Ah, he's back!
enemyofsilence | Maplewood, NJ United States | 06/08/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"John Cale is back in fine form, and if this EP is any indication of what the september album will be like, well, I can't wait til summers over!There are elements from all of Cale's career blended together, not in a back-to-roots sort or way, not a lazy sort of way, but in a this-is-where-it-was-all-leading way. He's learned his lessons well - what works, what didn't - and juxtaposed them brilliantly here. The music, lyrics, and production are all uniquely Cale - Top notch Cale, that is!Great stuff!!!"
New era in Cale's brilliant career ushered in....
Jason Parkes | Worcester, UK | 11/05/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In an era of corporate, youth-centred behaviour by record companies, it's pleasing that a true artist like Cale has been signed by EMI. Some evidence that it's not all best ofs and reissues and short-term pop with a nature that seems pre-rock&roll. 5 Tracks is a taster of the world Cale expands on the album HoboSapiens (2003)- the 5 Tracks are well worth getting- Cale's pilgrimage to contemporary Wales where he came across The Beta Band & Super Furry Animals showcases a sense of reinvigoration- something that ex-cohort Lou Reed is in need of!!!!!The production is contemporary- opening track Verses a wonderful pop song with an electronic sheen reminiscent of Mark Bell (LFO, Exciter, Homogenic) or Matmos (Vespertine) or Fennesz (Endless Summer, A Fire in the Forest from Sylvian's Blemish)- though Waiting for Blonde is even better, using reportage from 9/11 "You are New Yorkers...You are the very best...You are New Yorkers..."- the bass is wild on this track, a disturbing soundtrack "Remember you're New Yorkers, it's your last chance/Good morning, step away from the closing doors"- its theme is somewhere between those in Bruce Springsteen's The Rising & Suicide's American Supreme. The title may allude to Nico, and New York, where Cale loved/worked with her- Nico perhaps representing death? & you can't help but think of the old title "I'm Waiting for the Man"...Chums of Dumpty (we all are) is probably the least track here, though it is far from bad- it's easily up there with anything on the last two Bowie albums Heathen (2002) & Reality (2003). E is Missing is possibly my favourite track here, its lyrics alluding to the PC-dismissal of Ezra Pound from the lexicon of great poets- due to his fascist collaboration. As with Celine or Leni Riefenstahl (or Akira Kurosawa or Yukio Mishima), fascistic involvement does not make the art inherently bad- though I was taught Pound on a Modernism module on my university course! The strings feel wild on this, & the harmonium again recalls those records Cale made with Nico, Desertshore & The Marble Index. Closing track Wilderness Approaching stems from Cale's frequent film work, on such films as American Psycho, The Beach, I Shot Andy Warhol & Shrek (!) - this stems from the film Paris, & has a gorgeous quality up there with the delivery of old classics found on Cale's live album Fragments of a Rainy Season (1993) or the Drella-track Forever Changed (1990). 5 Tracks is a brilliant ep from a legendary artist, & deserves to be purchased alongside the long-player follow up HoboSapiens- great stuff!"
John, 'You are the very best...'
Philippe Landry | Louisiana | 06/22/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is where the literate and melodramatic lyricism of Paris 1919 meets up with the distorted outbursts & funky grooves of Fear and shakes hands with the synthetics of Music For A New Society. Gorgeous, sophistocated, noisey dub music for a new century. John never ceases to completely amaze me. His music has an intriguing duality of stately poetics and edgy pop experimentalism. 'Verses' lazily slithers along with a dark & dreamy romantic vibe which then goes crashing into an industrial rock scream-o-rama, a la 'Fear Is A Man's Best Friend'. 'E Is Missing' is an elegant folk-driven piece of electronic, maudlin beauty. 'Waiting For Blonde' chugs along with a melodic, brooding funk, creating an atmosphere of optimistic paranoia. 'Chums Of Dumpty' is a cut n paste pistache of pop perfection, complete with buzzing, percolating synths, heavenly pianos and violas, thug-tastic sub-fuzz-basses, squeally funk guitars and wicked vocal harmonies. 'Wilderness Approaching' is classic Cale: bittersweet theatrics sung over a solitary piano with the addition of filtered, resonant back-up gospel vocals.This new material is on par with Depeche Mode(specifically Exciter and Martin Gore's new solo album), The Creatures, Portishead and Primal Scream. It seems as the though the master isn't too big to sit with the students. This is an artist pushing forward and beyond. This is a serving of what's to come. Frankly, he's leaving Lou in the dust."
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1