John Cale’s favourite song by The Velvet Underground
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, The Velvet Underground traversed a sequence of significant phases illustrated by the progression of their albums. Their early work adhered to the more experimental end of proceedings and garnered little commercial attention, while the latter material was more commercially successful yet less seminal. The secret to the band’s early avant-garde exploration was the classically trained Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale.
Cale and chief songwriter Lou Reed were something of a dream team pairing. Reed brought in the evocative lyrics, oozing with hedonistic temptation, while Cale channelled a refreshing buzz of avant-garde oddity, usually wielding a viola or a range of heavily overdriven instruments.
Cale’s absence following The Velvet Underground’s second album, White Light/White Heat, is immediately apparent during a chronological sweep of the group’s immersive back catalogue. While the latter work was the band’s most commercially accessible, the Andy Warhol-directed first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico and White Light/White Heat, have stood the test of time as two of the most creatively influential releases of the 1960s.
Capturing the importance of influence over financial gain in music, Brian Eno used The Velvet Underground’s debut record as an example in a 1982 interview. “My reputation is far bigger than my sales,” he said. “I was talking to Lou Reed the other day, and he said that the first Velvet Underground record sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. Yet, that was an enormously important record for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band! So I console myself in thinking that some things generate their rewards in second-hand ways.”
In September 1968, Cale was dismissed by Reed before work started on the band’s eponymous third album. The controversial decision is often chalked up to Reed’s jealousy of Cale’s talent, but at the time, Reed insisted that he had become dissatisfied with Cale’s increasingly bizarre and experimental direction.
Throughout his subsequent solo career, Cale retained artistic integrity, always teetering on the fringes of commercial success. While he never became a rock ‘n’ roll superstar, Cale has built up an unparalleled legacy of sonic and lyrical exploration that will pervade many generations to come.
In 2004, Cale was invited to join the BBC for the classic radio show Desert Island Discs. During his conversation with host Sue Lawley, Cale picked out tracks by Bob Dylan, Elbow and Peter Gabriel as some of his favourites. But most interestingly, one of his selections was a song by his formative group.
After being asked to define The Velvet Underground’s sound, Cale jovially branded it as “painful, an amplified viola will clear a room faster than a stink bomb.” The musician then picked out 1969’s ‘Some Kinda Love’ for his next selection. Introducing the track, he said, “[guitarist] Sterling [Morrison] always said that this was one of Lou’s better lyrical efforts,” adding, “it’s very effective.”
Some of the more hubristic visitors to the BBC’s Desert Island Discs pick one of their own songs from time to time; however, Cale’s choice from The Velvet Underground was one from the 1969 eponymous album, in which he didn’t feature. Perhaps the Welshman would have chosen an earlier track like ‘Venus In Furs’ or ‘Sister Ray’ had conceit not been a factor, but ‘Some Kinda Love’ is most definitely Cale’s pick for the post-Cale years, and what a cracker it is.
