Reviews (page 8 of 8)
Excellent baroque pop.
This is a fascinating album that I have never heard before. This is one of those albums that you just need to sit down and enjoy in its entirety. Will definitely put this into rotation. Favorite Tracks: "Paris 1919" "Child's Christmas in Wales"
Interesting, and seems like it deserves another listen.
Second half very good. Very weird
I enjoyed this. A Child's Christmas in Whales and Antarctica Starts Here stand out. Artsy, innovative - doesn't always hit the mark for me but never boring. Good listen.
laid back
Street struggling to remember it from Friday...
Not for me...
Nah. No thanks. I was bored.
It was fine. Good that it was actual songs. Just not my bag
Interesting aberration in his catalogue (of which I have limited knowledge)- I wasn't familiar with this one and while I appreciate it I don't think I would ever come back to it to listen to.
Never heard this before it super interesting and i read his most accessible album, even then i'm not sure its super accessible... Hanlpanky nohow has his velvets drone and mabeth has a pretty distinctive stomp on it that might bridge the velvets and glam.. dunno. The title track is really distinctive and i think loads of people have listened to it, im thinking of a blur song but i cant quite remember it, it also feels like crosby stills nash and young a bit.. His voice is a lot thinner than i remembered and pretty haunting.. Im gonna spend more time listening to this...
Hanky Panky Nohow?! masterpiece haha. This is actually a very pleasant listen while working
Can’t all be winners
pleasantly surprised with this one :) thoughtful and smooth
Con John Cale è stato subito amore (cuoricino su spotify per Child's Christmas in Wales). Mi ha trasmesso naturalezza e semplicità ma a tratti anche nostalgia (de che? boh!). Ha i suoi momenti geniali sia come testi sia come musica. Machbeth ha un po' interrotto la magia e ci sono rimasto un po' male, ma John Cale è tipo un di quelle persone che ti piacciono a prescindere. Non arriverebbe a 4 (3.75), ma mi ha fatto sentire meglio. Glielo devo. 4
Paris 1919 is a banger. Mixing also super good on album.
Loved it, dense and powerful orchestration, historical lyrical storytelling, nice arc to the album
There's no bloat on here, just a short snappy album. Little not to like tbh. I like the opening track especially.
Meh, didn’t like much. Sorry, pretty sure this is a Velvet Underground Guy… got another one coming up…
Not really a fan of this.
Startet ruhig mit klassischem Rock im Klang der 60-70 Jahre, um dann über rock'n roll in etwas düstere ecperimentellere Töne zu gehen.
Fantastic album, you can see why he went on to do soundtracks etc. Loved the variation of it. Favourites were Hanky Panky Nohow (best song title ever), The Endless Plain of Fortune, Macbeth and Paris 1919. Some really inspiring stuff in there. Highlight was the strings.
Love the bass on the opener. Annoyingly catchy chorus in Hanky Panky Nohow. Great orchestral arrangement in track 3. The bass has been very cool so far, as have the orchestral parts. The low volume marimba motif in Graham Greene is such a huge call. Not a huge fan of how the drums are mixed though, hi-hats hard panned to the right. Super listenable and with a fair few bold choices, just maybe not enough for me. Highlights were the bass on basically every track, all the orchestral stuff and any time the band got to play heavier rock stuff. But overall it kind of comes and goes without leaving too lasting an impression.
Fine, if unspectacular
The second half is amazing.
This didn't do much for me. A little slow-paced at times and just meh at others.
Nope
I listened to this years ago but mostly knew it by reputation, which I can say is well-earned. There's some Velvet Underground in this record's DNA, but it's mostly a dramatic evolution, with orchestrations that compliment the songwriting. A few really excellent tracks, especially "Andalucia" and "Half Past France." Maybe not as enthusiastic a 5 as other records I've given that rating to, but it's more of a grower, which is fine.
