John Cale
Fear Is A Man's Best Friend - John Cale

Promoting John Cale

Promos and freebies

Over the years various promotional records have been released to win over DJ's to play Cale's music on the radio. Other records came as a freebie with a magazine.

Most of these records are extremely rare.

Hello There / Gideon's Bible (1970)
Promo 45 for Vintage Violence. Columbia Records.

Big White Cloud (mono) / Big White Cloud (stereo) (1970)
Promo 45 for Vintage Violence. Columbia Records.

Big White Cloud / Ghost Story (1970)
Promo 45 for Vintage Violence. Columbia Records.

Days Of Steam / Legs Larry At The TV Centre (1972)
Promo 45 for The Academy In Peril. White label. Reprise Records.

The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy / Sylvia Said

The Man Who Couldn't Afford To Orgy / Sylvia Said (1974))
Extremely rare UK promo with the A-side listed as The Man Who Couldn't Afford To ...
Island Records. WIPX 1344, UK

Hear Fear (lp) (1975)
Promotional album for Fear released by Island Records containing an interview with Cale. He announces cover versions of Jerusalem, Girl From The North Country (Bob Dylan), Eight Miles High (the Byrds), and I Can See For Miles (The Who).

Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll

Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll/Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
USA Promo 45rpm for Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll. No picture sleeve. Island IXP3-1, USA.

Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll/Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll (1977)
French Promo 45rpm for Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll. No picture sleeve. Island 6837 4111, France.

Dead Or Alive / Honi Soit (1981)
Promo 33rpm 12 inch for Honi Soit. No picture sleeve. Labels with pronunciation pointer (o. nee swa) A&M SP-17154, USA.

Dead Or Alive / Dead Or Alive (mono) (1981)
American Promo 45rpm for Dear Or Alive.
A& 2329/dj/'81
7 inch 45rpm single. USA

Caribbean Sunset / Caribbean Sunset (1984)
Promo 45 for Caribbean Sunset. Ze, IS 197, UK.

Hungry For Love / Caribbean Sunset (1984)
Promo 45 for Caribbean Sunset. Ze/Island 106 302, Germany.

Nobody But You (1990)
One track promo CD for Songs For Drella. Same version as on the album. No front insert. Generic back cover.
Sire PRO-CD-4056, USA.

Nobody But You / Nobody But You (1990)
Promo 45 for Songs For Drella. WEA Records 1.286, Spain.

Nobody But You / Style It Takes (1990)
Promo 45 for Songs For Drella. Small sticker "PR-copy" on the back of the picture sleeve. WEA Records WE 171, France.

Been There Done That (CD) (1990)
One track promo CD for Wrong Way Up. Same version as on the album. No front insert. Back insert contains discographies of Cale and Eno. Opal/Warner Bros. PRO-CD-4493, USA.

One Word (CD) (1990)
Two track promo CD for Wrong Way Up. Contains two versions of One Word: edit (3:38) and album version (4:34)). No front insert. Generic WB logo back insert. Opal/Warner Bros. PRO-CD-4601, USA.

Ring Of Fire / Shuffling Down To Woodbridge (1990)
Released on the Ring Of Fire/Shuffling Down To Woodbridge promo single. Ring Of Fire is a Brian Eno track.

Words and Music from Wrong Way Up promo CD

Words and Music from WRONG WAY UP (1991)
6 track CD credited to Brian Eno.
No front insert, it is 27 minutes long and has Eno talking between and/or over the songs, and he talks about Cale a lot, being very candid about how difficult and even stormy their working relationship was while making the record, but also how pleased with the results of their collaboration he is. Back insert is a color video self-portrait of Eno along with a quote mentioning that his co-writing the one track on Words For The Dying (The Soul of Carmen Miranda) with John led to them making Wrong Way Up.

Tracks:

  1. Lay My Love
  2. One Word
  3. Empty Frame
  4. Been There Done That
  5. The River
  6. Spinning Away

Opal/Warner Bros. PRO-CD-4691, USA

More Fans (1991)
French Promo CD containg one John Cale/Leonard Cohen track: Queen Victoria (a.k.a. The Queen and Me).
Promo for I'm Your Fan tribute album.

Heartbreak Hotel

Heartbreak Hotel (CDEP) (1992)
(Fnac Music 593087) contains four tracks:

  1. Heartbreak Hotel
  2. (I Keep A) Close Watch
  3. You Know More Than I Know
  4. Heartbreak Hotel

Promo for Fragments Of A Rainy Season. The last three tracks are alternate versions.

