John Cale: Music for the Last Day
Ian Penman, The Wire, July 1994
JOHN CALE IS rock's international traveller, his work a trans-continental drift of moons and maps, seas and seachange, envoys and ennui. From his early (unfashionable) fondness for writers like Eric Ambler and Graham Greene, to songs like 'Chinese Envoy' and albums like Artificial Intelligence (which reflected his burgeoning interest in real politik manoeuvres) to his current release Last Day On Earth - an exercise in musical eschatology - his eye has spanned the globe and his mind ranged as far from rock's parochial trails as it's possible to get.
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