place
Blood and tears from old Japan
Caravans and lots of jam and maids of honor
singing crying singing tediously
(Les Tuilleries -- instruments sans voix)
Efficiency efficiency they say
Get to know the date and tell the time of day
As the crowds begin complaining
How the Beaujolais is raining
Down on darkened meetings on Champs Elysee
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