Vintage Violence

Vintage Violence
Studio album by John Cale
Released 25 March 1970 (1970-03-25)
Genre Rock
Length 34:25
Label Columbia
Producer
John Cale chronology
Vintage Violence
(1970)		 Church of Anthrax
(1971)Church of Anthrax1971
Singles from Vintage Violence
  1. "Cleo"/"Fairweather Friend""
    Released: 1970
  2. "Big White Cloud"/"Gideon's Bible"
    Released: 1970

Vintage Violence is the debut solo studio album by Welsh musician John Cale, released on 25 March 1970 by Columbia Records. Cale and Lewis Merenstein produced the album.

Recording

Produced for a mere $15,000, Cale stated in his autobiography What's Welsh for Zen? that there wasn't "much originality on that album, it's just someone teaching himself to do something". He also "thought the songs were simplistic". He pieced together a band to play on the album, and they named themselves Penguin. However, the band didn't last beyond the recording sessions.[1]

Content

The cover of the album features Cale with his face obscured by a glass mask over a nylon stocking, which he would later cite in his autobiography as symbolic of the content of the record: "You're not really seeing the personality".[1]

Release

Vintage Violence was released on 25 March 1970 by record label Columbia.

The album was re-released in remastered form in 2001.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Robert ChristgauC+[3]
Rolling Stonefavourable[4]

Vintage Violence received mostly positive reviews. Rolling Stone magazine's Ed Ward said that the album sounds "like a Byrds album produced by Phil Spector who has marinated for six years in burgundy, anise and chili peppers". Ward was also quoted in Billboard magazine as saying, "I believe that this is destined to become one of the most important albums of the past few years."[4]

In his retrospective review, Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote: "John Cale had the strongest avant-garde credentials of anyone in The Velvet Underground, but he was also the Velvet whose solo career was the least strongly defined by his work with the band, and [...] Vintage Violence certainly bears this out."[2]

Track listing

All tracks written by John Cale, except where noted.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Hello, There"2:48
2."Gideon's Bible"3:22
3."Adelaide"2:18
4."Big White Cloud"3:31
5."Cleo"2:35
6."Please"4:19
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Charlemagne" 5:03
8."Bring It on Up" 2:24
9."Amsterdam" 3:14
10."Ghost Story" 3:48
11."Fairweather Friend"Garland Jeffreys2:32
Total length:34:25

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the Vintage Violence liner notes.[5]

Penguin

Production

References

  1. 1 2 Cale, John; Bockris, Victor (1999). What's Welsh for Zen. London: Bloomsbury. p. 123. ISBN 0 7475 3668 6.
  2. 1 2 Deming, Mark. "Vintage Violence – John Cale | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: John Cale". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 Ward, Ed (17 September 1970). "[Vintage Violence review]". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  5. ↑ Vintage Violence (CD booklet). John Cale. Columbia Records. 1970.
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