Posted on Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:22 AM
John Cale on TV friday, March 2 on the UK's BBC4 TV Channel; 10:15 pm.
Re-broadcast of the BBC FOUR Sessions LSO St Luke's in London's East End.
Taped october 26, 2003. First broadcasted december 9, 2003.
- Ship of Fools
- Paris 1919
- Things
- Magritte
- Cable Hogue
- Close Watch
- Thoughtless Kind
- Venus in Furs
- Over Her Head
- Caravan
- Archimedes
- Fear Is A Man's Best Friend
- Hallelujah
(Thanks: Philip)
Feedback
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/25/2007 2:21 PM by
One of the worst Cale shows i ever witnessed. The show has been edited in both length and running orderand was in two parts hence Cale's a costume...the concert was free admission on a Sunday afternoon and the hall/church was still only half-full!
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/26/2007 11:34 AM by
Oh - I quite liked it as a TV show!
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/26/2007 12:33 PM by
Shame on the British public. And Bryan Ferry gets a full house!
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/26/2007 11:34 PM by
i've heard a few reports like Gary, saying the show was really poor live. on the TV version though, I thought it was okay. in fact magritte was fantastic, as were close watch and hallelujah. it's a shame, though, that a really cracking cale performance has never been captured on an official live dvd.
on the issue of live performances, am i alone in thinking that the long-deleted John Cale Comes Alive LP (minus the two studio tracks) is an overlooked work of genius? it surely includes the best versions of leaving it up to you, chinese envoy and heartbreak hotel that he has recorded to date?
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/27/2007 8:20 AM by
Comes Alive IS an overlooked gem - Cale has many of these! But the version of HH on Circus is pretty magnificent, as are all the tracks in the Amsterdam section of the disc - makes me sorry they didn't release the whole set!
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/27/2007 9:43 AM by
Kaggsy - If you have a mini-disc or some other means of recording music directly from your computer's heaphone socket, you can record the whole show which is streamed from:
http://www.fabchannel.com/john_cale
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/27/2007 12:02 PM by
Thanks Gspen - I'm also trying out some capture software to actually save the whole show to my PC! (shhhhh!)
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
2/27/2007 2:18 PM by
Awful evening. Had a good laugh though! Best thing was Tim Mitchell signing my Sedition and Alchemy.
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/2/2007 9:16 PM by
KennethTheMenneth if its the hardback version...suggest you sell it to Cale 'cos the copy he got from the publisher was damaged. Guess that's why he screamed so much at the end of "Fear" during this gig. All screaming of course ended up on the cutting room floor so help yourself.....
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/3/2007 5:35 PM by
GarryTheGrouch! How the devil are you? Have just had HenriTheHernia sorted out in hospital. Tell JohnTheBomb “Oggy! oggy! oggy!” from his family back home in the Land of Our Fathers. Tell him he’s more than welcome to my Sedition hardback.
I can’t bear to watch the St Luke’s show.
Question: “How do you know when a viola’s being played out of tune?”
Answer: “When the bow is moving.”
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/5/2007 11:59 PM by
guys, guys, guys... was it really so bad? it looks okay on the DVD, and really warms up towards the end. the performances sound on a par with the current live CD to me. what was so bad about it on the night. does the DVD dress up the sound and the performance? did the audience get splattered with headless chickens? what's the deal?
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/6/2007 11:25 AM by
Ha ha ha! fraser the razor – the headless chicken incident at The Greyhound in Croydon, eh. Had it been the headless body of Tony Blair tossed into the smug crowd of BBC employees who dominated the small audience, and who, I wouldn’t mind betting, had never even heard of John Cale, but were simply there in the hope of getting their faces on the TV; it ‘still’ wouldn’t have generated a vibe. Sadly for me, the St Luke’s incident was hopelessly staged; devoid of life; and all in all: a squirm time.
Having remembered this, I’m now off to fish out the video to see how it plays today.
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/9/2007 10:38 PM by
Did you check out the DVD again Kenneth? I watched a bit and, after your description of the audience, it did give it a new and rather distrurbing perspective. There were some right smug looking charlies at the front! Still rate the version of Magritte though.
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/10/2007 4:30 PM by
Well, I’ll be doggone. You know FraserTheRazor, it ain’t bad at all. The years must have surely mellowed me. Seven years off booze and speed, eh. Seven years since my last smoke and line of Charlie. Hmm. And I’ve figured out the real reason why I couldn’t bear to watch the video. It was seeing myself, albeit very briefly, as the tall goof in glasses in front of the stage, clapping and nodding away like a Mr Nutty Speedfreak after Cale finishes Thoughtless Kind.
I’ve just watched the video. . .
1. Ship of Fools – Yes! enjoyable.
2. Paris 1919 – Same here.
3. Things – Prefer it livlier.
4. Magritte – Excellent! The cello is beautiful. Great songwriting!
5. Cable Hogue – Yes! Brilliant! The voice is right there. Nice guitar accompaniment, and the bass is always spot on. Nice ending.
6. Close Watch – Beautiful! Great piano sound on his Kurzweil PC88 keyboard.
7. Thoughtless Kind – Yep! A relaxed and a fine version. No problems.
[TAKE A BREAK.]
8. Venus in Furs – Fine! Viola out of tune. But only really noticeable when drawing out the long notes. Sings it great!
9. Over Her Head – Very nice. Good sound all round. The strings are superb! Dramatic with nice effects. Some smooth ‘bottleneck’ guitar sympathetically played, eh.
10. Caravan – The extra slow version. Wow! but isn’t it a joy when the backing singers start singing. Nice piano playing, too. All very nicely held together this one.
11. Archimedes – Yeah, excellent this one. Difficult one live this. Cale’s,
“there’s been something rattling in the closet, trying to get out” really clicked with a “Doo-wup-doo-oooing” couple of us in the front row!
12. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend – Piano and voice are brilliant! No problems. Scream’s fine.
13. Hallelujah – Simply beautiful. Strings are sublime and the backing singers are gorgeous. Love it! And the perfectly drawn out end.
Yes! it was most enjoyable to watch!!!
# re: John Cale: LSO St Luke's 2003 show on BBC FOUR
3/11/2007 2:03 AM by
Flippin 'eck Kenneth, you make it sound so good I'm going to have to dust down the DVD again myself! I'll look out for the you as well. Times change eh? I bet there are a few public performances Mr Cale is haunted by but that's life. Better to have something to regret than nothing to reflect on at all. Your 'liner' notes are spot on as well. For instance, when those backing singers on Caravan chime in, it really hits the spot. More power to yoiur elbow!