(TV) (OT) John ale CD

["Leo Casey" <LeoCasey@comcast.net>]

CD report


By Globe Staff  |  September 10, 2004

John Cale
HOBOSAPIENS
Or Music
He was born and bred in Wales, but John Cale is the ultimate New York
musician. Both Cale and Manhattan embody the artist and punk, the obtuse
intellectual and intense bohemian, with a pained but dauntless optimism. On
"HoboSapiens," Cale sounds like he's made a glorious return to that New York
state of mind. It's his best album in two decades, thoroughly rocking but
informed by ear-popping avant-garde inclinations. Modern, not trendy, it's
full of the raw, energetic adventure of his best work, from the Velvet
Underground and Patti Smith to Super Furry Animals and his soundtracks.
After brewing in Cale's Greenwich Village apartment for two years, the CD's
songs were recorded in but a few hours, blooming in the studio. It sounds
like Cale had a blast with the blitzkrieg approach. Producer Nick Fragen (of
the chill-out duo Lemon Jelly) weaves just the right mix of noir-ish drum
loops and buzzing sounds. Fragen draws bold strokes from Cale the
multi-instrumentalist (his electric viola lights up "Magritte"), deep-voiced
poet (on the menacing "Letter From Abroad") and deconstructed popster
(bouncing through "Reading My Mind"). Together they twist "HoboSapiens" into
a sometimes less accessible but infinitely more interesting listen.
TRISTRAM LOZAW
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