John Cale - New York in the 1960s '2006

Tracks list

 Although all of the recordings on this three-CD box set had been previously
released on other Table of the Elements discs, this brings together most of the
avant-garde (i.e. non-rock, non-Velvet Underground) 1960s performances in which
John Cale was involved that have been commercially issued. Disc one is identical
to the material issued on New York in the 1960s, Vol. 1: Sun Blindness Music;
disc two identical to the compilation Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. 2: Dream
Interpretation; and disc three the same as Inside the Dream Syndicate, Vol. 3:
Stainless Steel Gamelan, with the addition of two bonus tracks (on which Cale
also participates) originally issued on the Jack Smith compilations Les Evening
Gowns Damnees and Silent Shadows on Cinemaroc Island. Some of the cuts date back
as far as the early 60s, and one is as late as February 1969. While this
material is of enormous historic value for its insights into both early
minimalism and the early recording career of Cale, it should be cautioned that
most rock listeners -- even most Velvet Underground fans -- will find this hard
going, and not much like even the most extreme Velvet Underground
improvisations. None of the selections approach rock songs, or conventional
songs of any sort, in structure; theres no singing. Cales solo performances on
organ, piano, guitar, and electronics are avant-garde/minimal in the extreme,
taking exploration of dense droning, shrieking, distortion, and repetitive
cyclical motifs to the limits. The droning viola that Cale employed in Velvet
Underground pieces such as Venus in Furs also comes into play on some pieces,
including some on which his viola is accompanied by Tony Conrads violin. Of more
interest to Velvet Underground fans, perhaps, is the presence of Velvet
Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison on a couple of tracks, as well as
original Velvets drummer Angus MacLise on a couple others. If you have the taste
for this stuff, however, it certainly demonstrates Cales appetites for probing
the outer edges of music in a variety of contexts. The packaging, too, is
elaborate, including a booklet with detailed liner notes, handsomely cased
within a foreboding black box. 
:: TRACKLIST ::

Disc: 1 - Sun Blindness Music 
 1. Sun Blindness Music, for organ
 2. Summer Heat, for guitar
 3. The Second Fortress, for vox organ

Disc: 2 - Dream Interpretation: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume II 
 1. Dream Interpretation, for viola & violin
 2. Ex-Cathedra, for vox organ
 3. Carousel, for synthesizer
 4. A Midnight Rain of Green Wrens at the Worlds Tallest Building, for viola
 5. Hot Scoria, for guitar & cimbalom

Disc: 3 - Stainless Gamelan: Inside The Dream Syndicate Volume III 
 1. Stainless Steel Gamelan, cembalet & fretless guitar
 2. At About This Time Mozart Was Dead And Joseph Conrad Was Sailing the Se
 3. Terrys Cha-Cha, for ensemble
 4. After The Locust, for electric piano & thunder machine
 5. Big Apple Express, for viola, tape & voice
 6. Cold Starry Nights, for voice, sarinda & bowed cembalom
 7. Silent Shadows on Cinemaroc Island, for ensemble

Personnel
 John Cale – viola, organ, piano, electric piano, guitar, electronics,
cembalet
 Sterling Morrison – guitar
 Angus MacLise – cimbalom, tambourine, percussion
 Terry Jennings – soprano saxophone
 Tony Conrad – violin
 Jack Smith – voices
 New York Fire Department – voices

3 CDs in a black wooden boxed set reissuing the three volumes of the John Cale -
Inside The Dream Syndicate series and the 5 LP reissue originally released as
CDs on Table Of The Elements in 2001 Sun Blindness Music (CD 1), Dream
Interpretation (CD 2) and Stainless Gamelan (CD 3). Plus two titles by Jack
Smith from Les Evening Gowns Damnées and Silent Shadows On Cinemaroc Island

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