PARIS 1919

After a number of experimental works, John Cale released this critically acclaimed classic rock album. Being quite familiar with his late 70's / early 80's albums, I had thought this would be the one to get so I picked up a copy of it. Luckily it was a cheap second-hand, because in the 20 years since, the classic status of this album has only grown to amaze me.

Paris 1919 is a very short collection of old & dusted 70's pop music, containing stuffy ballads and tame rock in woolly arrangements. It doesn't contain one song or idea that manages to catch my attention for even the smallest bit of a second. In a cynical sort of way, the album has only proven to be relevant to me for making me understand how truly stellar and amazing progressive rock must have sounded compared to this type of languid mainstream music.

This album is from 1973, from when progressive rock was around its peak, but the difference in sound, composition, arrangement, musical ideas and even energy is so huge that it seems to come from another century. It's quite unbelievable that such a meek pastoral album comes from the guy who was one of the brains behind Velvet Undergound. Only the closing track Antarctica Starts Here stands out a bit with its whispered vocals and dreamy atmosphere.

I guess that it is a competent work for this style of music so I won't give one star, but for me this is as far from interesting music, art rock, progressive rock or any of its digressions as can be. From the John Cale albums that I own, it's easily the most uninteresting and lifeless one. It's not even an album really, it's an EP.