More Fragments

More Fragments (CDEP) (1992)
The French music magazine Les Inrockuptiles came with a free four track CD:

  1. Where There's A Will
  2. Close Watch
  3. You Know More Than I Know
  4. Heartbreak Hotel

Promo for Fragments Of A Rainy Season. All alternate versions.

The Long Voyage (1995)
Promo CD containing two versions of The Long Voyage, a duet with Suzanne Vega: the edited version (4:07) and normal version (5:32). Promo for Hector Zazou album Songs From the Cold Seas.

Walking On Locusts promo

Walking On Locusts (1996)
Advance copy of this album with different artwork. Released on Rykodisc. HNCD1395ADV. USA

  1. Dancing Undercover
  2. Set Me Free
  3. So What
  4. Crazy Egypt
  5. So Much For Love
  6. Tell Me Why
  7. Indistinct Notion Of Cool
  8. Secret Corrida
  9. Circus
  10. Gatorville & Points East
  11. Some Friends
  12. Entre Nous

American Psycho (2000)
24 tracks containing the full score for this movie on a promotional CD slated for a proper release. The record company went for a "various artists" collection after Cale said "no" to handing over his publishing rights.
Universal, USA.

5 Tracks promo

5 Tracks (2003)
Advance copy of this album with different artwork. Released on EMI. CDEMDJ621. UK

  1. Verses
  2. Waiting for Blonde
  3. Chums of Dumpty (we all are)
  4. E Is Missing
  5. Wilderness Approaching (from the film Paris)

Promo copy Things/Things X. EEC

Things/Things X (2003)
Advance copy of this single with different artwork.
EMI CDEMDJ629. EEC



Promo copy HoboSapiens

HoboSapiens (2003)
Advance copy of this album with different artwork.
EMI HOBODJ001. EEC

  1. Zen
  2. Reading My Mind
  3. Things
  4. Look Horizon
  5. Magritte
  6. Archimedes
  7. Caravan
  8. Bicycle
  9. Twilight Zone
  10. Letter From Abroad
  11. Things X
  12. Over Her Head
Promo copy American release party HoboSapiens

Things/Things X (2004)
Special two track promo CD for the release party in New York on September 13, 2004 for HoboSapiens in the USA with photos made by Billy Name. The CD was given to the attendees of the party.

TurnTheLightsOn (2005)
One track CD advance copy of this single, otherwise only available as an electronic download.
Custom double card picture sleeve, CDEMDJ670

Promo copy blackAcetate

blackAcetate (2005)
Advance copy of this album with different artwork.

  1. Outta The Bag
  2. For A Ride
  3. Brother Man
  4. Satisfied
  5. In A Flood
  6. Hush
  7. GravelDrive
  8. Perfect
  9. Sold Motel
  10. Woman
  11. Wasteland
  12. Turn The Lights On
  13. Mailman (The Lying Song)
Promo copy Perfect

Perfect (2005)
One track CD advance copy of this single with identical front cover as the regular two track CD. UK. CDEMDJ672.

OuttaTheBag (2005)
One track CD advance copy of this single, otherwise only available as an electronic download.
Custom picture sleeve, CDEMDJ686

Jumbo in tha Modernworld (2006)
Advance copy of this single. Includes the otherwise unavailable instrumental version. Picture sleeve.
EMI, UK

Circus Live (2006)
Advance copy of this album with different artwork. DVD not included.

Big White Cloud promo

Big White Cloud (2007)
Re-recorded version of this song for the movie Smokin' Aces. CD single with simple white insert.
EMI, UK

This song was released as a bonus track on the DVD of the Circus Live album.


All My Friends promo

All My Friends (2007)
John Cale's version of this LCD Soundsystem song is on a 6 track CDEP with simple white insert.
EMI, UK

Tracks on promo albums

Darling I Need You is one of the four tracks on the Island Disco Sampler (1975).

Temper, an outtake from The Academy In Peril, was released on the promotional compilation Troublemakers (Warner PRO A 857, 1980).

Jack The Ripper was released on These People Are Nuts! (I.R.S. #82010, 1989).

Crazy Egypt and Dancing Undercover can be found on Limbo At the Rykodisc Luau, an In-Store Play promotional compilation CD (Rykodisc VRCD 9604, 1996).



© 1999- Hans Werksman