Timeline: 1978
Deleted Jack The Ripper
The single Jack The Ripper with an instrumental version of Chuck Berry's Memphis on the B-side, is pulled, because of the Yorkshire Ripper murders in Northern England.
The track is included on the Seducing Down The Door compilation. Note: Jack The Ripper also surfaces on the IRS Anniversary album These People Are Nuts! in 1989. Another track that recorded during the sessions, Ton Ton Macoute, stays hidden in the vaults.
Spy Records
Founds his own record label Spy Records with Jane Friedman and Michael Zilkha, who had interviewed him for Andy Warhol's magazine Interview. Zilkah would later found Ze Records, the record label for which Cale would record three albums in the Eighties: Music For A New Society, Caribbean Sunset and Comes Alive. He would also produce other artists for the label. Distribution of Spy is handled by IRS records.
The offices of Spy were housed in Cale's 250 West 57th Street office. He mixes the debut single of rock critic Lester Bangs: Let It Blurt b/w Live.
The Spy logo was designed by Michel Esteban, using an image of Cale's eye from his Fear album cover.
"Spy Records was a toy of mine for a long time. Its creation made the recording of Sabotage/Live possible, and we put out a single by the rock critic Lester Bangs and an EP by the Model Citizens."
Spy discography
- SPY 001 Harry Toledo & The Rockets - "Busted Chevrolet" EP (7", EP)
- SPY 002 The Necessaries - "You Can Borrow My Car" (7", Single)
- SPY 003 Lester Bangs- "Let It Blurt / Live" (7", Single)
- SPY 004 Model Citizens - "Untitled" (7", EP)
- SPY 005 Marie Et Les Garçons - "Rebop / Attitudes" (7", Single)
- SP004 - John Cale - Sabotage/Live (LP)
Geraldine Fitzgerald was suppossed to record a cover of Antarctica Starts Here, with Cale producing, but that never happened. He produced a couple of tracks for pop punk band The Poles with the prospect of releasing them on the label, but those recordings got shelved. Spy Records closed in 1980.
Shelved The Sic F-cks EP
He produces a 6-track EP by New York punk band The Sic F-cks for Polish Records. Never released and the masters have been long gone. They got lost after the Sundragon Studios went out of business. He sang their praises in an interview with New Wave Rock fanzine in the September 1978 issue:
"I think they're great! I think they have potential for something they haven't stumbled onto yet. I can see them coming to something that will be really good. It has to do with their stage show, and their music as well. That chaos that goes on up there is the best of it. And the other thing is that they really have a good time! They don't care that much about togetherness, they all wrestle about and get very silly."
Joey Schaedler was the band's lead guitarist then:
"As far as the sessions are concerned, they were recorded at Sundragon Studios (defunct) in NYC over the summer of 1978. I don't remember the exact date. But I do remember it was a single day in the studio. John never said much. He sat around reading a foreign policy magazine given the wonkiness of his personality. We did quiz him about the Paris 1919 album. He told us that Little Feat was the backing band for the record. Which you might find interesting! The Sic F-cks were accustomed to getting drunk in order to play, so at one point I suggested that we get a case of beer in order to "lubricate" things. He handed me a $20 bill. The masters were left in the hands of the studio and when Sundragon went out of business in the 1990-2000 range, they were lost. John Cale might have a copy of it, but I doubt it."
Producing Harry Toledo & The Rockets
Produces an EP for NY punk band Harry Toledo & The Rockets. Four tracks:
- Busted Chevrolet
- Yo-Ho
- Who Is That Saving Me
- John Glenn
Released on Cale's label Spy Records. Who Is That Saving Me is included on the Conflict & Catalysis: Productions & Arrangements 1966-2006 compilation album (2012).
Disco Clone
Release of the single Disco Clone. Limited edition of 1500 copies. The A-side contains the English version, the B-side is in French. Cale is listed as producer, though he doesn't remember doing it. The artist who is not listed on the single, is Christina Monet-Palaci, who was romantically involved with Michael Zilkha, co-founder of Ze Records.
Included on the Conflict & Catalysis: Productions & Arrangements 1966-2006 compilation album (2012).
Producing Squeeze
Produces the self-titled Squeeze album. Cale suggested the London based New Wave band that the album be called Gay Guys. The band's songwriter Chris Difford remembers:
"We didn't really turn the corner into the Velvet Underground world until John Cale produced our first album, He would say to me, "Your lyrics are too sweet, Chris. Why not write a song about being whipped? Or being sexually harassed by a prostitute?" But 1 said "That hasn't happened to me yet!" So he told me to use my imagination. And that was fantastic, to be told I could use my imagination like that He told me to think about what goes through a muscleman's mind before he goes onstage, getting all vibed up, covering himself in oil, taking all these drugs. So, I went home and wrote a song that depicted that. It was a childhood dream that I never thought would come true, to work with one of the Velvet Underground. Our manager Miles Copeland had an agency, and John Cale was signed to it, so we asked him to produce the album. This was the time when he was biting the heads off chickens onstage in Croydon. He came down to the studio to listen to our songs, and I can't say we got on very well at the start. He really didn't like our music and wanted to completely change what we'd done. The twenty-four pop songs we'd recorded for our first album, he dumped them all and made us start again. So we had songs with whipping in the background, a song called "Sex Master." We were young guys making our first album, and it was frightening."
Note: the band named themselves after the "fifth" Velvet Underground album, which was basically a Doug Yule solo thing, with Deep Purple's Ian Paice on drums. The name UK Squeeze was used in the USA and Canada to avoid confusion with the American rock band Tight Squeeze.
The track Sex Master is included on the Conflict & Catalysis: Productions & Arrangements 1966-2006 compilation album (2012).
Tom Wilson dies
Tom Wilson, who produced Sunday Morning from The Velvet Underground and Nico album (he was the de facto producer of the full album, according to Cale) and White Light/White Heat, dies from a heart attack in Los Angeles on September 6th. He was 47.
He also worked with Bob Dylan (he produced his recording of Like a Rolling Stone in 1965), the Mothers of Invention, Sun Ra, and Simon and Garfunkel.
Julie Covington
Cale plays piano and clavinet on four songs on English singer Julie Covington's self-titled debut album: (I Want To See The) Bright Lights, By The Time It Gets Dark, How and The Kick Inside. He had already played keyboards on the Only Women Bleed single (1977). This is included on the expanded CD-reissue Julie Covington ... plus (2009).
Music For Films
Plays viola on one track, Patrolling Wire Border, of Brian Eno's Music For Films album.
Marie et Les Garçons single
Produces and plays marimba on the Re-Bop b/w Attitudes (on which he plays piano) by French new wave band Marie et Les Garçons, a single Released on Cale's label Spy Records.
Re-Bop is included on the Conflict & Catalysis: Productions & Arrangements 1966-2006 compilation album (2012).
Producing David Kubinec
Produces and plays keyboards on Some Things Never Change, an album by English singer and keyboardist David Kubinec.
Genya Ravan covers "Darling I Need You"
American rock singer Genya Ravan covers Darling I Need You on her Urban Desire album. This LP also contains a duet with Lou Reed: Aye Co'Lorado.
Jamming with Chris Spedding & The Wildcats
Joins Chris Spedding & The Wildcats on stage for two shows at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY - October 3. Performs Pablo Picasso > Mary Lou > Baby, What You Want Me To Do? during the early show and a loose jam called John's Blues during the late show. This show is the source for the expanded version of the John Cale & Friends bootleg CD.