Child's Christmas In Wales: interessante, come primo impatto m'ha fatto molto anni '70 ma non in modo negativo. L'arrangiamento mi è piaciuto e il pezzetto col tempo dispari m'ha un po' conquistato. Hanky Panky Nohow: Wtf?? Parte come un pezzo un po' folkeggiante anni 70 ma il testo è totalmente fuori di testa. Il "ritornello" m'è piaciuto e trovo molto azzeccata la durata del brano che più lungo avrebbe perso d'impatto. "There's a law for everything And for Elephants that sing to keep The cows that agriculture won't allow". Ok..? The Endless Plain Of Fortune: Ammazza figo questo, l'orchestrazione m'è piaciuta un sacco. Parte un po' modaiolo anni 70 e invece quando iniziano ad entrare gli ottoni e gli archi diventa un pezzo totalmente diverso da quello che me aspettavo. Bello! Andalucia: L'ho dovuta sentì 3 volte perché non riusciva a catturarmi in nessun modo. Forse bisognerebbe sentì il testo che non ho sentito bene, però m'è sembrato un pezzo folk ballad tipico dell'epoca senza particolari pregi. Machbeth: Figa, l'influenza un po' country rock m'è piaciuta. Non è niente di super originale ma pure la transizione strana in quella sorta di bridge m'è piaciuta. Sta pure nel punto giusto dell'album. Paris 1919: Ho visto che è la title track e che è la più ascoltata quindi ero un po' prevenuto, però invece m'è piaciuta. Orecchiabile ma comunque con elementi stilosi e il bridge orchestrato con gli uccellini e il cambio d'atmosfera l'ho trovato geniale. Graham Greene: Carino il piano scordato però non m'ha detto molto. Half Past France: Niente di sconvolgente e forse un po' più legato agli anni, però m'è piaciuto. Antarctica Starts Here: Nonostante il Rhodes per come è suonato fa un po' David Bowie (e quindi buuu), comunque l'ho trovato un pezzo molto poco anni '70 e pure originale. Forse avrei voluto che ci fosse un po' di più di questo spirito pure negli altri pezzi. Complessivamente: Molto interessante, figlio dei suoi tempi da una parte ma anche con una visione artistica che secondo me regge ancora oggi e c'ha ancora qualcosa da dì. Secondo me se sente che s'è trattenuto un po' e voleva fa un disco più vendibile (tipo appunto considerando i pezzi più sbroccati) ma comunque se sente che c'è una mano esperta sia a livello compositivo che di arrangiamento. Probabilmente ci vorrebbe più di un ascolto e penso che qui i testi siano abbastanza importanti ma non ho prestato sempre attenzione. Quando l'ho fatto però c'erano sempre frasi abbastanza surreali che mi sembravano aggiungere all'atmosfera del pezzo/disco.
Qua il rischio polpo era dietro l'angolo ed a tratti ce n'erano di polpette però alla fine l'album è stato gradevole. Alla fine del disco ti resta la voglia di risentirlo
Best Tracks: Child's Christmas in Wales, The Endless Plain of Fortune, Paris 1919, Half Past France
This was a pretty great album, the songwriting is meaningful and the instrumentals are great, the vocals on some songs though are really not fun to listen to and can get annoying.
Another absolute masterpiece. This has been a good run of albums
I didn't have any witticisms or ironic comments come to mind while listening. I just rrally love this album now
This is art.
A playful and incredibly cordial flash of gallic beauty from a true artist. Cale has laundered the Velvet Underground from his system on this record and not so much recorded an album, but painted a musical picture. John Squire once recorded an album based around the paintings of Edward Hopper. It was a bold idea, more miss than hit, but a commendable effort. Paris 1919 seems to achieve Squire's aim almost accidentally. It's short, but any longer and it wouldn't have worked. This isn't something that takes you on a journey - plenty of records do - but instead it takes you out for coffee. If Dark Side Of The Moon, for example, whisks you away into the psychedelic catacombs of your mind, then Paris 1919 treats you to croissants in a delightful little cafe on the banks of the Seine under the romantic stewardship of the Eiffel Tower. C'est merveilleux.
70's pop sounds a lot different from today, but that doesn't mean it's bad! John Cale created an awesome album by using so many sounds in his music, that it sounds like it was instead produced by an orchestra.
Paris 1919 - string accomp. as per Eleanor rigby
Cale > Reed :)
I don't know. This was quite fun. I had no idea what to expect and listened to it a few times. Intriguing.
Not feeling this at all. No real good reason. Maybe I'm just not that into Avante Garde.
Had never heard of him before. Pleasant
NEW! Orchestral rock/pop. Best Tracks: A Child's Christmas In Wales, Macbeth, Graham Greene
The brain behind Velvet. Brilliant guy.
Some good stuff. The production seemed dated to me.
