WORDS FOR THE DYING

Whenever it gets pointed out that John Cale is a bona fide classical composer who has somehow "chosen" to be a rock musician, my heart skips a beat, for I have seen little evidence of Cale's compositional gifts. I could be mistaken. If Cale personally wrote all the orchestral arrangements for albums like PARIS 1919, SLOW DAZZLE and HELEN OF TROY, I'll gladly eat my words, since that would mean he's almost as gifted an arranger as Bob Ezrin or Randy Newman. I must also admit Cale is a marvellous viola player, not just on his own albums (sporadically, at least) but also (just as sporadically) for Nico and Eno. Finally, I'll admit I've never heard any of the actual soundtracks that are listed under Cale's name. It's entirely possible some of these consist of lush orchestral scores, but somehow I doubt it. I once went to see an Andy Warhol film (FLESH or TRASH or some such), and as soon as it started the words MUSIC BY JOHN CALE appeared on the screen and all the Cale freaks in the (student) audience roared. Unfortunately, the film featured no music whatsoever, at least not until the final credits started to roll!

If there's one album which confirms my suspicion Cale can't be much of a composer, it's WORDS FOR THE DYING. (Now don't get upset, I know Cale is a superb ROCKER!) When this was first released, it was hailed in the rock press (not in the classical music press) as a masterpiece worthy of Brahms or Benjamin Britten. Well, let me disabuse you: there are no tunes here worth speaking of, the orchestra sounds chaotic and uninspired, and worst of all Cale (who can be such an amazingly sensitive vocalist) gives the impression he does not even understand the Dylan Thomas poems he has chosen to set to music. No, this is clearly a dud of the same magnitude as Deep Purple's CONCERTO FOR ROCK GROUP AND ORCHESTRA, and unfortunately there aren't even any Ritchie Blackmore solos to tempt you. The two brief "Songs Without Words" (i.e. piano solo pieces) Cale has attached to his suite are also devoid of interest. Only "The Soul of Carmen Miranda" (a simple electronic pop song, featuring Eno on synth) is Cale at his near-best.