I really had a bad reputation for not doing the same things twice, and really with a vengeance. People would be like, “is that song?” It’s nice now to get people to expect that. I think I’ve worn a groove there that you don’t know quite what it’s going to be. But for me, I can’t go on the road and do the same things all the time. Drives me nuts."John Cale
Timeline: 1984
Caribbean Sunset
The Caribbean Sunset album is released in January. With the exception of Experiment Number 1, all songs are co-writes, most of them with his guitarist David Young and two with writer Larry Sloman.
"The songs on Caribbean Sunset are pretty tight. Model Beirut Recital is sort of idiosyncratic. It sort of lurches along well-intentionally...the worst thing about the album is that some of the songs might sound cute. Maybe I'm a balladeer and not a rock'n'roller.
Like Music for a New Society this one was improvised too, except for Damn Life.... you just sit down and turn the machine on and off you go. Bob's your uncle. If you're lucky you're lucky.... it's lighter than Society, closer to the pop textures of Slow Dazzle.... so all of them were done like that. All you had at the end was a dismembered texture, you didn't have like a basic at all. It all evaporated into different.... one part would have nothing to do with another. Model Beirut Recital is a pretty considered effort to deal with an obnoxious subject in a passionate, sympathetic way. That laconic edge had to be there. Singing with an Arab accent, poking fun at it....Villa Albani is about financing arms deals through the Vatican.... I'm more direct because i have more fun doing it.... Praetorian Underground is a pretty angry kinda song about the Velvet Underground copyists....""
This album was never released on CD. An expanded reissue was shelved for reasons unknown in 2001
Villa Albani maxi single
Villa Albani is released as a 12" maxi single, with the instrumental version and Hungry For Love on the B-side.
German TV "Musik Convoy" appearances
He appears twice on the German TV show Musik Convoy. A lip-sync performance in Zülpich of Hungry For Love on January 30, 1984 and a solo live performance of Fear Is A Man's Best Friend in Warburg, Germany for the German TV show Musik Convoy on September 24, 1984.
A re-release of this album was planned for 2001, including the instrumental version of Villa Albani and She Never Took No For An Answer (which can be found on the Sid & Nancy soundtrack), but this was cancelled for unknown reasons.
Ooh La La single
The stand-alone single Ooh La La, co-written with Larry Sloman, is released in September. It contains "skipping". Magazines from the Caribbean Sunset album is on the B-side, It fails to chart.
Comes Alive
Release of Comes Alive, recorded at The Lyceum, London - February 26, 1984. Contains two studio tracks: Ooh La La (another version than the single) and Never Give Up On You.
This album was never released on CD. One of the album's tracks, I'm Waiting For The Man (listed as Waiting For The Man on the album), can be found on the Seducing Down The Door compilation.
VU
Cale plays on two tracks of VU, an album with Velvet Underground outtakes:
- Stephanie Says (viola, celesta, backing vocals)
- Temptation Inside Your Heart (bass, backing vocals)
Both tracks were recorded in February 1968 at A&R Studios in New York. This is not the so-called lost Velvets album, although a lot of cricics thought so. They fell for the marketing ploy of the record company.
Producing Gene Loves Jezebel
In October Cale is in the studio with the British new wave band Gene Loves Jezebel. These sessions remain unreleased. They were his opening act during a tour in the UK.
Second Rockpalast concert
Cale is one the performing artists on October 14 in Essen at the Grugahalle for the long running Rockpalast series, live concerts filmed by German television. He performs with the 1984 touring band.
The concert has been re-broadcasted many times and was widely bootlegged before finally getting an official release in 2010 as part of the Live At Rockpalast set.
» 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
