John Cale – Paris 1919

Paris 1919

John CaleParis 1919 Reprise K 44239 (1973)


Few albums defy categorization like Paris 1919. Though not popular at its original release, it is an album extensively referenced by critics and is a captivating work appreciated best upon extended reflection.

Is it pop? Is it classical? Is it experimental rock? Maybe it is country or blues? Don’t they call this guy a “godfather of punk”? Categorizing John Cale is as productive and interesting as staring upward and counting holes in ceiling tiles. He made his own way. Few have attempted such sweeping musical portraits of home and history that shape a life.

Paris 1919 is a personal album for Cale. It reflects himself, rather than the racy crowd he ran with. Cale focuses on fond memories. He envisions a future built on the distilled successes of his past or at least the most profound questions that passed his way. This makes the album more endearing than the equally brilliant Fear. Paris 1919 takes the sophisticated pop of his solo debut, Vintage Violence, to a higher level by replacing naïve (in a good way) exuberance with calm confidence. Exposing anything personal makes an artist vulnerable, but truly great art requires some kind of revelation. Even metaphysical statements must usually come with a personal attachment. Cale achieves this in every respect.

Cale could expertly handle the sometimes-tedious task of composing new works. The results can be deceptive. A casual listen may suggest this is a straightforward album. Closer inspection reveals his placement of pulsing vamps, sharp dissonances, and sonic swells. These techniques are merely a means to realize his vision, as the lighthearted joys of the material always supplant technical considerations. The album is not an assemblage of independent components. Instead, Paris 1919 works as a unified whole always trained on the basic principles Cale held most dear.

Though not particularly known for his lyrics, Paris 1919 holds some of his best. He even includes reference to fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas. Cale’s greatest success is in making music uniquely his own. This isn’t a performance-heavy album for him. Most of his efforts lie in guiding his vision. Against Cale’s Welsh lilt the studio band sparkles, featuring Little Feat members Lowell George and Richard Hayward.

Despite difficulty in comparison, Paris 1919 is a unique artistic triumph. A work like this rarely fits into the preconceived notions of pop culture since it goes beyond what once seemed to be the outer limits. Paris 1919 is uplifting and intimate without heavy-handed sentimentality.

John Fahey – Vol. II: Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes

Vol. II: Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes Volume 2: Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes

John FaheyVol. II: Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes Takoma C-1003 (1963; 1967)


A good choice for an introduction to John Fahey.  He recorded two versions of the album, which features songs on the more straightforward side of his repertoire when he was still expressing things that fall more or less within the realm of the traditional musics from which the underlying stylistic elements originate.  A 1998 CD collection presents the two different versions of Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes.  Fahey’s technique on the 1967 re-recording of the original album is far crisper, and the recording quality is imminently superior so you hear everything in greater detail.  The second time around he managed to improve on some songs in the relatively weak middle section of the original 1963 album (“On the Beach at Waikiki”, “Spanish Dance”, “John Henry Variations” and “Take a Look at That Baby”).  Then again, his performances of “Some Summer Day” and “When Springtime Comes Again” are arguably superior on the original version, and the different versions of the album didn’t include all the same songs, so it’s nice to have both complete versions of the album collected on one CD.  If you find yourself drawn to some of the more unusual elements detectable in each song, then proceed to Fahey’s more challenging stuff like Volume 6: Days Have Gone By and The Voice of the Turtle.  If you simply like the impressive guitar technique and the nice songwriting, then try other Fahey releases like The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death and Vol 3 Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites or something from Fahey acolytes like Leo Kottke.

Robin Marie Averbeck on Liberalism

Links to articles by Robin Marie Averbeck on Liberalism:

“Why I’m Not a Liberal”

“Good Old Liberals”

Bonus Links: Carl Schmitt (“The essence of liberalism is negotiation, a cautious half measure, in the hope that the definitive dispute, the decisive bloody battle, can be transformed into a parliamentary debate and permit the decision to be suspended forever in an everlasting discussion.”); “NewLiberalSpeak”; and “The Ghosts of Obama’s Victims: Liberals’ Attacks on Cornel West Expose Their Political Bankruptcy”

The Raincoats – The Raincoats

The Raincoats

The RaincoatsThe Raincoats Rough Trade ROUGH 3 (1979)


The Raincoats’ debut album is about being at a certain place in life. It captures a certain feeling. It isn’t a feeling that everyone can relate to, but the Raincoats delicately paint it with crafty precision. The Raincoats is ominous without the pretense that normally accompanies such works.  This is an album of distraction. Yet, it is effective because the ‘Coats readily admit this. The essence of the feeling is like opting to play hopscotch instead of being depressed. There is a careful avoidance at work. Darkness may be all around but there isn’t any time for it with such amusing diversions.

