Timeline: 2025
Adam Miller dies
American singer and chorister Adam Miller, who did the vocals for The Soul Of Patrick Lee on the Church of Anthrax album, dies on February 4 in Frederick, Maryland. He was 77. He also provided backing vocals on the Cale produced Nico album Desertshore in 1970.
Paris 1919 book
Historian & writer Mark Doyle publishes his book about Paris 1919 on February 6. He did not love the album immediately:
As 2006 became 2007, somewhat to my surprise, I also began putting Paris 1919 on again and again. It became my default album, the one I'd play between other albums. The thing about most other music I liked during those years (think Silver Jews, Sufjan Stevens, New Pornographers, and TV on the Radio) was that, however great it was, it couldn't withstand constant repetition. You'd ruin it through overfamiliarity, like a joke told too often, so you had to dole it out slowly. But Paris 1919 never got old. I kept playing it and playing it, and it got stranger by the month.
It came to haunt me, this album-to haunt me and to mystify me. Even today, having played it a million times and sliced it frontways and backways and all other ways in order to write this book, I could listen to it again, right now, and find something new. I know other fans who feel the same way. This book is for them, but it is also for people who were like I was in 2006, impatient and slightly put off by the slick surface of the thing, confused as to how the guy who scraped his fingernails across the first two Velvet Underground albums could create something so warm and comfortable. Maybe, too, it is for the young John Cale himself, who began distancing himself from the album not long after it came out. In a 1974 interview, he called it "a bit too arty... a bit too much on the cultural side." The next album, he promised, would be better. "I don't want to make Procol Harum records."
The liner notes always credited the U.C.L.A. Orchestra as being players on the album, but orchestral manager Joel Druckman goes on record saying that it was in fact the orchestra from the University of South California.
"You Know More Than I Know" on David Hepworth's "More Deep 70s"
You Know More Than I Know is included on More Deep 70s (Undiscovered Jewels From Music's Most Action-Packed Decade) 4CD set compiled by English music journalist David Hepworth, who also wrote the liner notes.
The set is released on February 21 as an Amazon exclusive edition with a signed postcard.
"All To The Good" video
On February 24 All To The Good is released as the fourth single from the POPtical Illusion album. The promo video was directed by Abigail Portner.
No doubt this world is really f^#%ed up right now - let's make sure we leave a crack in the void. xxjc
Poptical Illusion '25 tour
In February, March and April he is on the road in Europe for the Poptical Illusion '25 tour, with shows in France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, UK and Ireland. Four shows in Germany were rescheduled on doctor's orders. He had to rest his voice.
He goes down under for two shows in Australia in July, with Deantoni Parks replacing Alex Thomas.
New song "Long Way Out Of Pain" in Rouen
During the first show of the tour, on February 25 in Rouen, he debuts a new song: Long Way Out of Pain . He plays it on most dates of the tour. A studio version can be found on the MiXology (volume 1) album.
"Shark-Shark" on Everybody's Live With John Mulaney
Cale is one of the musical guests on the Everybody's Live With John Mulaney show on April 30 at Sunset and Gower Studios in Los Angeles, performing Shark-Shark with his band and American singer Maggie Rogers.
They discussed having dental surgery with the host, before they hit the stage.
On May 5th they posted a video of them playing Barracuda recorded after the show's broadcast ended.
MiXology (volume 1)
On May 2 the MiXology (volume 1) album hits the streaming services. Vinyl (500 copies) and CD versions are released via Domino Records on August 8.
It is a companion piece for his Mercy and POPtical Illusion albums, with remixes and a few tracks that did not the make the cut for those albums. Of particular interest is the inclusion of Long Way Out of Pain, a new song that was played during his European tour this year. Note: a different mix of Invention of Language can also be found as a bonus track on the Japanese CD version of POPtical Illusion.
Studio Sparks made a video for Long Way Out of Pain, using elements of artwork by Abby Portner, Bjorn Copeland & design by Rob Carmichael, SEEN.
"Barracuda" in Poker Face
Barracuda is used as the closing song in Whack-A-Mole, episode 3 of the second season of Poker Face, an American murder mystery TV show, aired on May 8.
"Paris 1919" in Hacks
Paris 1919 is used in Mrs. Table, episode 6 of season 4 of the American comedy show Hacks, aired on May 8.
