This is incredible. Last month in Paris, John Cale played the Velvet Underground & Nico album in its entirety, most definitely the first time any member of the Velvets has done anything of the sort. I hadn't heard of most of the guest artists except for Animal Collective but they do a fine job. Some of the songs are done pretty straightforward, some are radical reworkings, the latter which are hit and miss but still worth looking at. Still seeing John Cale who has never been one to really look into the past revisit VU songs is really something to see. An edited version of the performance (which reportedly omits some White Light/White Heat songs that were also played at the concert) is streaming here.
http://concert.arte.tv/fr/john-cale-and-guests-velvet-underground-nicoIt's highly unlikely but I wonder if Cale has considered taking this on tour in the US. I would buy tickets to that in a second.
Author