The focus here is on triumph. The Raincoats’ major contribution was combining a deep-seated, gut-level awareness with a generally upbeat attitude. In terms of songwriting, they created modern folk stories. Fairytales. The Raincoats work more from daydreams than reality. You could even call them precocious. “Life on the Line,” particularly Vicky Aspinall’s violin, has that humorous Bo Diddley strut to it. And guest Lora Logic adds her sinuous, throbbing sax to “Black and White.” Every part makes so much intuitive sense. They pull together all the right elements. It’s that spice they add, though, that makes The Raincoats so hard to put aside.

You have to look at The Raincoats in connection with musical collectives like The Slits to understand what important contributions The Raincoats made. Though they were an all-girl group by the time they recorded, they didn’t start that way and that probably wasn’t even their intent. They did end up with a sound far from the punk stereotype. The folk-influence vocal harmonies confirm that. Since this album had little success on release, most people have heard Nirvana‘s version of this sound first (perhaps recognizing the ‘Coats from Kurt Cobain’s liner notes homage). The Raincoats’ debut is the very sound that inspired countless bands through the 1990s.

The Raincoats can fool you into thinking they are just a fun little band playing stripped-down rock songs. Don’t get tricked into thinking so narrow mindedly! Actually, there are no traps. The Raincoats were a pretty inviting band that only slowly revealed their nature. You could talk about how their elemental melodies allowed greater shading with harmonics and rhythms, but this is unnecessary to enjoy the ‘Coats. They were out to make great music, and they are completely unguarded on this recording. Masters of the obvious indeed. With this debut, The Raincoats were off to a great start.

John Coltrane – Blue Train

Blue Train

John ColtraneBlue Train Blue Note BLP 1577 (1958)


Well, I’m willing to argue that Blue Train is not really that special.  Maybe I might reconsider someday (it has been some time since I have listened to it), but for now, it strikes me as kind of boilerplate hard bop overall.  Maybe it’s that boilerplate aspect that draws so many people who wish to dabble in jazz to this album, because it is relatively uncomplicated, it adheres to most expected formulas, it is widely available, and it is a pretty even album.  But as a reviewer on RateYourMusic put it, lots of other tenor players could have made this album.

One argument I recall having about this album started when I commented that it wasn’t really offering anything new when it was released.  In response, what I heard was something like, “But in like 1957-58, this was cutting edge for the day!”  Well, I’m afraid not.  In the same time frame, Sun Ra was years ahead of this, even if a lot of Ra’s contemporaneous recordings wouldn’t be released until a few years later.  Let us not forget that Coltrane was to be heavily influenced by Ra’s tenor John Gilmore in the years to come.  But aside from Ra, there also was Cecil Taylor with albums like Jazz Advance, or Ornette Coleman with albums like Something Else!!!! or even Lennie Tristano with precious few recordings but outsized influence.  The cutting edge stuff might not have been that well documented, and may have continued to evolve, but it was out there being played around the time Blue Train was recorded and released.  Just because the late fifties were a relatively slow time for innovation in jazz recordings doesn’t mean I need to handicap this disc.

Now, I don’t mean to rag on Trane that much.  My point is merely that he hadn’t achieved greatness yet.

David Graeber Explains the Life-Sapping Reality of Bureaucratic Life

Link to an interview with David Graeber by Elias Isquith:

“’I Found Myself Turning Into an Idiot!’: David Graeber Explains the Life-Sapping Reality of Bureaucratic Life”

Bonus link: The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (“I think Kafka was right when he said that, for a modern secular non-religious man, bureaucracy, state bureaucracy, is the only remaining contact with the dimension of the divine.  It is in this scene from Brazil that we see the intimate link between bureaucracy and enjoyment.  What the impenetrable omnipotence of bureaucracy harbors is divine enjoyment. The intense rush of bureaucratic engagement serves nothing.  It is the performance of it’s very purposelessness that generates an intense enjoyment, ready to reproduce itself forever.”)

John Fahey – City of Refuge

City of Refuge

John FaheyCity of Refuge Tim/Kerr 644 830 127-2 (1997)


Spooky.  John Fahey mounted something of a comeback in the late 1990s.  City of Refuge was the first album of that comeback, and it was his most experimental offering in more than twenty-five years.  From this evidence there should be no doubt what the likes of Gastr del Sol saw in Fahey.  Most of this is pretty dark stuff.  “The Mill Pond” is a misfire.  Yet “Fanfare” and “City of Refuge III” are outstanding.  The former finds Fahey plugged in and playing some effective electrified guitar against industrial sounds and Stereolab samples.  The latter is an acoustic epic, but sounds more ominous than what you might expect based on his past recordings.  Not an easy listen by any means, but a welcomed return to more challenging music by a fascinating guitarist.