This must be the difficult time for John Cale. Reed, Bowie, Iggy, Eno, and even Lyndon, whose performance John was about to watch on TV, had the commercial breakthrough, meanwhile he remained as relatively obscure figure and should have felt he was left behind. To make the situation worse, John is a big guy and his erratic behaviors scared a lot of people away at that time.
John could have saved PIL from their creative bankruptcy, if he took more interest in British New Wave. The irony is that Sex Pistols demo was produced by his guitarist, Chris Spedding and the album was produced by his engineer, Chris Thomas.
geez, no wonder cale got wasted on coke and liquor that night for the show, his band mates were damn posers, guitarist and bassist and this douche drummer, they got fired very soon here after
I was bored, so I googled a bit. Dave Lichtenstein (the then drummer of John Cale) was born David Hoyt Lichtenstein in 1954 as son of famous Roy Lichtenstein, pop art artist, and nowadays known as David Laredo, owner of a restaurant chain (or so). Name change because of not lumping together with daddy (so it is written,...).
caribbean sunset is one of his best albums in my opinion. i hope it will be released on cd someday to play it at max volume in the quality it deserves. songs like magazines and model beirut recital make me wanna dance and love and kill.
Cool - opening for Cale is really something - especially on that tour. Have you heard the Deerfrance album Extra Virgin Mary? It's ever so sweet, sounds amateur but packs a huge punch.
Both times! Not sure, but doesn't she live in North Carolina now? A band I was in back then opened for Cale that second time (it was actually '79, not '80) -- what's kind of funny is that, a few years later in New Orleans, I ended up playing for a couple years with a guy who was one of Cale's roadies on that tour -- small world...
Actually it´s the cupboard (this interview is just before Cale´s gig started). John Cale had been signed up as headliner by Alan Bangs who was sacked and replaced by the guy here: Ken Jantz. He foolishly signed up Huey Lewis & The News and Level 42 as support acts, their fans being in the majority. I think Cale was just pissed off and sent out the drummer to do the interview with that nerd. It turned out to be quite a weird gig in front of a hostile crowd but Cale won them over in the end.
James Blomberg john was on hard drugs, alot of coke, he wanted nothing to do with an interview at the time, place was packed and he was scared shitless so he got wasted early
Wow, I love it. Maybe Carribean Sunset is his worst album but it's still worth a listen. I had a copy and it got stolen. I wish the record company would issue it on CD. Thanks for the post but why is the video cut off at the best part?
I know everyone hates Caribbean Sunset but I absolutely love the album. It has great chugging rhythms and a dispassion that is surpassed only by Artificial Intelligence. Not for everyone, but I love it.
He played this last year (2006) and it was terrific (at Double Door in Chicago). But I saw him in NY in 79 with Marc Aaron on guitar and it was pretty amazing. I've seen Cale about 30 times and the show last year was the best he ever played. The only competition is the show at NYU with the Soldier Quartet, Sterling Morrison and at the end...Lou Reed. I know it was taped, and I would kill for that tape.
