the blog of Feb. 18, 2006

John Cale again?

What's this? Another John Cale album? That's what I thought when I saw "Black Acetate" in of all places the music store at the Gilroy outlet mall. It took him almost a decade to come out with "Hobo Sapiens", then in only a year or two this thing appears. I was suspicious, but the reviews were all pretty good.

It's hard to assess the album since it's still slowly growing on me, but my initial response is not bad, but not on par with "Hobo". "Acetate" seems more uneven. "Hobo" is uneven, but evenly uneven. On the new record, the track "Woman" sticks out as the best toward the end of the album. "Wasteland", the track after that, is also good. But I've had this CD for a month and I'm still digesting it -- a strange phenomenon, and not necessarily a good one.

When Mr. Gazpachot said he saw Mr. Cale perform at Amoeba in L.A., I bet he (Mr. Cale) was promoting this newer collection of strange songs.