Pretty mellow, but still quite enjoyable. 1RS
Another one I just didn't get on with. Shame, I like Velvet Underground too.
Tedious
A bit dull
Nope
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.
Kinda nice. Some really good songs but most just muddle along.
liked this. Sort of eccentric english folksy sound that just breezes by. 6/10
Nah. I could see the appeal, but too much of it was just so wet.
ugh straight 70s generic, plus a song called 'hanky panky nohow'........... I'll pass
Sinceramente me dio un poco de hueva la mayor parte del disco. Me pareció también un poco familiar como si ya hubiera escuchado una que otra, dejá vù. Canción favorita: MacBeth, porque me suena elvisiana.
Andalucia? Velvet, interesante
Macbeth can do one but it's a solid 4 from me.
A good album, but not awesome
Eléctrico a ratos. Buena voz
Bore
Goofy English shit. Fella sounds a bit like Ringo.
Nie mój kawałek sera
Buenas letras en general y no sé muy bien si lo que escucho es rock o pop o ambas, ya en rock-pop. Pienso que es un álbum al que quizá no volvería, pero sí a algunas canciones, hacia el final me gustó bastante: "Half Past France" y "Antarctica Starts Here" son como lo que más me emocioné, junto con "Macbeth". La canción titular igual está buena, tiene de repente esa instrumentalización muy de soundtrack. En fin, no sé si lo que diga sea una tontería, pero de pronto me recordaba leve a los Beatles, de pronto a Bowie, algo así. 7/10
With song titles like half past France and Antarctica starts here you’d think there’d be a lot more to exciting to listen to
not bad. some great songs
eh
Not enjoying this. I’m pretty amazed this was considered good. The music is pretty ok but his voice is awful and lyrics are just dorky
Really underimpressive from the Velvet Underground guy. I'm reading all of these as bland background songs I had to keep reminding myself to listen to
Quite boring
Forgettable
This guy's voice is terrible. I hate this!
Kind of sounds like a really good Ringo album
Meh
meh
Weirdly good and it led to a few other great songs
It's fine. There's the odd moment here and there where it's bordering on good, but overall, it's fine, it's listenable, not horrible, not fabulous.
A pretty fun pop album, it really grew on me after a second listen.
Another day, and another randomly generated album selected for me from the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Todays selection is an album titled Paris 1919 by former Velvet Underground band member John Cale. I’m going to cut to the chase. After having this album in my possession for 24 hours, while being obviously well produced, written, engineered and performed, its mostly forgettable to me, but not completely. There are two extremely good songs on Paris 1919 and I’ll focus on those. This is just my honest opinion. Child’s Christmas in Wales, the album opener, is very warm and welcoming, if it was meant to set the tone for the rest of the experience, it failed. Most following tracks are, to me personally, too slow and sappy. I don’t mind slow and sappy at all, just make it catchy and memorable. As I drudged through about fifty percent of Paris 1919, I was smacked right in the face with the epic title track, Paris 1919. The deep bass of the strings are all it took to hook me. The horns closely following reeled me in closer. I have no idea what this song is about lyrically, seems based on historic events of countries I’ve never visited. Paris maybe? When John Cole sings “you’re a ghost la la - la la la la la” I get a little release of dopamine. So simple, yet so catchy especially in his cadence. Other notable songs are Graham Greene, Half Past France and Antartica Starts here. I totally don’t know what they are about but they sound nice. While the overall production of Paris 1919 is obviously top tier, the only songs I would add to a playlist would be Childs Christmas In Wales and most definitely the title song, Paris 1919. Please share your thoughts, opinions and memories below!
Weird.
Interesting sound, not sure if I have an adequate comparison.
Very relaxing! I enjoyed it.
Loved this album. I have never heard any of these songs before. Had a great band and vocals. I would buy this album.
Fine to have in the background
+
Musique de fond agréable mais assez quelconque
Didn't really feel this one
Its ok
Nice smooth like it
this is boring and I can't understand what he is singing.
Its like a stepping stome album. The ideas are there but the execution can be just avg. long way to go, but explains why theres a long long catalog in their solo career. So it reassures me that maybe they go forward in experimenting with this folk-classical sound. its very gay and i love it and im here for it. just execute better, show me your glittered face not just the glistening hair
Not to bad solid 3/5
One of my favourite albums.
Never heard this before.... unusual but at the same time catchy!