"Slip Away", "Spinning Away", "Lay My Love" and "Big White Cloud" in The Bear
Someone at the offices of FX on Hulu is into Cale (and Eno and Lou Reed) big time. The fourth season of The Bear, a series about a fine-dining restaurant in Chicago, uses the following tracks:
- Spinning Away in Episode 4 "Violet"
- Slip Away (A Warning) in Episode 5 "Replicants"
- Lay My Love in Episode 8 "Bolognese"
- Big White Cloud in Episode 10 "Forever"
Svaj cover "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend"
Swedish industrial duo Svaj cover Fear Is A Man's Best Friend on their Maggots album.
Brian Wilson dies
On June 11 Brian Wilson dies, aged 82. The Beach Boys resident genius was one of his all-time musical heroes. He was the inspiration for Mr. Wilson. In 1974 he recorded an unreleased cover of God Only Knows with the St. Paul's Cathedral Boys Choir.
"To me, Brian Wilson was not merely about surf music, rather a true musical genius toiling away at melding POP into startling sophistication. He will be missed mightily."
"You Know More Than I Know" in Too Much
A short instrumental bit of You Know More Than I Know is used in Pity Woman, episode 2 of the comedy series Too Much, which debuted on Netflix on July 10.
"Church of Anthrax" in Terry Riley box set
Church of Anthrax, the album he made with American avant-garde composer Terry Riley in 1971, is part of The Columbia Recordings box set that collects all four albums that Riley made for Columbia Masterworks: In C (1968); A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969); Church of Anthrax; and Shri Camel (1980). The set is released on August 22.
Cale has shed some light on the recordings in the past:
"Anthrax was three days in the studio with Terry Riley. John McClure was head of Columbia Masterworks at the time, and he wanted to expand the classical music line. It was not doing as well as rock and he wanted to get in on the action. We had Bobby Colomby from Blood, Sweat and Tears and Bobby Gregg from Dylan and the Hawks on drums. Adam Miller, who sang on 'Patrick Lee', was a friend of mine, a songwriter who worked mostly on commercials.
Anthrax was just an improvised gig with Terry. He got disillusioned I think, in the middle of mixing. It turned into a real mixing album. A lot of hard work went into that album but Terry felt he was being obscured. He wasn't being obscured, it was just that we'd put on so many organ tracks. To pick out a particular instrument was very difficult, so you couldn't bring him out anymore without bringing out the other instruments and making it imbalanced. He felt we were out to gang up on him, which wasn't true. As a rule he's very easy to get along with---charming, very quiet, very stable. He wants to do another album, so we're trying to set it up."
"Ride" on Cate Le Bon's "Michelangelo Dying"
Contributes vocals to Ride, a track on the Michelangelo Dying album by Welsh musician Cate Le Bon, released on September 26.
"She's got this vocal phrasing that's awkward in the best way. The voice is beautiful but her delivery is what opens her up to everything."
They performed together at the John Cale (2018-1964): A Futurespective shows in Paris, a 3-night stand at the Philharmonie de Paris (September 23, 24 & 25, 2019).
"Steam on Glass – evolving sound clouds" in New York
On November 2 he performs at the Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center in New York. The show is billed as Steam on Glass – evolving sound clouds as part of the Unsound Festival. The band is joined by a gospel choir.
A supposedly improv section called Hold a Chord and Sing and Barracuda were on the setlist, but were not played.
"House" with Charli xcx
On November 10 House, a track with British singer-songwriter Charli xcx, is released. She reached out to him to hear his opinions about the songs she wrote for the soundtrack for the remake of Wuthering Heights, which will be in theatres in February 2026.
The seeds for this collaboration were sowe when she heard Cale say that "any song has to be both elegant and brutal" in The Velvet Underground documentary. One of her tracks clicked:
"Of course I was curious when Charli reached out about working together... I thought, what could she possibly want from me?!?! I learned straight away - she's laser focused and ready to challenge expectations - perfect jumping off point.
When I heard the music, my first thought was - no one will expect this - let's do it! Collaborating with Charli was effortless - work fast, stay in the moment, embrace the peculiarities!"
"We started talking specifically about House. We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was... well, it made me cry."
The video was directed by Mitch Ryan.