Dok (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cyberinsekt) wrote,@ 2007-10-17 11:02:00 |
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Lou Reed & John Cale - Smalltown
At the time of Andy Warhol's death in 1987, he was perhaps the most famous artist in the world. He wasn't famous for being a good artist, and he wasn't famous for being a bad artist. He was simply famous for being Andy Warhol, the effete albino in the wig. He'd finally turned himself into a brand, a symbol of reliability. You knew what you were getting with Warhol, and he delivered the product right until the end. Bless him.
Three years later, the shockwaves from his death were still rippling. Lou Reed and John Cale, who for much of the previous twenty years had wanted nothing so much as to punch each other in the face, collaborated for the first time since White Light/White Heat. The result was the album Songs for Drella, Drella being Warhol's Factory nickname, a portmanteau of Dracula and Cinderella. It seems a gruesomely apt name, the spoilt princess who sucks the life out of everyone she meets. Yet it's clear that, at least with Cale and Reed, that they have genuine affection for their dead friend.
Songs for Drella can be a painful album to listen to. At times it seems as if they're still competing against each other, seeing who can be the most emotionally honest. It's a record that can slug you right in the guts if you're in the wrong mood. Here's the opening track, which is light on emotional trauma but high on the small-but-perfect scale. Smalltown, with Reed on vocals and Cale on keyboards, is a light but beautifully observed picture of the narrow horizoned world of Warhol's youth.
In the end, Drella wasn't able to fix the situation between Cale and Reed. They were briefly able to bring The Velvet Underground together again for a while, but in the end Cale's overwhelming desire to punch Reed in the face became too much.
Lou Reed & John Cale - Smalltown
At the time of Andy Warhol's death in 1987, he was perhaps the most famous artist in the world. He wasn't famous for being a good artist, and he wasn't famous for being a bad artist. He was simply famous for being Andy Warhol, the effete albino in the wig. He'd finally turned himself into a brand, a symbol of reliability. You knew what you were getting with Warhol, and he delivered the product right until the end. Bless him.
Three years later, the shockwaves from his death were still rippling. Lou Reed and John Cale, who for much of the previous twenty years had wanted nothing so much as to punch each other in the face, collaborated for the first time since White Light/White Heat. The result was the album Songs for Drella, Drella being Warhol's Factory nickname, a portmanteau of Dracula and Cinderella. It seems a gruesomely apt name, the spoilt princess who sucks the life out of everyone she meets. Yet it's clear that, at least with Cale and Reed, that they have genuine affection for their dead friend.
Songs for Drella can be a painful album to listen to. At times it seems as if they're still competing against each other, seeing who can be the most emotionally honest. It's a record that can slug you right in the guts if you're in the wrong mood. Here's the opening track, which is light on emotional trauma but high on the small-but-perfect scale. Smalltown, with Reed on vocals and Cale on keyboards, is a light but beautifully observed picture of the narrow horizoned world of Warhol's youth.
In the end, Drella wasn't able to fix the situation between Cale and Reed. They were briefly able to bring The Velvet Underground together again for a while, but in the end Cale's overwhelming desire to punch Reed in the face became too much.
Lou Reed & John Cale - Smalltown
