"I only hope that one day John will be recognized as ... the Beethoven or something of his day. He knows so much about music, he's such a great musician. He's completely mad - but that's because he's Welsh."Lou Reed
Timeline: 1998
Co-producing The Jesus Lizard EP
Co-produces the track Needles For Teeth with Andy Gill and Jim O'Rourke for the self-titled EP by American noise rock band The Jesus Lizard.
The song is included on the Conflict & Catalysis: Productions & Arrangements 1966-2006 compilation album (2012).
On Dutch NPS Television
On March 9 Dutch televison shows footage of the February 25 show at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The show was billed as With A Little Help From My Friends. He shared the stage with Siouxsie & The Creatures, Carol van Dijk (singer with Bettie Serveert) and Het Metropool Orkest conducted by Dick Bakker.
Performs Dying On The Vine, Chinese Envoy and Paris 1919 and with the orchestra, Silent Spring with Carol van Dijk, I Was Me, Gun and Murdering Mouth with Siouxsie. The latter was written during the rehearals in the run-up for the show. The footage is repeated regularly over the years on Dutch Television.
David J covers "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend"
The US only On Glass. The Singles compilation album by David J's contains his version Fear Is A Man's Best Friend The original On Glass compilation album, released in 1986, has Ship of Fools from his Blue Moods Turning Tail EP. Both covers can be found the extended reissue of the album, released in 2006.
Maureen Tucker's Waiting For My Men
(and) Then He Kissed Me, I'm Not and I'm Waiting For The Man, the tracks that Cale played on Maureen Tucker's I Spent A Week There The Other Night album, are included on her Waiting For My Men compilation album, which is released in Belgium and Germany only.
BBC Wales Cale Documentary
First airing (on March 25) of John Cale, a BBC Wales documentary by James Marsh. Contains interviews with Cale, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Chris Spedding, Maureen Tucker, La Monte Young, biographer Victor Bockris, choreographer Ed Wubbe et al.
Live footage of Ship of Fools, Dance Music, Heartbreak Hotel and Memphis, and the Velvets 1993 reunion tour. Filmed in Garnant, Wales, New York and Rotterdam. Released on DVD - John Cale: An Exploration of His Life and Music in 2006.
On tour with The Creatures
In June, July and August 1998 he performs a string of dates in Mexico and the USA with The Creatures, basically another name for the core members of Siouxsie and The Banshees.
The two acts perform with their own bands, sitting in with each other as the shows progress. Drummer Budgie:
"We met him briefly backstage when the Velvet Underground played Paris Olympia. But we had a mutual friend in Paris. It was when John was doing a ballet based on the life of Nico. We went along to Rotterdam to see the premiere of that. And he suggested that we get together and write a song especially for a thing he was doing in Rotterdam (Amsterdam - HW) with one of the Dutch orchestras. That was broadcast on Dutch television, the video found its way back to the west coast, to John's agent in LA, and she decided to put the word out that this might be an interesting proposition for promoters around America. It's a different way of looking at us both, really."
Daybreak
Records Daybreak, a translation of La Aurora from Poeta en Nueva York by Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director Federico Garcìa Lorca. This is released on the tribute 2CD Federico Garcìa Lorca - De Granada a la Luna. With Jenny Muldaur on backing vocals and Mark Deffenbaugh on guitar and harmonica.
Dance Music
Release of Dance Music, music for the ballet for Nico. The album was recorded live in The Netherlands, Fall 1997, by Ice Nine, except España by John Cale (recorded at L.P.G. Studio, NYC, by Jack Wall) and Nibelungen by Nico from her The Marble Index album (note: this is a bonus track from the CD re-issue, and not included on the original vinyl version; mixed by John Cale in May 1990)
Nico's spoken words in Ari Sleepy Too were edited and reassembled by John Cale from the flexi disc that came with The Andy Warhol Index Book (1967).
Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography
Victor Bockris publishes his biography about Patti Smith. Cale features in the part about the recording sessions for her debut album Horses in 1975 and acting as the support act during her American tour in January 1976.
"At that point something clicked. There was a track she did where she read poetry. I had her read poetry against her poetry and there were two lines going on and I had her mix it. When Clive Davis heard that, he said, 'Hey, you've got a collaborator.' And that's exactly the thing that made that record different. She was really a poet and you had to respect the fact that she was not a musician but out of sheer bravado and desire was making herself into a rock-and-roll singer and basically wanted to be Keith Richards. But I was awed that she had gotten all that input from Bob Dylan and Lou Reed to some extent. She had a Welsh Methodist idea of improvisation, in that it was like declamation. Lou was kind of psychological, but a lot of Patti's impulses came from preaching."
Jack Smith's Silent Shadows on Cinemaroc Island
Plays sonics on Jack Smith's Silent Shadows on Cinemaroc Island: 56 Ludlow Street 1962-1964 Volume II album. The sessions for this album were in 1962-1964.
Lou Reed Documentary
Features in Rock and Roll Heart, a documentary about Lou Reed, directed by
The DVD version of this documentary contains 15 extra minutes.
The Hope Blister
English ambient band The Hope Blister cover Hanky Panky Nohow on their ...smile's ok album.
Somewhere In The City
Release of the Somewhere In The City soundtrack.
He composes five short instrumental pieces for this movie directed by Ramin Niami, which also features the track Indistinct Notion Of Cool from the Walking on Locusts album.
Alan Stivell
Produces the I Douar (One Earth) album by Celtic musician Alan Stivell. He also plays bass on one track: Ever.
Dollhouse Noah
The Hall Of Mirrors In The Palace At Versailles, a track from the Church of Anthrax album, is used in the soundtrack of the Dream Thrum video by Dollhouse Noah, screened at the Design Festa in Tokyo, Japan on November 22 & 23.
» Fresh Cale
Order the remastered and expanded Paris 1919 album (2LP, CD) via Domino Records
Order the remastered and expanded The Academy in Peril album (LP, CD) via Domino Records
