Timeline: 2020
The Stooges John Cale mix
On April 20 Cale's mix of The Stooges album is released as an LP for the first time through Vinyl Me Please. The run of 15000 copies sells out very fast.
Dan Toren covers "Buffalo Ballet"
Israeli musician Dan Toren covers Buffalo Ballet. He translated the lyrics into Hebrew.
Spoken word for Kelly Lee Owens
London based singer Kelly Lee Owens reaches out to John Cale to come up with the vocals for her pulsating electronics composition Corner Of My Sky, a single from her Inner Song album, out via Smalltown Supersound on August 28. He comes up with a haunting spoken word piece, delivered in English and Welsh. It can be considered as a sort of follow-up for this guest spot on The Insult on the Trash Palace album Positions.
"It's not usually this immediate that a productive afternoon brings a satisfying conclusion to a task. I met Kelly a while back when working on a song for my album in London, and was intrigued by the possibility of a future collaboration - maybe even something in Welsh. Several months later Kelly popped up and timing worked out. She sent me a track she'd written -an instrumental that was a gentle drift - something comfortably familiar to what I'd been working on myself. On the first listen - the lyrics came with ease and a chorus and melody grew out of it . Even the Welsh phrases seemed to develop from a place of reflective memory which was a surprise since I hadn't written in Welsh for decades. Once finished, I realized there existed a built-in thread we'd created together and apart - and her kind spirit pulled it all together and in quick order."
Kelly Lee Owens on the collaboration:
"I knew with this album I needed to connect with my roots & therefore having the welsh language featured on the record felt very important to me. Once the music for the track was written and the sounds were formed, I could immediately hear John's voice on it. Working with him had always been a dream of mine and so I sent the track straight to him & asked if he could perhaps delve into his Welsh heritage & tell the story of the land via spoken-word, poetry & song.
What he sent back was nothing short of phenomenal and I knew exactly how to arrange it. The arrangement was done during the mixing process & once I'd finished the track, I cried - firstly feeling incredibly lucky to have collaborated with John & his eternal talent & secondly for both of us to have been able to connect to our homeland in this way."
Wrong Way Up reissue
The Wrong Way Up album is reissued once again.
Unlike the 2005 reissue the original cover art was used. Comes with a booklet with an interview with Brian Eno. Two bonus tracks worldwide:
- Grandfather's House
- Palanquin
Lazy Day
He releases a new single, Lazy Day, on October 6th, his first new music since the release of M:FANS in 2016.
"I was so ready to finally get my new album out; fits and starts and then damn 2020 happened! A lot to say in these times. "Context is everything and 140 characters isn't going to cut it! As a songwriter my truth is all tied-up in and through those songs that must wait a while longer.
It occurred to me that I do have something for the moment, a song I'd recently complete. With the world careening out of its orbit I wanted to stop the lurch and enjoy a period where we can take our time and breathe our way back into a calmer world."
Abigail Portner created the promo video.
Songs for Drella reissue for Record Store Day
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Songs for Drella, the album reissued as a 45rpm 2LP for Record Store Day.
Originally slated for April 18 release, and then June 20, it becomes finally available on October 24. The album is pressed on audiophile, heavyweight vinyl and includes an etching of a portrait of Andy Warhol on Side 4. Limited to 8500 copies worldwide.
Andrew Bird covers "Andalucia"
American singer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird covers Andalucia on his Hark! album, a collection of holiday songs.
I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen book
Author and self-proclaimed cover afficionado Ray Padgett publishes his in-depth analysis of the I'm Your Fan album, the tribute that was released 1991, with Cale's rendition Hallelujah.
"Once Cale had selected "Hallelujah," he encountered an immediate problem: he didn't know the words. Living in America, he couldn't buy the album to learn them. So he went to the man himself. As producer Beauvallet recalls, Cale came to to the producers and asked, 'Do you think that Leonard Cohen would accept for me to cut off some of the lyrics to, you know, make it a bit lighter?' We said, 'Well, we can't answer that for him, but here is his telephone number.'"