John Cale - Paris 1919 (1973)

(originally posted on Facebook)


I know nothing about John Cale except that he made this album and his picture reminds me of Sam Rockwell. Much like after listening to David Ackles' American Gothic, I find myself captivated by a new artist's music and have no idea how to classify it. To call Cale's voice unremarkable doesn't do it justice. To be frank, he's hardly on key, and warbles quite a bit on the higher notes. This is exacerbated every time he double-tracks his voice and the counter-warbling distracts from his lovely little melody. His lyrics are impenetrable, but I tend not to care what a song is "about". More important than the words, and this applies heavily to Paris 1919, is the melody, the orchestration, the arrangement  and the sound.

I'll start with the sound. At first listen I expected this album was recorded in the mid 1960s, but I found out it was released in 1973. So I'm a bit torn. On the one hand I think the album sounds lovely, but by the standard of 1973 it's technically lacking. Sound quality is one of those parts of music that really isn't subjective- at least that's my opinion. But it's still a sound I like, so it's hard to knock it too much.

I found the melodies interesting, at times challenging, and it's a rare pleasure to hear an album for the first time and really feel like I've never heard these songs before. As for the orchestration and arrangements, this is what makes the album hard to classify. Much like David Ackles, the music is laced with theatricality, although that is somewhat diminished by the tough lyrics. The string arrangements are softer and there are few if any horns. Despite the large nature of the orchestration the music is well contained. There are no long instrumentals and the songs are short and sweet.

If you have a half hour and have never heard Paris 1919, I recommend you find a copy and take a listen. 4 stars.