Who else but John Cale – or maybe the late Frank Zappa – would choose Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood as the title for his album? Cale – classical musician, avant-garde artist, punk rock progenitor, post-punk stylist and rock’n’roll impresario – is the iconoclast’s iconoclast. An artist for whom convention is nothing short of an annoyance, and an impediment to innate creative spirit.
So is it any good? As with any Cale creation, the first run through is only part of the story. The critical attribute, however, is Cale’s interest in electronic music. There’s a dose of Eno-infused funk in I Wanna Talk 2 U, and a Fame-era Bowie dance attitude in Scotland Yard. On Hemingway, Cale crowds in the shadows of the notorious literary figure, Cale’s Welsh brogue ideal for the narrative. Face to the Sky suffers from the ’80s production disease, saved only by the odd moment of Art of Noise clatter and clutter; on Nookie Wood Cale draws inspiration from the proto-rap artists of the New York ghettos. December Rains is a left-field dance track and Mary is a simple, but heartfelt love song.
There are the occasional moments when you sense Cale is playing more to himself than his audience: Vampire Cafe is tainted with self-indulgence, a stripped back early PiL event without Lydon’s obnoxious personality. You can dance to Mothra, but only on the right drugs, while Living With You is a soppy romantic song that wants to say something profound, but lacks the delivery and purpose. Midnight Feast throws back to ’70s – Cale in his most haunting guise; Sandman (Flying Dutchman) is the sound of a man playing with lush sonic textures like a kid with a new Lego set.
John Cale works on a higher plane than the rest of us – sometimes we encounter him on his orbit, other times he passes straight by. Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood is all of that, for better and worse.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: Nookie Wood
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC, GRANDMASTER FLASH, BRIAN ENO
In A Word: Welsh
