Timeline: 2003
Sedition and Alchemy - A Biography of John Cale
Aa new biography by Tim Mitchell: Sedition and Alchemy - A Biography of John Cale. Publisher Peter Owen simultaneously published a 500-copy edition hardcover of
Sedition and Alchemy. This includes a free CD contributed and signed by
John Cale containing an exclusive, previously unheard and commercially
unavailable song entitled Imitating Violin.
ISBN: 0720611326
£ 13.95 / € 25,64
Limited edition:
ISBN: 0 7206 1207 1
£ 25.00
Angus MacLise – The Cloud Doctrine
Four experimental recordings featuring Cale can be found on the Angus MacLise 2CD The Cloud Doctrine: Trance #1, Trance #2, Two Speed Trance, and Four Speed Trance. The tracks were recorded by Tony Conrad in New York in 1965. Cale plays guitar, viola and keyboards.
Back to Goldsmiths'
Cale revisits his old school Goldsmiths':
"I did go down to Goldsmiths and I thought my God nothing has changed. I mean the traffic is still shit. The way the whole convergence outside the building and everything else. The women’s dorm is gone which is a crying shame... I used to run upstairs up to the art department all the time. It was a lot of fun. They were all wearing mini skirts and you know, all the action was upstairs in the art department. I mean you’re around all these different kind of influences."
5 Tracks ep
In May the long wait for new Cale songs is finally over with the release of 5 Tracks Cale.
- Verses
- Waiting for Blonde
- Chums of Dumpty (we all are)
- E Is Missing
- Wilderness Approaching
Verses has a barely recognizable vocal track by Cale's daughter Eden.
On "Later With Jools Holland"
Performs Venus In Furs on the May 13 broadcast of Later With Jools Holland.
Cale Vs The Bees Vs Doctor Rockit
A special 12" single with four remixes of tracks:
A1 E Is Missing (The Bees Is Missing Mix)
A2 E Is Missing (The Bees Is Missing Instrumental)
B1 Chums Of Dumpty (Doctor Rockit's Blood Vocal)
B2 Chums Of Dumpty (Doctor Rockit's Blood Dub)
Bicycle 12" with Look Horizon remix
EMI puts out a 12" single of Bicycle (same version as on HoboSapiens) and the B side is Look Horizon (Zongamin Remix): Remix and Additional Production by Smukai @ House Of Zongamin For Burning Bridges Productions.
Fragments of a Rainy Season DVD
The live video of Fragments of a Rainy Season is re-released on DVD by two different companies for the Japanese, and European and North American market.
Includes a poorly designed biography with lots of mistakes.
Dal: Yma/Nawr (Still: Here/Now)
Cale plays piano and sings the traditional Welsh folks song Ar Lan y Môr (Beside the Sea) in the Marc Evans movie Dal: Yma/Nawr (Still: Here/Now).
HoboSapiens
A new "rock" album HoboSapiens is released in september. Among the tracks are Things (To Do in Denver When You're Dead) and Over Her Head, which were performed live on a regular basis in 2001. Other song titles: Twilight Zone, Margritte, Caravan, Reading Your Mind and Letter From Abroad.
The Japanese edition has three bonus tracks: Where The Creepyboyz Sing, Reading My Mind (Paisley Sound Remix), later included on the Perfect single), and a live version of Set Me Free.
EMI shelved a 31 minutes promo DVD for the album, directed by Grant Gee and edited by Jerry Chater. It is called JC-03 and contains footage of Cale recording tracks from the album and Imitating Violin, which eventually would be released as an autographed multimedia CD with the hardcover limited edition of Sedition and Alchemy.
During an in-store at Borders in Oxford (May 5, 2003) he answers questions (and has Cale reading the same review). He reads his Paranormal Bedtime Story (unpublished), accompanied by a drone. Coaches his band during tour rehearsals. The band is caught live at Glastonbury, playing Lament and Venus in Furs.
Bataclan
An official CD release of the legendary January 29, 1972 performance at the Bataclan in Paris with Lou Reed and Nico is released on october 20th. The shows has been bootlegged in abundance, but this official release does not contain the best sound. On the upside: the otherwise unavailable song Empty Bottles now finally released officially.
Also exists as a limited numbered edition and a 180 grams 2LP.
Venus in Furs at "Later with Jools Holland"
Plays E Is Missing and Venus In Furs on the October 31 broadcast of Later With Jools Holland.
John Cale In Session
A free concert at St. Luke's, London. Taped by BBC4 October 26. First broadcasted December 9, 2003. Rebroadcasted quite a few times.
Cale on Jools Holland DVD
Cale's live performance of I Wanna Be Around is included the Hootenanny DVD by Jools Holland. This was broadcasted by the BBC on December 31, 2002.
The studio version can be found on the Jools Holland album Small World Big Band released in 2001.