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Who's best: Lou Reed or John Cale?
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Sin Agog
Sin Agog
2253 posts

Edited Apr 26, 2010, 11:39
Re: Who's best: Lou Reed or John Cale?
Apr 26, 2010, 10:26
IanB wrote:
Popel Vooje wrote:
Agreed about Reed's late 70s output - those albums on Arista were definitely his creative nadir (whatever he might think). I also take your point about Cale's early 80s stuff being recorded whilst he was in a genuinely fractured state of mind - but then that's why I like "Music for a New Society" (as well as "Kill City", "Loki", "Tonight's the Night" and all those other cathartic missives from rock-bottom-land.


Should I give "Music For A New Society" a second chance do you think? I am pretty squeamish when it comes to art born out of addiction and broken states of mind. Art about those things written out of observation is fine. It's when the Art itself is one of the broken bits falling off of someone's psyche that I don't want to look / listen.


It sounds to me like you'd probably enjoy Fragments of A Rainy Season more. Similar vibe, sans that gonzo element you don't go for. Just Cale, a piano and one hell of a songbook. That's the one with his version of Hallelujah on it.


And I heard Loki. I wouldn't say I was either overwhelmed or underwhelmed by it- just whelmed. I far prefer Rita Lee as far as Os Mutantes solo albums go, but that might have something to do with the fact that they're pretty much Mutantes albums with a different name, considering most of the members play on them. To be fair, I haven't tried all that hard with Loki; I think it's the kind of record that you have to do some work with to get the most out of it.
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