John Cale, Venus in Furs.

So this is happening:

I’ve seen him live a few times already but my love for his music knows no boundaries. I often wonder why Lou Reed gets so much praise while Cale is often relegated to a secondary role in music history. His musical talent far exceeds the usual rock fare. The guy played the 18 hour Eric Satie concert with John Cage! I mean, that is far beyond rock history and it is straight out of music with capital M history.

Contrast this version of Venus in Furs with Reed’s solo version. This doesn’t mean I hate Lou Reed or that I think he is without talent or any such nonsense. It’s just that I often wonder why he gets so much attention while Cale doesn’t. Moreover, whenever I’ve seen him live, and he plays stuff he co-authored during his Velvet Underground days, I’ve also seen the seeds of genres that would only become mainstream 20+ years after those songs were made. I am specifically thinking of the style that would be picked up by Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie, etc. I strongly suspect that it was Cale who planted the seed of that desperate, dark music. Cale and his viola.

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